No Plain Jane

Last night, Jenna took me out to a highly recommended restaurant on State street: Jane. Apparently, all her friends love the place and some even cited it as their all-time favorite food spot in Santa Barbara. We got to the small, but intimate restaurant around 6:45 and although it didn't look crowded, we had to wait quite a while. Actually, we ended up sitting at the bar because the hostess told us that their reservations scheduling was messing things up and we'd have had to wait much longer. (tip: Call ahead of time and make reservations) Next time, I would love to sit upstairs on their tiny balcony area where you have a view of the outside streets as you eat your meal.

Sitting at the bar actually came as a good thing for us. We got our drink much faster and the bartender/waitress was always tending to our every needs. She filled our drinks numerous times without us asking and just when I was gonna complain about not getting bread, she came out with a small basket and little cup of butter!

It only took us a few seconds to decide what we wanted to eat because of recommendations on Yelp and from looking at the menu outside while waiting for our seats. Jenna ordered the Penne Pasta with Seafood and ordered the Grilled Chicken with potatoes and grilled vegis.

Jenna's Seafood Penne Pasta









I'm sorry, but this picture does not do justice to the flavor that this broth contained. It was buttery and smooth and you could taste the infused wine throughout. It blended perfectly with the freshly chiffonade basil and humongous pieces of shrimp and clams. I loved biting into two tooby pieces of pasta with cheese on top only to have the awesome broth shoot out from within! A very decadent dish indeed.

My grilled chicken with potatoes and grilled vegis














OOOO! The kicker here was the hidden Anaheim chillies buried beneath the fan of grilled chicken. You would cut a piece of chicken, slather on the scrumptious sauce mixed with vegis and then while you're eating it, this intense spicy, BUT OOOH-so-flavorful taste would blast through your taste-buds. The chilies added such a depth of flavor to the dish that I couldn't have imagined it without that bit of spice. Another hidden gem on the dish was the sauteed Chard. It was devilishly salty and we noticed that it was included in a lot of the other dishes at Jane. One of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. We just couldn't figure out how both dishes could be so flavorful. It might have been because Jane used great wines as their base for their creamy sauces!

COCONUT layer cake!














The literal icing on the cake came at the end of our meal when we ordered their world famous layered coconut cake with creme anglaise sauce! Now, if you don't know, I am a LOVER of everything coconut and therefor have developed high standards for anything that attempts to use the ingredient. Nonetheless, this coconut cake may have been the best I've ever had. It was so light and fluffy and the frosting was the total opposite of thick and heavy. There was so much coconut stuffed into eat bite that you could keep chewing coconutty goodness for minutes! Jenna didn't really prefer the creme anglaise sauce because she thought it was too sweet, but I slathered it on with every bite. We tried to only eat a bit and save the rest for later but ended up eating the entire $8 piece in one seating! (actually, we ate it at home b/c we had gotten it to go).

Overall, our experience at Jane was an excellent one and we must go back another day to try more dishes. Apparently, they have salads and burgers with fried brie on top (yes, i said FRIED brie) that we really should try. Its just a very quaint little restaurant that is actually very romantic because of its size and dim setting. You might not get seated right away, but as Jenna put it, it was 'well worth the wait!'