Best Tri-Tip in Santa Barbara and Seafood by the Pier

The best tri-tip in Santa Barbara is not quite in Santa Barbara. The cut, a triangular roast from the bottom sirloin, belongs to the Santa Maria Valley, about an hour or more north, where the barbecue is grilled over red oak and served with beans, salsa and garlic bread. The city itself is better known for seafood.

Santa Barbara's working harbor and wooden pier supply the seafood, so plan a harbor lunch and a Santa Maria barbecue dinner. Tri-tip is lean and flavorful, and it cooks quickly over a hot fire.

Drive north for the barbecue or find it at a restaurant that grills over red oak, and order the plate with beans, salsa and grilled bread. Seafood is the city's own specialty, so keep it for the harbor.

What is the best tri-tip in Santa Barbara County?

Tri-tip is a lean, flavorful roast that cooks quickly over a hot fire and is sliced thin against the grain. In the Santa Maria style, it is seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic and cooked over red oak. Texas Monthly, in a piece on the region, found that restaurants often serve more steak than tri-tip, and that the best tri-tip is often at weekend charity and church barbecues.

For restaurant versions, try Jocko's in Nipomo, where the bar can be packed and the wait long but the value is hard to beat, Far Western Tavern in Orcutt, the fanciest of the style with white tablecloths, and Shaw's Steakhouse in Santa Maria, a stalwart of the style. Check that each is open.

What is Santa Maria barbecue?

Santa Maria barbecue is a regional tradition from the Central Coast. The meat sits on a grill that can be raised or lowered over a red oak fire. A traditional plate includes tri-tip, pinquito beans, a fresh tomato salsa, macaroni salad and grilled French bread. The seasoning is dry and simple.

Ask how the meat is cooked and what wood is used. A kitchen that tends a live fire will tell you. The style differs from Texas smoke, which cooks slowly, and Kansas City sauce, which is sweet. See the barbecue joint guide for the vocabulary.

What does Santa Barbara seafood look like?

Santa Barbara seafood centers on the harbor and the waterfront. Local catch includes spot prawns, rockfish, halibut, sea urchin (uni), lobster and squid. Restaurants and fish counters near the harbor serve fish and chips, chowder, crab and grilled fish.

Visit Santa Barbara lists seafood spots and local suppliers. Ask your server which fish came from nearby waters.

What is Stearns Wharf food like?

Stearns Wharf food is casual and lively, with views of the harbor and the mountains. Santa Barbara Shellfish Co. is the main seafood option on the wharf, with seafood taken from tanks and cooked to order. Regulars order the uni shooters and the box crab.

Time Out recommends visiting in the early morning to see boats unloading, and notes that the wharf becomes a bit of a tourist trap as the day goes on. Come early, or choose a weekday.

Where does Santa Barbara uni come from?

Santa Barbara uni, the golden tongue of the sea urchin, is a local specialty. Divers harvest it from the cold water off the Channel Islands, and it is prized for its sweet, creamy, briny flavor. A city tourism page for uni in Santa Barbara lists where to eat it, and a guide notes that you can buy uni at a fishermen's market in the harbor, so check that it is running.

Eat it fresh and plain, on rice or a piece of toast. Good uni should taste of the sea and not smell fishy. If it tastes bitter, it is old.

How do you plan a day that includes both?

Start in Santa Barbara with a harbor walk and a seafood lunch. Drive north on Highway 101 to the Santa Maria Valley for a tri-tip dinner, about an hour or more away. Or do it the other way around, with barbecue at midday and seafood at sunset.

Pace yourself. A tri-tip plate is large, so share. A small plate of uni and a glass of local wine make a light first stop. The Lexington guide shows a different way to organize a food trip around a region.

What are the small tips that help?

Call ahead for the barbecue restaurants, since weekend waits can be long. Bring cash to fish markets. Ask about parking on the wharf. Dress in layers, because the coast can be cool even in summer.

If you only have time for one, choose the one that matches your mood: fire and beans, or salt air and shellfish. Both are worth the drive in the right season. If you only have a weekend, take the highway north on the first day for barbecue and spend the second day along the water. Locals recommend a light breakfast on the day you plan to eat tri-tip, because the plates are large and the beans and bread arrive in generous portions. For more pages about regional food, the US guides hub is a good place to start.

How can Mosey help with tri-tip in Santa Barbara?

The Mosey app can name you a Local Champion once you have rated five places in Santa Barbara, answered three Top 3 questions and made a list in the city. It is earned by what you do, never by whether your ratings are kind or harsh, so a few tri-tip tables and seafood counters make a good start.

When the trip is over, get the Mosey app, rate the tri-tip and the uni you ate and build a list of the coastal tables worth another visit.