Corazón
We started our tour at the The Public Market, which is essentially a bougie food court located in downtown Santa Barbara. And I do mean bougie—you can spend $9.50 on a single, regular-sized taco.
But if you can afford it, Corazón is actually pretty delicious. Jenny got an incredibly tasty cauliflower taco, while I tried the conventional al pastor. Both were well-seasoned, with high quality meat and thick corn tortillas. It would take a lot of cash to eat a full meal there, but as a first stop on a day-long taco tour it was perfect.
(Jenny’s edit: OK enough about the ‘outrageous’ price here! The tacos were twice as big as anywhere else, and came with a huge – FREE – basket of chips and delicious salsa. I was full after this first stop!)
La Super-Rica
Next we walked all the way down Anapumu and then right on Milpas, taking us to the heart of Santa Barbara’s taco scene. There are lots of taco places along Milpas, and it took a lot of determination not to stop at all of them. (Look out for a Milpas-specific taco post, I’m sure it’s coming soon.)
In 1985, Julia Child proclaimed to the world that La Super-Rica was her favorite taco place. I am not sure why a white woman famous for French cooking is considered an authority on tacos, but judging by the line outside LSR I’d say plenty of people still take stock in this endorsement.
Because truthfully, the tacos aren’t that good. Far and away the best part of LSR is their made-when-you-order fresh corn tortillas, but then it goes downhill: the only other topping on these stripped-down tacos is a meager serving of bone-dry meat.
However I highly recommend getting any of the cheesy delights from the right side of their menu (see below). The combination of melty cheese and fresh tortillas is mouthwatering.
Third Window Brewing
To slake our sudden thirst we walked a few blocks out of our way to Third Window Brewing, which has a ton of outdoor space. We’re in the weird phase of the pandemic where bars and breweries can serve you outside, but you have to have some food on your bill (you know, to ward off the virus) so we ordered four pints and a small fries with curried ketchup.
I mean the beer was fine. It was cold and bubbly and inoffensive, and the setting was beautiful. This was a taco tour, not a beer tour, so I’m going to leave it at that.
East Beach Tacos
East Beach Tacos was a lot. For starters, it was packed. It’s the middle of the pandemic, and yet there are probably thirty people in line for this place, which is nothing more than a little shed next to some batting cages.
The line does not move fast. All-in, it probably took us about 30 minutes to get our tacos, which had non-standard configurations like bahn mi, ahi poke, and korean BBQ (“Gangam Style”).
There was no room for us on the nearby picnic tables, and we didn’t feel like squatting in the batting cage parking lot, so we took our tacos to east beach, a couple blocks away.
Honestly the tacos were better than I was expecting. Definitely not traditional, but pretty good. And Jenny wants me to mention the extras: the tacos came with delicious salsa, chips, and fresh limes.
The Lark
After East Beach Tacos we made our way to Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone—a new-ish neighborhood filled with tasting rooms and beer gardens.
We liked the wedding-venue vibe of The Lark—it had a private patio with a fountain and fairy lights—so we sat down and ordered some fancy cocktails.
I had an old fashioned, which was incredibly tasty but clashed a bit with the 80-degrees-and-sunny vibe of mid-day Santa Barbara.
Captain Fatty’s (The Project)
Although we were dying to get to the last taco stop, we couldn’t stopping for a beer at Captain Fatty’s. The Goleta-based brewery has an outpost in the Funk Zone, and in these pandemic times they’ve taken over their entire parking lot and made it a budget beer garden / day club, complete with a serious-looking DJ playing tropical house music.
I had a cucumber sour, which I’d say fit the mood pretty perfectly.
Lily’s Taqueria
This is it. This is the taco place everyone in SB mentions when you ask about tacos. Lily’s is a hole-in-the-wall, a block south of the main downtown shopping area.
There’s no outdoor seating here, so we took our tacos to the courthouse (with a quick stop at Modern Times to pick up some beer) and ate the day’s final tacos as the sun set over Santa Barbara.
Lily’s was fantastic. The meat was flavorful, the tortillas fresh, and (I’m told) the vegetarian options were excellent.