The Hungry Cat

For a taste of the familiar, stop by Chef David Lentz' trendy seafood restaurant—its other outposts are in Hollywood and Santa Monica. Santa Barbara's Hungry Cat features the same inviting modern lines, minimalist booths and stainless steel countertops. There’s no shortage of seafood options, with a raw bar of goodies on the half shell and in the shell—better yet, opt for the eponymous seafood tower ($145)—lobster and clam rolls, several grades of caviar, plus plenty of composed plates of land and sea. Depending on the season, kabocha squash soup might join Nantucket bay scallops with sage brown butter or whole, grilled striped bass ($28) dressed in carrot purée, spigarello, hazelnuts, blood orange and chermoula. Of course, another way to enjoy the fruits of the sea is an oyster with an Old Bay–rimmed, vodka chaser, as in the Maryland Mary ($12), a tasty (and eye-opening) weekend cocktail. If you visit in the summertime, look out for the seasonal crab fest.