Weekend food delights

It's pure coincidence that I get to blog away on John's website over the same period of time that I have bay area friends visiting. Visiting friends from NorCal means eating out.

It was a good opportunity to try places and meals I hadn't experienced before. Friday evening we dined at Bucatini on lower State Street at Haley. There was a birthday to celebrate, so champagne and a bottle of pinot grigio was in order. Assorted pastas and salads arrived at the table, but the dishes to note were the steak and lamb main courses. The t-bone was tender, cooked just how my friend wanted it, and very generously portioned. There were strong flavors of rosemary throughout.
The views from the patio impressed the out-of-towners. We saw people pulled over for BUI (biking under the influence), drunks stumbling out of the bars, cars going through red lights, cars dangerously speeding, and one car even turning the wrong way onto Haley. The latter car corrected by doing a u-turn over the curb. Gotta love downtown Santa Barbara on a weekend night.

We met up again for Sunday lunch, and knowing there was one pescatarian in the group inspired me to suggest Palapa on upper State Street. I like their reasonably priced seafood dishes, particularly the ceviche tostadas. Today, I suggested the seafood combination platter. The menu offers the combination for 2 ($40) or 4 ($70). I asked the waiter if they could compromise and do a platter for the 3 of us, and the response was that the platter for 2 would be more than enough.



He wasn't kidding. BTW, if you click on the picture, you will be redirected to the photo server, Flickr.com, and I've added notes to the image to point out what is what on the platter. Basically what you see here is a generous amount of shrimp, ceviche, abalone, octopus, fish fillets, whole fish and crisp-tender cooked vegetables.

A friendly woman worked out on the patio making fresh hot corn tortillas for our meal. We even got a few quesadillas as an appetizer along with the standard chips and salsa. Throw in a couple beers, and this meal came to less than $50, not including the tip.

And if you want this for breakfast, lunch or dinner, no problem. They can cook it up anytime, our waiter told us. The only times really confined to a strict mealtime is the generic breakfast items, like pancakes.
I should also mention here that views consist of highway onramps, a motel on one side and an adult video store on the other side. I'm not saying these are good or bad things, they're just not views of the mountains or ocean.

It comes as no surprise that my out-of-town guests were impressed by the meal. They are now on their way back north with the word "Palapa" on their tongues.