After our stroll along State Street, we settled into our hotel; the Moxy. We took a short nap and then had to decide on dinner. A couple of places on my "list" were closed; several of them for "Employee appreciation parties"! Pretty nice; I'm guessing Super Bowl Sunday is pretty quiet round these parts. There was one place I wanted to try; Santo Mezcal, but they don't do reservations and there was a 90 minute wait.
There was one interesting place I had on my "list", it was all outdoor dining, which was perfect for JJ. Shalhoob's Funk Zone Patio was just barely two blocks away. An extension of a company that runs several butcher shops, the menu has everything from tacos to burgers to BBQ, and beer of course. So, we walked on over.
The Funk Zone is an interesting location; there are wineries, restaurants, breweries, shops, and even some houses sprinkled among auto shops, warehouses, it has a real industrial transitioning to hipster feel.
The actual restaurant used to be the main "cutting room" for the butcher shops and has now been converted.
While the few parking spaces were taken….the place was maybe half full. There was a large screen television mounted on a large golf cart showing the Super Bowl pregame.
You order at the counter, they give you a number, and you have a seat at one of the tables or barrels. The Missus wanted a beer! Go figure! The features brews made inhouse. Not quite knowing what the Missus would want; I got a Funk Zone Blonde to go with what the Missus ordered; the Funk Zone Lager.
Turns out the Missus preferred the Blond Ale….whew…good thing I got that, right?
The Missus wanted a 1/4 Rack St Louis style BBQ ribs ($10.95), with a side of Street Corn ($8.95). I went with the Oak Smoked Tri-Tip Sandwich ($16.50). The woman working the counter was very nice.
The Tri-Tip Sandwich was pretty good; the meat a bit on the drier side, but tender enough. There was a very nice smoke ring, and so I knew the assertive smokiness of Oak would be front and center.
I think the pico de gallo was kind of overwhelmed by the smokiness of the tri-tip, though the garlic bread and aioli came thru nicely; adding some moistness and a rich-mild pungency to the sandwich. The BBQ Sauce, which I believe is St Louis style was a bit too sweet for my taste, but this was an enjoyable sandwich overall.
The "street corn" was sweet and maizey; though it had too much other "stuffs".
Was still pretty good.
I had reservations about the ribs; but they turned out to be pretty good.
Like the tri-tip, the BBQ sauce was a tad on the sweeter side; but the ribs were tender, quite smokey. It might be a bit much for some folks, but the Missus enjoyed the smokiness and the "fall off the bone tenderness" was quite good.
This ended up being a relaxing and enjoyable meal for us. Just what we needed on this day.
Shalhoob's Funk Zone Patio
220 Gray Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. JJ was pooped as was the Missus. I'm not sure why since I had been the one doing the driving up from San Diego! I decided to take the opportunity, since JJ wouldn't be displaying his yappy separation anxiety, to walk over to the Figueroa Mountain Brewing tap room a block away and watch the end of the Super Bowl. Like the rest of the area, things were pretty mellow. There was only one table taken and a couple of folks over at the bar.
I had a Frozen Goat Weizenbock.
Fairly boozy, fruity – yeasty notes.
And I took in the last quarter of the Super Bowl and chatted with one of the local guys, who told me that the sports bars around the area are pretty busy, but many places close during Super Bowl Sunday. He lives on State Street and walked on over here.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. Santa Barbara
137 Anacapa St. F
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
It was a lovely end to a fun day.
I prefer my cheesesteak to have thinly sliced beef, not chopped too finely like this was. One could not complain about the portion size nor price. Looks like a great neighborhood place to take the family for some slices and maybe enjoy the art, but perhaps not for a cheesesteak. Looks like I'll be headed to Evans or Wise Ox soon…..boy do I miss 
Soon enough my lomo saltado arrived. Quite a bit of onions and papas frita in this. The rice was fairly dry and chewy, but edible, and seemed to have been seasoned a bit.
The presentation was lovely; though the boiled egg was overcooked. The chicken was fairly bland, stringy, and there was a bit too much mayo. The potatoes were nicely done though.
Loved the crust of the empanadas. Even though it wasn't slightly flakey, it had a nice crunchy texture. I didn't care much for the dusting of sugar as I think it detracted from the overall flavor. Like I mentioned earlier, the sauce did well with the pastry, deflecting some of the sweetness and helping with the texture of the beef which was pretty chewy.
This was a lot less stuffed than the version at The Peruvian Spot. It had a drizzle of Mama G's sauce which did a pretty nice job of adding a creamy, mild spice to things. The ratio of camote and salsa criolla to meat was quite balanced.
The young lady working asked me if I wanted to try the spicy versions of Mama G's sauces and brought some over when I said yes. The verde was quite nice, not overly spicy to me. I added a tad more to the sandwich and used it to dip the very dry and limp fries.
The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
Though I really couldn't make out truffle. This was bit too much for me in terms of cheese….yes, I know, it's a grilled cheese, but this really needed more than rich-milkiness. The tomatoes weren't ripe enough to add the sweet acidity to help cut the richness and there wasn't enough onion to add pungency. If you just want gooey cheese-land, this might work for you.
This was a pretty good sandwich; nothing fancy mind you, the turkey was totally Sysco stuff; but the bread was nicely toasted and held out well. The herbaceous-savory-nutty pesto, the sweetness of the roasted red peppers, the bitterness of the greens, the creamy, slightly sweet avocado all worked well together. And this was enough for both the Missus and I for a light brunch. I think we'll go ahead and add the bacon for an upcharge next time.
Some Aji Verde was provided, which was much better than the other two I tried on my previous visit; somewhat creamy, tangy, some decent spice.
Speaking of acidity; man, this version was on the sour side. At least it wasn't overly salty. I think it could have used more onions for an added sweet-pungency.
Man, those were quite a bit of fries! Unfortunately it was over fried and super salty…way too salty to enjoy. I love the richness of schmaltz, which also has a savory component to it; but this was just too salty. I couldn't finish the fries…..
Now I understand that Jidori chicken is a bit chewier, but this was very tough and rather leathery. Also, having had my share of Jidori, which flavors differ from region to region, I expected some interesting poultry flavors. None were to be found.
