Dom’s Taverna Santa Barbara

Seafood Chef Dom Crisp Opens Basque Restaurant Dom’s Taverna in Santa Barbara | Eater LA

"An all-day, Basque-leaning restaurant in Santa Barbara debuting on August 22, this seafood-focused project from chef Dom Crisp draws on California’s Basque history and the city’s generous local catch (“I feel like a kid in the candy store”), with lunch plates like Basque‑inflected shakshuka, seafood‑heavy cioppino pasta, and a saffron bomba rice Basque bowl. Dinner brings squid ink crab rice; mussels or clams over Basque sausage with sherry vinegar; wood‑fired whole fish Basquaise; and a bone‑in steak that nods to his years at the now‑closed Saso. Pintxos kick things off with buttermilk chicken croquettes and Txangurro tortas (crab corn cakes), while a crudo bar showcases oysters, Santa Barbara crab claws, a rotating crudo from the daily catch, and a Louie salad loaded with wild bluefin tuna belly, crab, and poached shrimp; desserts include a decadent Périgord black truffle Basque cheesecake and a torched crème‑brûlée‑style orange‑liqueur sponge cake called goxua. The bar, led by Portland’s Dig a Pony veteran Ben Carey, pours wines from Spain, Oregon, and California alongside cider, beer, vermouth, and cocktails, with a rare bourbon, malt whiskey, and rye program coming soon; order the Barcelona‑style vermouth spritz or the showstopping New Moon built with horseradish vodka, Manzanilla sherry, Lillet Blanc, and a squid ink ice sphere. Housed in the former Trattoria Victoria, the stylish room features a revamped marble bar, Valencia tile, and white oak sourced from the vineyard where Crisp was born, and sits just outside the busiest part of Downtown, a short walk from the Santa Barbara Public Market. Open hours are Tuesday 5 p.m.–11 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m., with Sunday brunch 11 a.m.–3 p.m., plus happy hour bar bites from 3 p.m.–5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.–11 p.m.; Crisp, who worked at L&E Oyster Bar and the Lonely Oyster before relocating here in January 2025 and buying the building with partner Raj Nallapothola of Toronix Gourmet, says he aims to “execute it well, and not fuss it up.”" - Mona Holmes