Santa Barbara: Jane Restaurant

My meal at Jane: Penne Pasta with Shrimp and Bay Scallops, Chopped Tomato, Basil, Garlic and Olive Oil. Mmmm.

The best dining experience we had in Santa Barbara was probably at Jane. Their food was solidly good and the atmosphere seemed down to earth (for the most part). My family was still going strong with our strangeness, but unlike other experiences we had had in Santa Barbara, we didn’t feel too out of place.

            Let’s start with their food. I ordered their Penne Pasta with Shrimp, Clams, Bay Scallops, Chopped Tomato, Basil Garlic & Olive Oil, but decided to hold the clams (I’m not that adventurous, especially with shellfish). It was, as expected, very tasty and light and was exactly what I was in the mood for at the time. Though I’m usually not huge on scallops, these were probably the best I’ve ever tasted. The shrimp was just shrimp, nothing to write home about. My dish, however, was not the best one that I tried that night. My dad’s meal won that honor: the lamb chop special with a tomato sauce that he ordered was so hearty and delectable. Although it was a bit heavier than I was in the mood for at the time, I still lamented not ordering his dish. And, though Tolani’s lamb chop special was very different and certainly superior to Jane’s, it inevitably reminded me of that epic meal in New York. (It also led me to the superstitious and irrational conclusion that if there is a lamb chop special to be ordered, it is probably the best thing on the menu.)

Dad's Lamb Chop special. So hearty, sooooo good.

            After regretting not getting dessert after our last meal at the Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach, we decided that, though we were very full, we should try some dessert at Jane. The waitress was very nice and brought my littlest sister some soft-serve ice cream, which she thoroughly and messily enjoyed. She was a hilarious sight to behold; cackling with joy as she shoved the dessert into her face, pushing the soft-serve into precarious positions that posed a threat to the restaurant’s ‘children shouldn’t spill’ rule (which I’ll get into in a little bit). It was as if she had never tasted ice cream before and when we told her that, she emphatically replied in a very serious tone that she, in fact, had eaten ice cream before. But enough of her hilarity…

Bad photo of my dessert: Creme Brule, too big to finish, but so delicious.

            Dessert for the rest of us can mostly be described as overwhelmingly large but delicious. The portions for dessert were too much for us to handle, especially after a meal so large as well. I, the great lover of Crème Brule, was only able to get through about ¾ of mine before I stopped for fear that my stomach might actually burst open. I didn’t quit, however, before trying a bit of my dad’s Chocolate Marquise, which proved to me once and for all that my dad was making better culinary choices than I. Though I loved the Crème Brule (especially the crunchy top), the Chocolate Marquise was so rich that it had a slight cocoa bean flavor, and it was accompanied beautifully by a vanilla cream sauce. My brother and sister shared their Coconut Cake, for which Jane is known on Yelp, and that was also rather tasty, if you are a fan of coconut! It was a shame that they gave us so much dessert, as it was too good to let go to waste.

Chocolate Marquise with vanilla cream sauce.

Coconut Cake.

There was only one slight downside to Jane and that was their attitude towards children, as I alluded to above. With their children’s menu, the management left a little note for parents and the gist of it was this: we love kids, but we’re not going to clean up after them. For my parents, who deal with four to five messy children every day, this was a big turn off. Their reasoning, with which I totally agree, was that it is the restaurant’s job to clean up after its patrons and if you make a big mess, say because you have children, then you make it up to the staff by tipping big.

But this little negative quirk was not enough to make us dislike Jane in the least bit. The service was very friendly, the food was too enjoyable and, particularly when compared to the other experiences we had in Santa Barbara, Jane’s drawbacks were mild.