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A grand night out! Three of us from Carina Cellars hit the town recently and decided to check out Case de Sevilla restaurant. This medieval style gem in the heart of Santa Barbara offers chic elegance along with an excellent array of tapas and entrees. Sevilla has a full bar and an extensive wine list. Casa de Sevilla Jody’s review: Once we stepped inside the fortress-like doorway I felt as if I’d entered a parallel dimension with dim lighting and perhaps some Knights of the Roundtable hiding in the back. The next reservation was at 10:30pm so we opted to head for the bar instead. You can always cause more trouble at the bar anyways. We landed some great seats with a 180-degree view of the restaurant and since we are all big people watchers this was perfect. Liz, our bartender/waitress, proved to be a fantastic margarita blender (I am very picky with these) so we decided to stay in the bar for dinner as well. We started with some mixed, spicy nuts and Thai style prawns, both of which were excellent. For our entrees we popped the cork on a bottle of Carina Cellars 2003 Watch Hill Vineyard Syrah, fabulous like always, and made sure to share some with the staff. For my main course it was a toss up between Pacific Red Snapper and Seared Ahi Tuna. I had to go with the Ahi, which is a tried and true favorite, while CT stayed loyal to Pork Medallions, and David decided on a filet. We were all very happy with our choices and continued on with our evening of socializing and enjoying fine food and wine. The crowd that night was very friendly and we made quite a few new acquaintances. Of course we couldn’t leave without trying a few desserts and were quite intrigued by one with a “Carina” sauce. Although we never found out what exactly a “Carina” sauce is, we did enjoy some tantalizing dessert options that were served in three separate parts on the same plate. I thought this was very creative and had lots of fun dipping each part into the next to produce a conclusive mix of chocolate tart, peanut butter sorbet, and chocolate ice cream. We left Sevilla fat and happy with plans
to come back the next week. Although it can get a bit pricey, this
restaurant is definitely worth the Benjamin’s you might end
up throwing down. If you are watching your budget start your night
here for some appetizers and cocktails then meander down State St.
for some more casual fare. |
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Restaurant (July 2005)