Jane (Restaurant): Santa Barbara

I had a continuing education seminar in Santa Barbara recently and Judy accompanied me on a beautiful, sunny, January Saturday. After my three hour seminar ended at noon, Judy guided us to a restaurant she scouted out on  Yelp called "Jane," located at 1311 State Street in Santa Barbara, California 93101 (805-962-1311). 

The unusual name comes from the first name of the owner's grandmother. Jane is found throughout the restaurant in wonderful black and white photos, my favorite, Jane sitting on a camel with a pyramid in the background. Although sunny, it was windy and a little chilly, and we loved the large fire roaring in the center of the restaurant in a glass enclosed fireplace. The downstairs is airy, with high ceilings, while additional seating is upstairs on either end, on a second floor. It is clean with a mixture of old and new, including some fun old plank tables and large wooden candlesticks. We started with goat cheese pancakes, topped by smoked salmon, sour cream and golden caviar. 

The gold caviar was centered in a dollop of sour cream and my initial impression was that it was  a sunny-side up egg. 

It was a very nice starter. Judy got the Idaho trout salad with avocado, cucumber, tomato, spinach, butter lettuce and creamy dill dressing. 

The two trout filets were moist and soft and complemented the butter lettuce perfectly, as did the dill dressing. I got two lamb chops with french fries and arugula topped with a lemon vinaigrette. 

The french fries were good, particularly accompanied with a forkful of lemony arugula and the lamb was good. I would have preferred it a little less cooked (I ordered it rare), but lamb is always good. Finally, we got a slice of the coconut cake with creme anglaise sauce which many raved about on Yelp. Creme anglaise is a light pouring custard and is really what makes the cake. 

The cake itself is very light, but made much, much better by saturating it in the sauce. The white topping/frosting was a different texture, not very sweet, not creamy, and for me, was saved only by the copious amount of shaved coconut on top of it, which I love. We left much of the frosting, but ate all of the cake itself to get every bit of the creme sauce. Over all, it was a fun menu and a nice atmosphere. Good, not fantastic, food and a tad bit on the expensive side. I would recommend it as a place to visit, but was not so enamored with it that it will be a must visit on our next trip to Santa Barbara.