The editors of ENTREE dine out several times a week if not per day which means we are always discovering standout dishes that deserve to be celebrated. Here’s one of the best we’ve eaten recently:

Hook & Line Channel Island Halibut Crudo with tomatillo, cucumber, avocado and fire water. It was love at first sight, an explosion of translucent fresh salinity swimming on a melange of ambrosia.

It takes true artistry to create a great restaurant, not only an environment that is irresistibly alluring, but a true sense of welcome and certainly the kitchen magic and talent to back it all up. Without all three of these components working like a Ferrari’s 12 cylinders you have banal mediocrity.  

Santa Barbara has been given a gift recently with the opening of Chanticlair, a new restaurant that delivers all of these elements of excellence and more, a work of art in décor, hospitality and culinary creativity of the highest levels. Hidden in a century-old Spanish revival building on the West Side of Old Town Santa Barbara behind a rather ordinary secret door at 113 De La Guerra, The Chanticlair is an ode to the original restaurant and bakery, which opened in 1948.

Chefs Jake Reimer and Jeremy Tummel team up with a co-op of talented local chefs, winemakers, and artisans a few nights each week to produce a farm-forward, eclectic menu that features tapas, pintxos, family style, and chefs tour tasting menus, served on vintage mix-and-match wares. All done with an emphasis on fresh Pacific fish and shellfish, pasture-raised meats, local organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Hidden in the walls of The Chanticlair lives a 1968-inspired New Orleans Oyster Bar/Diner called Alley Cat. Fresh-shucked local oysters, Santa Barbara uni parfaits, fresh shellfish, Santa Barbara sourdough po’boys, gumbo, and a petite, curated wine and champagne list.

It’s like dining at your richest old aunt’s residence if your aunt was Julia Child. You’d expect to see Tennessee Williams, F. Scott Fitzgerald and maybe Louis Armstrong here (a vintage piano proudly stands in the entrance) as the vibe is reminiscent of a well- decorated Southern home with family china set on highly polished mahogany tables and a staff who are well trained like valued retainers scurry about gracefully.

Hidden in the walls of The Chanticlair lives a 1968-inspired New Orleans Oyster Bar/Diner called Alley Cat. Fresh-shucked local oysters, Santa Barbara uni parfaits, fresh shellfish, Santa Barbara sourdough po’boys, gumbo, and a petite, curated wine and champagne list.

Go now before the crowds discover this most unique intimate dining venue, an experience of eclectic elegance unlike any other in Santa Barbara.