Restaurant Review: Finch and Fork

As promised in Suburban SoCal Girl Goes to Santa Barbara, here is the restaurant review for Finch and Fork. After multiple attempts at going here for brunch on Saturday and failing epically, we finally dragged our exhausted selves here on Sunday around noon, eager to try all the dishes Yelp was raving about. The interior of the restaurant was beautiful with lots of large wood pieces, plenty of lighting, and a bustling yet peaceful ambiance. 

We didn't have to make a reservation and were seated promptly, which was awesome. Our waiter even added a few extra chairs to our giant table so we could all eat together, instead of splitting into two tables. After a thorough perusal of the menu (despite the majority of us having Yelped it prior to coming), my friend G and I decided to split two dishes and try the House Chai Tea Latte. We ordered the House Made Granola with Greek yogurt and macerated berries and the house cured lox and bagel, which was accompanied by crispy capers, tomato jam, and caramelized onion cream cheese. 

The house made granola with yogurt and berries was refreshing, light, and delicious, but my favorite was definitely the house cured lox and bagel. I'm a huge fan of smoked salmon, and I loved the unique, yet complementary accompaniments to it. The tomato jam was sweet, tangy and delicious and the caramelized onion cream cheese was very yummy. The capers were a bit salty for my taste, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

I really wish we were given a bread basket for the table, because a slice of buttered toast would have been a perfect addition to this meal! However, we still had a great time at Finch and Fork, both food and service wise and I'm definitely glad we made the time to come and have a sit down brunch here.

SoCal Girl Goes on the "Eat This, Shoot That" Food Tour

So as promised in my "So Cal Girl Goes to Santa Barbara" post, here is a full and detailed account of the "Eat This, Shoot That" Food Tour. It's a very fun and casual 2.5 hour tour around Santa Barbara's "Funk Zone", and you get to taste a variety of Santa Barbara's famous specialties, ranging from breakfast pizzas and fresh ceviche to sparkling wines and local "crack". Our tour guides were full of fun facts about Santa Barbara's history and development and gave us tons of cool tips about how to properly photograph food. 

We met our awesome tour guides at the Dolphin Fountain right on the beach at 2:00 pm, and as soon as we all signed waivers, we began heading over to the pier for our very first stop,

The first stop on the "Eat This, Shoot That" tour was the Deep Sea Winery, a local, family-owned winery specializing in unique wines grown in coastal regions. We were each told to select two wines from their list to taste, and after much perusal and indecision and recommendations from the experts, I went with the 2009 Deep Sea Viognier, Coquina Vineyard and the 2013 Deep Sea Grenache Blanc, Central Coast. 

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of white wine and dislike red. I can't stand the smell of a heavy red wine and like the taste even less. I enjoyed both of my selections very much, particularly the Viognier. We sipped our wine on the deck outside, and had the most spectacular view of the beach. It was such a lovely experience, and I'll definitely have to visit Deep Sea Winery again, maybe taking M along once she turns 21.

                                 

Our next stop on the tour was the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, an award winning restaurant with delicious ridgeback shrimp. We tried the Fresh Shrimp Ceviche, served with lemon, lime, freshly diced tomatoes and tortilla chips, and learned about the cooking techniques behind ceviche. For the non-seafood lovers and vegetarians, ceviche is a very popular dish consisting of fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, typically lemon or lime juice. As it involves no heat whatsoever, it must always be prepared fresh and eaten immediately. Ours was incredibly delicious, and we enjoyed it right on the dock, mere feet away from the sparkling blue ocean.

Next stop on the tour was Lucky Penny, an artistically decorated locals' favorite for flat-bread pizza. The entire front side of the restaurant was covered head-to-toe in pennies, giving it a unique and eclectic look. We tasted the Milpas Wood-Fire Pizza and it was toe-curlingly delicious. Quite possibly one of the most amazing flat-bread pizzas I've ever tasted. The pizza consisted of an interesting combination of fingerling potatoes, Mexican chorizo, spicy tomatillo marinara, cotija, and cilantro, all topped off with a sunny side up egg. It was spicy, fierce and insanely yummy! One of my favoritest eats on the tour.

Right around the corner was our next stop, the Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. Here we were each told to select a beer off the menu to taste. After serious contemplation by all the boys and extreme indifference by the girls, we ordered our drinks and went outside to enjoy them. I had a sip of the pumpkin ale and was not a fan, but then again I'm not the greatest person to judge beer.

