Drink of the Week – Page 11

Tiburon’s Red Stag Manhattan

April 23, 2010May 19, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

RED STAG MANHATTAN Nik Blaskovich/News-Press — RED STAG MANHATTAN
Nik Blaskovich/News-Press

Eddie Beltran has that mix of friendly and imposing we imagine works well for a bar owner and bartender. Military background, stocky — we weren’t all that surprised to hear he also works the door on Tiburon’s rowdiest night, Friday’s karaoke. We could imagine him throwing some people out, literally. But he looked after us well on our return trip to the Tiburon Tavern, upper State’s neighborhood bar of choice. Five regulars sat at the bar, nursing beers and watching the game.

We first came to the Tib in our guise as cocktail wiseguys in 2007, but did not meet Beltran. Six years ago, Beltran bought the Tiburon and decided not to change the name of the five-year-old establishment. “It was on its last legs,” he says, and set about repainting, redecorating and revarnishing. A few large mirrors stayed, but most of the décor is his.

Shoreline Martini

April 16, 2010May 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Sitting on the beach, feet in the sand, kicking back with a cocktail. You’d think that in a place as desirous as Santa Barbara this would be a common occurrence. But the number of establishments where this is a possibility is actually quite small. The Shoreline Café is thankfully one of them. Located at Leadbetter Beach, right across from City College, what looks like a small and unassuming burger-and-fries shack offers more than a post-surf snackathon. Despite the lack of a bar, we found that it has a healthy cocktail menu.

Owned by Steve Marsh since 1997, the Café contains a list of about 10 cocktails all designed by Marsh himself. Location, location, location: that explains the New York style prices, so be ready. But value for money comes in the form of tasty, strong drinks. Joe’s Café strong.

Union Ale’s Mississippi Swamp Water

April 9, 2010May 21, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Union Ale thinks big. And it prints big too. Its menu looks something like a Wild West Wanted poster and can be read across the room. It’s sweet potato fries come in a metal bucket. Its ‘mini’ pizzas could feed a family of 10 (and they make the dough on the premises). So we expected big things from our drinks.

Now, of course, Union Ale is known for its beer. Its Albino Python, for example, contains ginger, fennel and orange peel.

Cody’s Cafe

April 2, 2010May 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

If you think the lunch specials at Cody’s Café (and bar) look similar to the Mesa Café, well, you’d be right. The two locations are owned by the same people. And much like the Mesa Café, the bar at Cody’s ? standing all by itself at the Turnpike shopping center ? has drinks that are strong and don’t mess around.

Six seats are at the bar itself, and three tables line the wall opposite; one regular told us he found it a year after going to Cody’s for the food, never knowing it existed. Like our other favorite “lost bars” around town, Cody’s is the place to go when you don’t want to be seen.

The Study Hall’s Cherry Cheesecake

March 26, 2010May 19, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Let’s face it. Choosing “The Study Hall” as a bar name in the center of college students heaven/hell is the height of wit in a block full of d’oh-inspiring shop names. (“The IV Drip” coffee shop! “Naan Stop” Indian take-out!) How comforting knowing that you can tell the old folks at home that you spent all day (and night) at the Study Hall.

Jason Smith has been serving here for seven years. The regulars all call him Smitty. Come here twice and you too will be a regular. As one of the two bars in sizzled and schnookered Isla Vista, The Study Hall has its work cut out for it. How to convince students to drink here, when the liquor store and a Del Playa house offers a cheaper night out?

EOS’ ‘Two in the Pink’

March 12, 2010May 14, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Is EOS as schizophrenic as it appears to be? During its late afternoon hours, it’s all icy blue and purple, chic and modern. Throw in a couple go-go dancers and we’d be at a New York nightclub, trying to get a seat next to James Bond. Wait until about 11 p.m., however, when the place is loud and proud and crowded out, and you’d be lucky to spot the exit sign from across the room. Is there any room in this madhouse for a cocktail?

Well, yes, according to bartender Andy Davis, who says he will gladly be muddling fresh ingredients even when five or 10 guys are waving dollars over the bar and waiting for beers and Red Bulls and whatever else people drink on dancefloor breaks.

Marmalade Café’s Regatta

March 5, 2010May 18, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Marmalade Café took over the former Red Robin in La Cumbre Plaza over two years ago. Two years! Time has flown, as we here in mixology central are only just now getting around to checking out the bar that sits in the middle of the café like a rugby scrum. Let’s get this done, we said, in our own little huddle.

Bartender Kristian Nelson has been here since they opened, but he also slings drinks at the Shoreline Café (a place we shall be shortly looking at, so keep posted). Both places are a switch from the complete hectic schedule of Wildcat, where he really learned his trade.

THE MING DYNASTY’S ‘ZOMBIE’

February 26, 2010May 8, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Ming Dynasty has been huddled away in the Kmart shopping center in Goleta for a good quarter-century, serving up everything from orange chicken and dim sum to fresh Mongolian barbecue. But it’s also had a small bar hidden inside, a reminder that Chinese food and cocktails used to go hand in hand.

Take a look at the cocktail menu and you’re back in mid-century America, when tropical drinks took over the national consciousness.

DRINK OF THE WEEK : SBIFF mixologist master award co-winner, the Tarantini

February 12, 2010May 10, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

THE BILTMORE'S TARANTINI Nik Blaskovich/News-Press Photos — THE BILTMORE’S TARANTINI
Nik Blaskovich/News-Press Photos

TONIC'S LEADING LADY — TONIC’S LEADING LADY

ELEMENTS' RISING STAR — ELEMENTS’ RISING STAR

We heard that there was a group of people going around Santa Barbara sampling cocktails and selecting their favorites. And we were shocked to discover that it wasn’t us. Turns out the Santa Barbara International Film Festival peeps were out for a second year in a row choosing cocktails for their Chopin Vodka Mixologist Master Award. The winners (it was a tie) are now available to be sipped at their respective bars during the fest and “select VIP events,” which our own team may attempt to sneak into.

In the meantime, we wondered, what are these cocktails? What do they taste like? And who didn’t make the cut? What do our own tastebuds think? The tie went to drinks from Elements and the Biltmore, but the second runner-up came from Tonic. We set out to discover.

Bucatini’s Briannastini

February 5, 2010May 13, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

There’s no bar at Bucatini, unless you count the divider that looks into the prep area and the pizza oven. After all, watching all those delicious pizzas going in there and coming out oozing with cheese and sauce is not exactly conducive to drinking. But, mamma mia, this corner restaurant on Haley and State has a cocktail menu that it’s proud of, and they have the long-term workers to prove it.

The Farmers Market on Tuesdays means fresh ingredients at the front door, and Eddie Chavez tries to incorporate many of them into his drinks. Chavez has been here as manager for three years, after moving on from an eight-year stint at the Wine Cask, and his imprimatur is on the entire menu.