Going to Santa Barbara? Save Room for Dinner

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Sitting outdoors at a restaurant table in this laid-back Southern California city, sipping a glass of Syrah and nibbling grilled lamb chops, is one of those life-is-good moments. Here is the savory cuisine and nicely rounded wine, there is the golden sandy beach and just beyond it the waves that roll in from the big, blue Pacific, lending their quiet roar to the summer afternoon.

Santa Barbara has always been popular with Californians; Los Angeles is located just 90 miles south, and San Francisco is a six-hour drive from the north. But Santa Barbara maintained a relatively low national profile until 2004, when the spiky, funny movie "Sideways'' put it on the map. A relationship movie awash with wine and shot near the city in rural Santa Barbara County, "Sideways'' put Santa Barbara tourism on overdrive, and the region is still enjoying the ride.

And why not? Santa Barbara is charming. The city boasts evocative, red tile-roofed Spanish colonial architecture, an eminently walkable downtown, lovely gardens and a craggy mountain range as a scenic backdrop. The region was threatened by wildfires this summer, but the flames have been largely snuffed out.

The rugged, arid Santa Barbara countryside produces first-rate Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay, and is one of North America's prime wine-producing regions. It is justifiably a wine-lover's favorite. 

And yet, "Sideways'' told only half the story. There's very good food in this ravishingly pretty town, too. From haute cuisine to street food, the eating is exceptional. You'd have to be very unlucky, or try very hard, to eat badly here, as my wife and I discovered on a recent visit.

We stayed in Montecito, just across the Santa Barbara city line, at the Biltmore, a 1920s heritage hotel that has been smartly renovated and is now a Four Seasons resort. Set amid 19 acres of lush, unblemished gardens, the Biltmore is an oasis in tinder-dry Southern California. We sat on the terrace and gazed at bucolic Butterfly Beach just across the street, sipped drinks and listened to jazz at the bar at night and padded through the high-ceiled hotel lobby with its beautiful tilework.