The Eight Best Things I’ve Eaten Lately

You know how some dishes really stick with you? These are the ones that I keep thinking about….

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Aperitivo has the most inventive salads in town, but my favorite is a classic Caesar: chicories showered in cheese and breadcrumbs that have been seasoned with white anchovies. Unlike almost every other restaurant around here, Aperitivo changes its menu all the time, so when you see the Caesar, you had better pounce.

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Huevos rancheros had become a defensive order for me—i.e., when you figure a restaurant can’t screw it up—till an establishment I won’t name proved otherwise. (Watery! Bland!) And then Corazon Comedor reminded me why I loved the dish in the first place: crispy fried tortillas, perfectly cooked eggs, luscious beans, zesty sauce, and ripe avocado. Like much on the menu at Comedor, it’s not light. P.S. I’ve been pleased to see how enthusiasm for the restaurant has allowed it to evolve into offering table service and taking reservations.

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Tondi Gelato is a standout on State Street, with the lines to prove it. All of the flavors are worth investigating, but don’t ignore the vegan ones—in particular the pistachio (made with rice milk) and the chocolate, where high-quality cocoa really shines.

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I’m sure there are people who buy Oat Bakery’s charcoal sesame sourdough bread for the perceived health benefits of eating charcoal, but it’s the sesame seeds that keep me coming back. I tend to pick up the bread in the morning, when it’s still warm, and then run errands, and the scent in my car can drive me insane with hunger. P.S. The bread pairs beautifully with the Fangst tinned smoked trout that the bakery also sells.

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Bettina has a tradition of celebrating its anniversary each fall by offering a clam pizza—a white pie with chopped clams; provolone piccante; “clam cream” (a sauce of white wine, clam juice, butter, and cream); garlic; parsley; and lemon. Last year’s was the best so far, and a good reason to mark your calendar for late October. Another anniversary dish gets honorable mention: the “cheesy bread,” an irresistible Detroit-style pizza baked with mozzarella and ‘nduja, available Wednesdays.

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What if In-N-Out was better? That seems to be the premise behind Carpinteria’s Dang Burger, where the red plastic trays and red-and-white liners call to mind the famous chain, but the food far outclasses it. Burgers have never been about the meat for me, so when I find a veggie burger I love, I’m thrilled. Dang’s is the best in the area: a black bean patty fried in cornmeal, to give it a crispy crust, accompanied by top-notch ingredients across the board. Plus, the fries are excellent.

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No disrespect to all the delicious Thai food on the menu at Na Na Thai in Buellton, but the dish my mind keeps returning to is a Philippine one: lumpia filled with beef curry. There’s limited availability, so get there early and order it quickly.

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There’s a rant I can do in my sleep about restaurants that never change their menus—you caught a whiff earlier in this post—so it’s a tad hypocritical that whenever I go to Bell’s, I order the gateau Breton for dessert. A while ago, I was disappointed to see that it wasn’t among the options. (I learned later that you can request it, because it’s on the lunch menu.) The chocolate mousse I had instead, however, was more than consolation. It was perfection.

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