Food For Eating

On our way to Pismo Beach last Thursday we stopped in Santa Barbara for dinner.  We thought we would go to a nouveau sushi restaurant we found there last time we visited called Arigato Sushi and arrived at 6:40 pm--on the early side by LA standards.  However, Arigato was already hopping and required a half hour wait which we would have done if we didn't have to drive another 120 miles that evening. 

Instead, we took off on foot looking for another acceptable restaurant in the area.  First we found the Tupelo Junction Cafe where live music was playing.  I walked around the restaurant and decided that the smells (hay or maybe even manure), sights (fried chicken floating in gelatinous gravy on a mound of mashed potatoes) and sounds (a band of disheveled gents playing a bad mixture of country and bluegrass) were more than I could take so we went back out looking for another place.  Our next stop was a Danish restaurant which also did not appeal. We also looked at a Thai restaurant that was completely empty so thought the better of that.  Then we crossed the street to look at a "bar and grill" which was decorated like a glorified Denny's but with much higher prices.  At this point, two blocks  and 20 minutes later, my husband was quite frustrated with my nixing everything.  He huffed off toward the car, threatening to drive to Pismo Beach without any food.  I limped behind wimpering that I was hungry, just not hungry enough to compromise my standards that evening.

When we got back to the parking lot, we asked the attendant if there were any good restaurants around.  He told us that right next to the parking lot on the other side (the way we did not walk) was an Argentinian restaurant, Cafe Buenos Aires.  We checked it out and decided that it was more than satisfactory.  And it turned out to be BRAZIL NIGHT so we had two comely young women dressed in large head gear and barely nothing else do a dance show for us.  The food was great; I particularly enjoyed the empanadas.  I thought about having a Caipirinha but decided I did not want to be too intoxicated for the remainder of the drive.  The dancing was reminiscent for me of belly dancing I had seen in a Lebanese restaurant in Oxford, but with very high heals and huge head dress.  One of the young women was wearing a g-string costume that showed off her assets to their best extent.  The other young woman wore feathers and a boy brief, clearly not wanting to compete with her colleague.  Both, however, were quite skilled dancers and made the dinner a lot of fun.

All in all, the dinner was a great outcome after a dicey start.