Next up was Cutler's Artisan Spirits, Santa Barbara's first distillery since Prohibition. They featured top of the shelf vodka, gin, bourbon whiskey, and apple pie liqueur. Each of us was given the option of trying all four, trying just a select few, or trying none, it was up to us. A number of pinched faces, exaggerated choking/spluttering noises, and grimaces later, the consensus elected the apple pie liqueur as the favorite.  

By the time we began walking over to our next stop, Riverbench Winery, those of us that had tasted all four of the hard liquors were definitely starting to feel the effects while those of us that has stuck to Apple Pie were just dandy. Riverbench Winery was packed when we wandered in (rather odd considering it was around 4:00 pm) and so we all gathered in a corner, where we were each handed a flute of sparkling wine. As we hung out in our little corner, sipping our sparkling wine, our tour guides came back with little bags full of delicious treats from Koval Confections. We had the most delicious dark chocolate almond toffee (affectionately known as "crack" to the locals), a lovely complement to the sparkling wine.

Our last stop on the tour was Seven Bar + Kitchen, where we were treated to chicken and bacon waffles with whiskey infused maple syrup. The gastropub was very uniquely decorated with its heavy wood furniture, barrels, and working piano in the bathroom. The chicken and waffles were delicious, offering a myriad of textures and flavors, and the boys, who were most looking forward to this, particularly enjoyed it.

We immensely enjoyed the "Eat This, Shoot That" tour and were impressed by the selection of food and spirits. Our tour guides were awesome, giving us plenty of interesting facts and tips, but simultaneously giving us plenty of space to enjoy the scenery, the food, and each others' company. Our trip to Santa Barbara was amazing, and this tour definitely played a big part in it. I would highly recommend this trip to medium-large sized groups that love food. It's a great opportunity to try a bunch of highly recommended places in a short amount of time.

Recipe: One Pot Veggie Fried Rice

On Friday night, A came over to watch the second installment of Lord of the Rings, The Twin Towers, and she taught me how to make an easy one pot veggie fried rice with brown rice. It was quick, healthy, and oh-so delicious, so I figured I would share the recipe!

Recipe: One Pot Veggie Fried Rice

Ingredients:

-1 cup brown rice

-4 eggs (I used all 4 of the egg whites, but only 2 of the yolks)

-1 cup frozen vegetables

-1 cup sliced mushrooms

-3/4 cup bean sprouts

-4 tbsp Soyaki sauce

-1 tbsp olive oil

-2 tbsp Sriracha

-1 tbsp red chili powder, optional

-Himalayan pink salt, to taste

-Black pepper, to taste

1.) Cook the brown rice according to the directions on the package, and while the rice is cooking, chop/dice/thaw out all your vegetables. Now I'm normally a huge fan of fresh ingredients, but I made an exception in this one case and went with a frozen medley. Once the rice is done cooking, set aside and allow to cool.

2.) Whisk together the eggs (I only used two of the egg yolks but feel free to use the whole egg or just the egg whites, it wont make a difference). Toss in the chili powder (optional) and a pinch of salt, and continue whisking until the eggs are light and airy.

3.) Set a pan over medium heat and heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once the pan is hot enough, toss in the frozen vegetables and let them cook.

4.) Once the frozen vegetables are almost fully cooked, toss in the mushrooms and bean sprouts, along with a healthy pinch of salt and pepper.

5.) Stir fry the veggies until they are fully cooked and starting to sear a little bit. All the water and moisture from the bean sprouts should be gone.

6.) Stir in the eggs and as they start to cook, fold in the vegetables.

7.) Continue stirring the mixture until the eggs and veggies are well incorporated and resemble scrambled eggs.

8.) Toss in the cooked and cooled brown rice and gently stir it in to the egg and vegetable mixture.

9.) Add the Soyaki and Sriracha to the rice and stir thoroughly, but without smushing the rice.

10.) Add more Sriracha or Soyaki per individual taste. Obviously I added a bit more Sriracha because I like my fried rice spicy.

11.) Serve immediately and enjoy =] We had ours with a side of meat-less Mandarin Chicken from Trader Joe's.

SoCal Girl Goes to Santa Barbara

Last weekend a bunch of college friends and I decided to go to Santa Barbara to celebrate two of our friends' birthdays. We rented out a beautiful Victorian villa for the weekend and everyone started trickling in late into Friday night, coming from as close as LA to as far as SF and even Texas. 

