The 2013 Foodies

When we started the Foodie Awards as an annual celebration of Santa Barbara’s culinary scene back in 2009, there was hope that the momentum would continue to blossom into even more interesting eating opportunities around town. Four years later, we’re happy to report that the region’s collective kitchen is more exciting than ever, with an increasing number of both homegrown and imported “culinarians” deciding to stake their claims on our shores.

Want to read the rest, and find out who the winners of the 2013 Foodies are, go to the Indy's site.

Note: Starting this year with the Foodies, we've got a new eligibility rule--a place has to have been open for a year to get a Foodie. Call it the Up in Smoke Award for Anchor Woodfire Grill. This also means the 2104 Foodies are really going to be something, with all the fine openings so far in 2013.

A True Vision for Something New

Ron True, owner of the new Arlington Tavern, is a man of many influences. Some of those come from his amazing résumé, with time at Zuni Café in San Francisco, Gramercy Tavern in New York, and LaVarenne, Anne Willan’s famed cooking school in France. Others come from simply liking Guinness, for as he tells the tale: “A bunch of us were throwing color ideas around for the remodel and weren’t feeling it. I put my head down and saw the Guinness bottle I was holding and thought, ‘The cream and stout brown colors would be perfect.’”

Want to read the rest then do so at the Indy's site.