My Santa Barbara Cheat Meals

The reason Roomie joined me to California was for his college buddies’ wedding. It was held at the Santa Barbara Historical Center, a gorgeous venue for the event.

My dress and necklace are JCrew (bought at the outlet) and my shoes were a RueLaLa purchase but made by Lilly Pulitzer. I rarely post family pictures of Roomie and I but I thought he looked so handsome, I had to share this one.

Brendan and Nick went to college together at Union and the bride is from California – hence the Santa Barbara location. My brother was married in Santa Barbara 8 years ago so it was fun to be back and explore the area once more.

The tables were set up outdoors, a risky move for an east coast wedding but since it rarely rains here it worked out perfectly. We had a picture perfect day with minimal clouds and temperatures that were in the upper 70’s.

I loved the floral arrangements which included flowers of different shades of pink and succulents. The table savers were mini succulents the bride and her friends put together for guests to bring home after the wedding. I remembered to bring mine home but it sadly did not make the trip to Mexico.

The next morning, I used what we still had in our fridge to make breakfast which meant fruit and cheesy eggs. I was surprised at how good this meal tasted. We didn’t want to fill up because we had made plans to hit up the legendary La Super-Rica taco stand downtown for lunch. By the way, I love Mango season in California!

I love Mexican food so this stop was a must for me. My brother told me about it and apparently Katy Perry sings about it in her song, “This is how we do.” I read it can form a long line, so we arrived around 11:45 am to beat it.

There was a tiny line but we ordered after waiting for 10 minutes. I knew we had to order the #16 which was made with fresh homemade tortillas, pulled pork, cheese, fire roasted peppers and some special sauce. It lived up to the hype and was delicious!

We took a gamble with the special vegetarian Chile Relleno. It wasn’t Roomie’s favorite but I got to eat some vegetables so I was happy. I wouldn’t order it again but it did only cost us $5 so not that significant of a loss.

We also ordered two special beef tacos that came with an avocado cream sauce and a side of guacamole. Tacos are only $2.50 each and the guacamole was under $5 as well.

Overall, we left feel stuffed and the entire meal was under $30 plus Roomie got a Corona. I think my favorite part was the unlimited pico de gallo. For the price this place is a 5 star. If it was more expensive, I would probably would give it a 4 but worth the calories especially on vacation.

After lunch we walked down State Street. I tried a bunch of clothes and bathing suits on in a few boutique stores but left empty handed. It was a hot day and before we got back in the car to drive home to Sherman Oaks, we stopped for ice cream and boy am I glad we did.

McConnell’s is a Santa Barbara institution (although my UCSB-grad sister in law couldn’t remember it). I got a small – which is two scoops – and seriously think it might have been my favorite two flavored cone of all time. I can’t even remember the flavors exactly but I think I got two different versions, one a salted caramel cookie and the other some sort of caramel chip. Again, worth the splurge. I ran 7.5 miles Saturday morning so I didn’t feel bad. .

Sunday night, we had dinner with my brother and his family. My bro is quite the chef. I didn’t take any pictures but I should have! Monday morning we were up early and off to the airport to head to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. PV recap coming soon… 🙂

So maybe it wasn’t the healthiest week but ya know what, when I travel, I like to enjoy good food. Once I get home, I usually go hard on the health kick and fitness routine thang. I’m not into cheat days, I do cheat meals, so I guess my lunch + snack were my weekly cheat.

Have you ever visited Santa Barbara? My ClassPass giveaway is still going strong! You have until today at 5pm EST to enter. Good luck.