Foodie Awards 2015: The Santa Barbara Independent’s Sixth Annual Ode to Our Edible Culture

Though we love the outdoors, Santa Barbarans are quick to sacrifice sunshine time to head inside for a great bite of food. And we’ve never enjoyed more ways to fill our bellies than today, with options ranging from inventively creative to inspiringly authentic.

In 2010, The Santa Barbara Independent started celebrating this bounty of cuisine by launching the Foodie Awards, which shine a light every fall on the people and places cultivating this culture. This week’s issue also kicks off the month-long ode to Santa Barbara’s dining and drinking scene known as Epicure.SB. See epicuresb.com for a full list of events.

[This story co-written with Matt Kettmann.]

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

Meatless on the Mesa

Living in Santa Barbara, you can get tacos anywhere, but then there are wild mushroom tacos, topped with lemon crème fraîche, harissa, pepitas, and baby spring onion. First, that makes my spell-check go ouch. Second, it’s incredibly delicious, a taco by way of Morocco. Third, it’s vegetarian, as are all the dishes at the newly opened Mesa Verde, rising out of the ruins of Cliff’s & Co. on, fittingly, the Mesa, Santa Barbara’s bluff-top neighborhood.

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