El Sitio is The Place for tacos in Santa Barbara
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Santa Barbara, California is one of those places that you tend to think of dreamily on cold rainy Settle Winter days. It’s easy to fall in love with the Spanish colonial architecture, wide beaches and subtropical flora that makes your eyes pop. The beach area and small downtown is filled with modern and funky eateries, and the notion of farm-to-table rules the menus; especially when paired with any of the countless small production St. Ynez wines of California’s Central Coast. It is, to many, a slice of paradise.
But stray inland from the swanky center of Santa Barbara toward the more local, eastside neighborhoods and you might come to El Sitio Restaurant. The juxtaposition of Santa Barbara’s cachet – often referred to as the American Riviera – and the authenticity of El Sitio cannot be ignored. It’s off the golden path, in a neighborhood where most tourists don’t see – not because it’s dangerous or downtrodden, but because it doesn’t fit with the beach-beauty opulence of the rest of the city. Named after the Zacatecas, Mexico hometown of owners Pepe and Sanjua Gil who in 1989 started it as a means to strike their gold in America with her passion for cooking, El Sitio is a tiny taqueria and is by all descriptions a “no-frills” place. Everything about it embodies the American Immigrant Dream: Arrive with little, develop a plan and work your ass off until you succeed. And succeed they did – from this original location on Salinas Street have grown three more sites, each serving up some of the most authentic tacos this side of, well, the town of El Sitio.
Small and unadorned, nothing really matters at El Sitio except what comes out of the kitchen and onto your plate. The sounds from behind the counter and plexiglass window fills the entire, tiny room – a sizzling griddle, chatter between the cooks as their spatulas clang on hot steel, and the seemingly familiar voice of the woman working the register bellowing out the order numbers in Spanish as they come up. You get your food, cross over to the table with the salsas – a spicy green tomatillo, an even spicier red chili salsa with charred tomato skins, and the critical kaleidoscope of pico de gallo, that bright blend of diced tomatoes, onions and jalapenos. If lucky, you’ll find space at one of the plastic tables in their tiny courtyard out back. Otherwise you stand out on the sidewalk and eat right there, just like everyone else.
Like most taquerias, El Sitio offers variations on the theme, like burritos and tortas. But the stars of the show are their tacos, from the soft, warm corn tortillas to the array of succulent fillings and fresh toppings that are alive with flavor. Like the Tacos Al La Pasilla, with roasted pasilla chilis adorning strips of juicy pork, mushrooms and cheese. Or the Tacos Abañil, with tender beef mixed with onions and fiery jalapenos. Or the star of our meal, the Tacos Adobado Mixto, a vibrant blend of pork marinated in a rich adobo that transforms the meat into an orange blaze that you can’t get enough of.
Look, there are plenty of taco joints scattered around California, each with their own style of fillings and particular flavor profile. But every once in a while you come upon a place that makes you feel as if you’ve stepped into some local joint in Mexico. That’s exactly what El Sitio seems like, where the people, the setting and — especially — the food transport you back to a special place you remember fondly. There is little else to this little taco spot because there doesn’t need to be. And in its austerity and focused attention to just the one thing they do El Sitio is, in a word, perfect.
El Sitio Restaurant, 138 Salinas St., Santa Barbara, CA
