Food For Thought: Restaurant Review of Paloma

Flying High: Paloma Restaurant & Tequila Bar

5764 Calle Real, Goleta

805/681-0766, PALOMA

Open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

There is no shortage of Mexican restaurants in Santa Barbara; there are some terrific street-food places with traditional dishes, but what Santa Barbara is lacking is a more creative approach to the incredible variety of Mexican food covering not just the border states but recipes and spices from Mexico to Central America. Paloma (meaning “dove”) has brought creative, flavorful food and an upscale but casual ambiance. Owned by the Rudy's folks this is not a rehashing of their popular Mexican restaurants around town, this is something totally different. Booths, tables and a small bar fill the space with burnt orange walls and a family festive vibe. They run specials, sometimes even up to twice a week so that will always be new coming out of Paloma in addition to their comprehensive menu.

There are six salsas at their salsa bar including the mildly spicy roasted tomatillo mixed with pepper and diced onions. Their regular salsa is a tomato based mild version, all the better to go with their chips (served warm!) and their Guacamole ($7) which is a smooth creamy version topped with cilantro and diced tomato. There's a little bit of pepper and a comprehensive lime note making this very addictive. Of course you need a margarita to go with that and their regular Margarita ($8) is a smooth sweet concoction nicely balanced with plenty of lime without being overpowering. It’s simple, tasty and hits the mark. The Paloma Margarita ($9) uses grapefruit juice, blood orange, and tequila resulting in a more tart version of this classic. They also have more than 100 tequilas to choose from.

The Chile en Nogada

A few dishes to consider: The Empanadas de Camaron ($9) is two small shrimp-filled turnovers topped with a mango habanero sauce. The pastry is soft and light, the shrimp moist and the habanero sauce has a slow burning heat to it and it’s wonderfully flavorful. The Ceviche ($10) is citrus-marinated diced halibut, mixed with a small amount of pineapple and served with thin, crisp fried plantains. The fish retains a nice tropical flavor to it, but nothing overly sweet nor one-dimensional. The Chile en Nogada ($16) is a Pasilla chile stuffed with a mix of walnuts, pine nuts, ground beef, peaches, spices and topped with a creamy and slightly sweet sauce and dotted with pomegranate seeds. Typically a seasonal dish from Puebla Mexico, Paloma brought this gem to Goleta and I highly recommend it. This offers a great balance of heat mainly from the chile and texture from the nuts, and this unusual dish is spot on being distinctive, flavorful and satisfying. 

The Tacos del Mar

The Enchiladas Paloma ($15) is shrimp and cheese enchiladas topped with a creamy chipotle sauce, served with salad and side of rice. They consider this their "go-to dish," and there’s good reason why. The velvety chipotle sauce has a roasted smoky quality the way chipotle is supposed to be. The large shrimp are moist and tasty all by themselves giving texture and flavor. Dessert-wise the Bandalone ($6.95) is their signature dish. A moist corn cake, a cross between tres leches without the milk and corn pudding, it’s served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and sliced strawberries and then drizzled with caramel sauce. This is a dense cake with plenty of corn flavor balanced by the sweet caramel and ice cream and is a terrific new version of an old favorite. 

The success of Paloma is in striking a flavor balance with their foods and elevating them beyond traditional Mexican fare. Creating wonderful and flavorful foods at exactly the right price, Paloma fills a void in Santa Barbara’s Mexican food offerings. 

Food:          ★★★★

Service:       ★★★★

Ambiance:   ★★★

(NOTE: Food For Thought Friday incorporates restaurant reviews, and Central Coast specialty foods. Ratings are ranked 1-5. Each restaurant is visited multiple times in accordance with restaurant review guidelines of the Association of Food Journalists. Michael Cervin was the restaurant reviewer for the Santa Barbara News Press for more than seven years, and judges at many food and wine events.)