One of the best things about beach vacations to me is fresh seafood. For more than 30 years, we’ve gone to a restaurant with fresh, fresh seafood in Santa Barbara. It’s called Brophy Bros. and it overlooks the boats at the Marina.
Brophy’s added a small taco shop with outdoor tables downstairs called On the Alley.
Whenever we’re in Santa Barbara we stop at On the Alley. This past trip we went twice for fish tacos. And we took our good friends to Brophy Bros. to treat them to dinner after enjoying many of their home-cooked meals. They introduced us to the restaurant in the early 1990s!
Yesterday, my husband and I went to the Farmer’s Market and had a hankering for a fish taco. On the Alley had a huge line out the door to order. They had people milling around in droves waiting for picnic tables to sit. They held on to their order numbers, hoping to to sit down before the food arrived. I saw some people sitting on the curb.
My husband suggested going upstairs to the main Brophy’s restaurant. The hostess stationed at the bottom of the stairs told us it would be an hour wait for a table. But the bar was first come first serve.
Guess what? Two seats smack in the center of the bar — complete with open air marina views — were ours! We each had a cup of chowder and split an order of fish and chips. My year-long quest for the best fish and chips is over! The fish was piping hot, moist, delicious and the batter was light, crunchy and not heavy.
Well worth the wait — but even better without it.
Do you have favorite restaurants to go to on vacation? Or certain food you savor? What are they?
On the way home from Washington we stopped at a place we live in Baltimore. However, I love trying new places so I’m always exploring
I like trying new places too, and if it a phenomenal spot it turns into a regular. Our son reminded us we have to stop at La Super Rica which was Julia Child’s favorite place while she lived here.
I have a few regulars, but mainly trying different
We enjoy trying new restaurants. We did not take a trip this summer, but we do plan to do so next summer. We’re going to new destinations next year, so we will be trying new things. If we’re near the ocean, I usually want to eat fresh seafood.
As always, your pictures are fantastic. 🙂
Thank you for the compliment about my photos. I love fresh seafood having grown up in the Pacific Northwest where we lived on what we caught. So it’s a treat for me to get fresh seafood after decades of desert living.
Amazing. Once again, thanks so much for sharing a different locale with me, and for taking me to another place while I’m stuck at home.
I glad you enjoyed it. Today we drove an hour and half up the coast to Pismo Beach. We’ve never been there before. I’ll post more photos soon.
I did a search on Santa Barbara and this post came up! There seems to be a resounding opinion to try On the Alley. I’ll be there next weekend and I think I will 😉
It’s outdoor seating and the baja fish tacos are my favorite. Great chowder, too.
Another casual spot to not miss is La Super Rica taqueria. It was Julia Child’s favorite restaurant in Santa Barbara when she lived there. Thanks for commenting!
Oh thank you! This is great! I’ll probably do a post on all the things we do. 💕
I’ll look forward to seeing it!