Our group (coming from LA) was the first to get there, and we arrived shortly after 10:00 pm. The moment we figured out how to get into the key box and somehow got through the complicated front door lock, we set our bags down and began exploring the beautiful mansion. The villa consisted of 3 stories, 7 or so bedrooms, a cozy kitchen, and plenty of space. The third story was like a 2 bedroom den, and the boys spent the majority of their time up here and we joined them for games and hanging out. The den alone could comfortably fit all 14 of us. Here are a few pictures (stolen from the rental website).

                                      

Since the majority of us had work on Friday and were arriving late, we decided to stay-in and have a giant sleepover on Friday night with Taboo, King's Cup, and lots of Tennessee Honey. It had been a while since most of us had seen each other since we're half in LA and half in SF, so Friday was the perfect night to relax and catch up and mess around. We stayed up till 4:00 am with all the games and impromptu photoshoots and finally crashed around 4:30 am.

The next morning, we all woke up at different times, some going to Hot Yoga early in the morning, others hitting up the beach for a morning jog, and most sleeping in. We had a food and wine tour called "Eat This, Shoot That" planned for around two o'clock and it began on the beach, about 2 blocks from our villa, so we started to get ready and make our way out of the house around noon. We walked down State Street, admiring the beautiful views and tons of shops, stopping randomly to grab frozen yogurt, or pizza, or acai bowls. After numerous food and snack stops, we finally made it to the beach and met up with our food tour guides at the Dolphin Fountain.

I won't go into detail about the food tour in this post (stay tuned for a detailed account of all the delicious food and wine and fun eateries in SB from the "Eat This, Shoot That" tour), but just know that it was SO much fun and SO incredibly delicious. We had a lot of fun sampling all the different food and alcohol and our tour guides were full of fun facts about SB and tons of food photography tips. I would highly recommend this tour to all adults visiting Santa Barbara. It's particular great for medium-large groups looking to try a variety of places in a short amount of time.

I wanted to share a few pictures of us from the tour, but the main food and location pictures will be in a separate post!

                                 

After our awesome tour, we started making our way back to the villa, walking back up State Street, and looking at all the restaurants for potential dinner places. After much extensive Yelp research, we decided we weren't up to getting ready just yet, and so we ordered Thai take-out from the nearest restaurant. We had a family-style dinner in our beautiful dining room and feasted on pad thai, panang curry, yellow curry, pumpkin curry, sweet basil fried rice, glass noodles, papaya salad, and tom kha gai soup.

After we finished our scrumptious dinner and put away the leftovers, we slowly started ambling towards the bedrooms and started the process of getting ready to go out. Our plan was to hit up a few bars in State Street and then maybe find a club or something, and so all us girls started getting dolled up as the guys messed around and watched football upstairs. 

We left our place around 10:30 and made our way towards Wildcat Lounge, something we had passed earlier and had heard good things about. However, once we got in line outside and heard the 80's music blasting from inside, we decided to check out Tonic Nightclub instead, which was conveniently right across the street. Tonic had a super cheap cover of five bucks and was pumping by the time we got in. The average age of people inside was slightly higher than our groups', but the music was awesome, so we ordered drinks and hit the dance floor. A little later in the night, we had a champagne surprise for the birthday girl, and then headed to the outdoor area of the club to get some air, dance some more, and hit up the moon bounce.

Around 2:30am, the club started to shut down for the night and kicked everyone out, and we all started to make our way back to our house in groups of 2 and 3. Eventually we all made it back, changed into PJs, and after some serious contemplation of going to the beach, we crashed for the night.

The next morning was a struggle. Everyone woke up groggy and tired, and we began getting ready for our impending departure. We started cleaning up the house, packing and showering. We were all dying to try out Finch and Fork for brunch (excellent Yelp reviews) and so we cleaned as quickly as possible and got ready and walked over a block to the infamous restaurant (Finch and Fork Restaurant Review will follow). Brunch was absolutely delicious, and afterwards, we made our way back to the house, stomachs full and dreading the end of such an awesome weekend. Since a few of my friends had to catch flights back, we quickly said our good-byes and made our way to our cars.

We had such a wonderful time in Santa Barbara and it was such a new and unique experience. I'm so glad we decided to try this out instead of going to Vegas again (and trust me, I LOVE Vegas). It was incredibly fun to be with all my friends again and so relaxing to be in such a peaceful environment. Can't wait to come back and spend another weekend here!