And now, for the food. It's been almost a week since I visited Santa Barbara, and I'm still thinking about the food I ate. Brophy Bros. was my introduction to Santa Barbara food, the first real meal I had. Incidentally, I enjoyed the seafood so much that I came back the next night for dinner. 

Brophy Bros. is situated on the second level of the set of buildings at the Santa Barbara Harbor. There isn't a bad seat in the house; depending on the time you visit, you're either treated to a nice view of the midday sun over the ocean or a breathtaking sunset. Even on this January visit, the sun was warm, although the crisp breeze made a sweater a good wardrobe choice for sitting outdoors. There is an outdoor deck that surrounds the restaurant; it's here that the best sightseeing is done as fishermen unload their day's catch and boat traffic synchronizes in and out of the busy harbor.

Brophy Bros has a decent wine selection and a better beer selection. For local wine, I liked the Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon, a balanced, lightly oaked, smooth palate-cleanser. I liked their house cabernet better, though. It was juicy, tart and made your mouth water—just what an apertif is meant to do.



The menu features seafood, sandwiches and pasta—standard shore fare—but stick to the seafood. There's something very pleasurable about watching fishermen unload clams and oysters off of a ship that is less than twenty yards from your table, then eating a sampler platter that has clams and oysters. This sampler platter—the Cold platter—featured peel and eat shrimp, a crab claw, three oysters and three clams. The menu advertises seafood ceviche as a part of the platter, but on my visit ceviche wasn't available, so they added an extra crab claw and a pile of crabmeat, which was fine with me. 



The oysters were so fresh I had to order another half dozen; despite what wine writers say about shellfish and wine, I thought the oysters tasted great with another local wine, the Kalyra sauvignon blanc. Crisp buttery notes of lemon and lemongrass with just a smidge of earthiness mimicked the oysters' fresh flavors of the sea.

New England clam chowder was appropriately chunky and savory, definitely a nice warming soup. With this pairing, the same glass of sauvignon blanc changed character; here it seemed sweeter, like an adult's version of summer lemonade. I finished with the salmon salad, which features fresh California produce tossed in a basil vinaigrette and topped with warm salmon. Satisfying and simple.

I've decided that the best part of Brophy Bros isn't necessarily their superlative seafood, but their overall atmosphere. Advertised in every local publication as the 'local's favorite,' there wasn't a time of day where the bar wasn't full of diners and the restaurant wasn't at least half full. Our waitress told us that in the summer, it's nearly impossible to walk right in and get a table, as I did. If the people-watching doesn't do it for you, the harbor traffic is more than enough action. I watched two fishermen almost go to blows about who had the rights to unload their catch on a particular dock. Even watching big trucks try to reverse off the skinny piers is funny. Here, pelicans battle seagulls for the spare fish that tumble clumsily off of ships, and watching everyone try to park their boats in their tiny stalls—which, in at least two cases, could be considered 'bumper boats' more than parking—provides another source of comedy. 

As far as service, it's your shore-town service. Down home and friendly—but oddly surprised that I was from Los Angeles—my server seemed to have fun tableside, and so did her guests. This brand of hospitality is a bit less formal than in LA, but no less enjoyable.