Industrial Eats in Buellton is smack dab in the middle of Split-pea, danish meat ball, pickled herring and of course Aebleskivers (apple pancake puffs) country, courtesy of nearby Andersen's and Solvang. So picture this glutinous mound of gluten, sugar, salt and more sugar and for most of us it's no contest. Solvang will win. Tourism to this area just a half hour above Santa Barbara on the 101 freeway is not going to give up those kind of eats - and yet in spite of this sugar rush nirvana - there's a place like Industrial Eats ensconced on Industrial Way in a warehouse district that might be more likely to house machinery or an antique mall at best. You gotta love the name - for IE is anything but industrial and everything about locally grown meats, vegetables, fruits and dairy.
This happy reviewer came upon the place by goggling paleo and paleo friendly Santa Barbara - and up IE pops - and I'm glad it did!!
I had the recent pleasure of having a late breakfast in this Industrial styled eatery with warehouse high ceilings (they open at 10 and close around the same time pm), rugged wooden tables with stools, and long cord hanging lights with a prominent pizza oven in the back and deli case on the right along with huge sheets of butcher paper scribbled with the days offerings and prices festooning the walls; yup there's no menu - and you won't miss it.
So if its not perfectly fresh. locally sourced or they're out of it, you'll get something that is - and you'll love the chef for it. I ordered eggs ( the chef would only fry them) over an entree that included grilled peaches, burrata, fresh basil, crostini and prosciutto - asking the gal at the order counter (no waiters or waitresses other than the gal who brings your food out to your table) to hold a few items and add whatever they had fresh in veggies instead. My wife ordered a breakfast pizza with whatever meat the chef saw fit to add (and then she worried about the possible appearance of organ meats). She need't have worried.
When our plates arrived the smell of fresh baked pizza dough covered in perfectly crisped pancetta, small unskinned new potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and draped with two farm fresh fried eggs was overpowering. My dish likewise arrived colorfully bright with the fresh scent of basil, carmelized onions, yellow tomato, ungrilled prosciutto and perfectly grilled fresh peaches that together looked too pretty to eat. Maybe I was just ravenous - but my plate was empty save for the vestiges of virgin olive oil remaining. The prosciutto was mouth melting and not overly salty, while the veggies were naturally sweet and the peaches grilled to absolute carmelized perfection - so much so that they may well haunt my dreams! All in all incredibly delicious, simple and satisfying. My wife went on to extoll the pizza as the best dough she had ever eaten - and only regretted that she couldn't finish it - for though it was plate sized it was thick and the toppings abundant.
The crowd here is mostly young and certainly yelp conscious - though a smattering of seniors was encouraging. We'd love to see IE continue on, with not a menu in sight, a chef who will continue with the moxie to give diners the best he has that day, even if it's not what they'd probably would choose for themselves and a lovely modern Industrial vibe that seems ideally suited to the local meats, brews, farm produce that are everything here - and that dictate what is on for the day. In other words don't change too much.
So Aebleskivers covered in strawberry syrup just down the road on the otherside of the 101 freeway - be damned. We can't wait to see what this place develops into - and hope its around long enough to expand and create with whatever is fresh, fresh, fresh.
Only one reason we don't give IE 5 stars; the gal at the food order counter had a decided attitude when I asked for a few subs; second guessing me on possible allergies (I have none just like to eat healthy) and gruffly warned me the kitchen had flour everywhere and she would not guarantee anything because there was gluten cross contamination. OK, but really? And just because I passed on the crostini?
Replace the gal at the counter, or at the very least talk to her? We're there to eat well, and enjoy ourselves - and in retrospect we most certainly did. read more