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.

Santa Barbara: McConnell's Ice Cream

McConnell's Ice Cream in Santa Barbara

Strawberry Bourdeaux

McConnell’s ice cream in Santa Barbara was rather mediocre when compared to some of the best ice cream places I’ve been to, like Ici in Berkeley, Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz and Van Leeuwen in New York. Why write about it then? Well, apparently, the place has gotten a lot of notoriety, having been featured on Fraiser, is a favorite of Barbra Streisand, and has been called the best ice cream in the world by Time Magazine. Now, it’s possible that I ordered the wrong ice cream, as my scoop of Bourdeaux strawberry was rather unremarkable when compared to the tastes of Chocolate Raspberry Truffle and Brazilian Coffee Chip I had, thanks to my family. But, if McConnell’s is really in the running for best ice cream in the world, shouldn’t every flavor be to die for? My answer is yes and for me, McConnell’s ice cream didn’t live up to the hype.

One redeeming trait of place, however, was that it felt like one of those places that you would beg your parents to go to as a child. McConnell’s had this beach bum vibe that, when combined with the fact that they sold ice cream, produced in me a nostalgic affection for the place. And, they had a cute outdoor eating area, which added to McConnell’s laid back atmosphere. Although it may not have been the best ice cream I ever had, McConnell’s is worth checking out for the nostalgia factor and in order to investigate the hype. 

Cioccolata Di Vino: (Little to) No Regrets

Wine, vanilla gelato and Torta al Cioccolato Liquefatto (Lava Cake) at Cioccata Di Vino

            “It’s okay to indulge yourself every once in a while.” That what I had to keep telling myself in order to enjoy North Berkeley’s Cioccolata Di Vino. For a place like this, I couldn’t worry about the money or the calories. I just had to sit back, accept the fact that I was going to be splurging and enjoy. No regrets.

            And it was well worth it. All day I had been longing for something to take me out of the ordinary, something to hit me, something to tell me that I was still alive and kicking. (Needless to say, it had been a long and dull day). At Cioccolata Di Vino, I found it: Torta al Cioccolato Liquefatto, otherwise known as molten lava cake. Ben and I ordered it with a scoop of vanilla gelato, which of course was a delightful and refreshing accompaniment to the richness and chocolatiness of the lava cake. And, because we just couldn’t help ourselves, we also shared a glass of their Nero d'Avola Feudo Principi di Butera Sicilia wine. As if this wasn’t enough, before we knew it we had also ordered chocolate chip cookies. Our damn waitress said the words “fresh out of the oven” and we were hopeless.

Close up of the Lava Cake. Too good!

            Is it even possible to describe to you how good this dessert was? The lava cake was so moist with the outside had the perfect crusty texture. And, of course, inside the lava cake was the molten chocolate, which just screamed for a bite of vanilla gelato to go with it. The chocolate chip cookies were, in all honesty, just chocolate chip cookies. They were good, but they paled in comparison to that lava cake. (Maybe it was a mistake to go for the chocolate chip cookies…but no, I must remember this dessert with no regrets.) The Nero made an elegant accompaniment to the chocolate and rounded the whole thing out nicely. Overall, it was a wonderful place to have a leisurely and scrumptious dessert experience.

            And, yes, I know I said no regrets, but there is something much bigger than chocolate chip cookies at stake here: I missed out on live music. As we were waiting for our food to come, we saw jazz musicians come in one by one and start to set up their instruments. Sadly, we finished our meal before we could get a chance to hear them play. Next time (assuming I can afford to have a next time) I am definitely arriving later, probably around 8 or 9 in order to catch the music. But, I am a perfectionist, and despite the fact that we missed out on the jazz and subsequently on a flawless evening, the delicious and rich chocolate, refreshing gelato, lovely wine, friendly service and carefree atmosphere at Cioccolata Di Vino made my experience incredibly enjoyable.