Santa Barbara’s Salt Cave experience is meant to invigorate.
Photo by Harrison Shiels
I walked into the Scarlett Begonia on Victoria Street on a Tuesday morning in Santa Barbara, California. The charming restaurant was in an old-fashioned home with various rooms divided by white curtains and lit by hanging vintage bulbs. There was streetside seating, a courtyard patio and a small bar beyond the baked cinnamon rolls, muffins and other treats displayed for sale on a distressed wood, antique table next to an iron rack of lemons and oranges. I did not see a soul and I wondered if Scarlett Begonia was open…until a voice rang out from the bar.
“Hi!”
So enthusiastic was the greeting that I presumed it came from a staffer. In fact, it emanated from a woman, her face hidden by her long, blonde-streaked hanging hair while she looked down at her phone, seated at the bar in front of a Bloody Mary.
“Thanks for saying ‘hi’ and being so friendly,” I responded. “That was a nice welcome.”
The woman offered a humble shrug while looking up to reveal her piercing blue eyes and flash a big, bright Goldie Hawn smile.
Then a server then came to ask me if I wanted to sit inside or outside. It was at that moment I made a mortal mistake. When you step into a bar at that hour and another patron bothers to say “hello,” you should perch yourself on a barstool and have a breakfast beer because you have obviously found a kindred spirit, pardon the pun. Invite yourself to the party!
But instead of conviviality, I chose to chomp Scarlett Begonia’s lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry compote and whipped cream…alone in the courtyard.
When I left the restaurant, the bar was empty, so I burned some of the consumed calories by kicking myself for missing the chance to hear her story as I walked toward the shaded shops of Santa Barbara’s State Street Promenade.
I was searching for the art museum when I turned the corner to see an ornate, old-fashioned, striped barber pole above a big glass storefront window. From the sidewalk, as if it were a stage, passersby could see an older man, nearly bald but in the chair getting a haircut anyway. His hairstylist was the lively lady I had just seen at Scarlett Begonia! Recognizing me when she looked up, she put the scissors down and once again gave me a sweeping wave and wide smile. I pantomimed back as if I were drinking from a longneck beer bottle followed by a “thumbs up,” which she returned after laughing and nodding.
Just for that magic moment, in our mutual appreciation for balance in life, we were our own secret society. And I think her personality made Laura the best ambassador Santa Barbara could have.
Santa Barbara boasts a boatload of other high-profile residents, such as Rob Lowe and Julia Louis Dreyfus, in the scenic, oceanside mountain town known as the “American Riviera.” Brooke Holland, public relations manager for Visit Santa Barbara, joined me to dine over duck, pistachio profiteroles and local petit Syrah at Bouchon, for 25 years, a warm, wine country restaurant. I asked her if she ever thought she would live in the same town with the Duke of Sussex.
“I grew up going to Disneyland. There were lots of princesses there,” she laughed. “But it is so spectacular and beautiful here, who wouldn’t want to call Santa Barbara their home? The Montecito area’s boutiques and restaurants of Coast Road Village are a great place to stroll around.”
Some fly, take the train or drive to Santa Barbara. Once I arrived, I was able to walk everywhere from my mid-century modern Courtyard by Marriott Hotel – a funky landmark property that is one of the only examples of non-Spanish eye candy architecture. But to see Montecito, home to Harry, Oprah, Ellen and Gwenyth (they really only need first names), I took the 90-minute, open-air Santa Barbara Trolley Tour, which leaves across the beach from near Stearns Wharf and Pier Santa Barbara and also took me to Spanish Franciscan’s 1786 Old Mission Santa Barbara and its graveyard and gardens.
Walking throughout town, I noticed the fanciful marquees of many charming, golden area movie houses. The red carpet is walked by stars at the 11-day Santa Barbara International Film Festival each February, headquartered at the Arlington Theater, which neighbors Opal Restaurant and Bar, which caters to the likes of Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio in the celebrity green room.
Richard Yates, co-owner with Tina Takaya, suggested I taste the shredded phyllo-wrapped tiger prawns flash-fried with a coconut curry dipping sauce. The dish was created by chef Felipe Barajas on the 90th birthday of the original television star chef Julia Child, a local resident, and enjoyed the culinary creation.
“She was a little more understated in person than she was on television. Watching her on TV we always thought there was some sherry in the dish and some sherry in the chef!” Yates laughed. “But Julia Child took all of the high-falutin’ fear out of cooking to make it fun and something the average person could try.”
I also took the 30-mile scenic drive up to Buellton to visit the Hitching Post II, the restaurant seen in the 2004 cult wine film “Sideways,” where you can have a bottle or glass of the same Highliner pinot noir Miles and Jack quaffed at the bar. The tasting room allows you to sit outside at a panoramic picnic area.
“All this salt and no margarita,” I joked while I dug my feet, like a beach, into the floor of Salt Cave, a State Street spa offering a 45-minute, zero-gravity chair, halotherapy meditation experience breathing in microparticles of the surrounding, 60 tons of Jurassic-era Himalayan pink salt crystals.
Contact Michael Patrick Shiels at MShiels@aol.com His new book: Travel Tattler – Not So Torrid Tales, may be purchased via Amazon.com
