The Cat's Out of the Bag

Tyger Tyger brings fast-fine Asian-fusion food to Santa Barbara's funk zone.

Asian-style street food has landed in the heart of Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, and this casual, fast-fine option for lunch to late-night snacks is long overdue. The highly anticipated Tyger Tyger (tygertygersb.com), named after a refrain in a classic William Blake poem, is the latest enterprise from Acme Hospitality, the team that has consistently upped the ante in the Santa Barbara dining scene since its 2013 opening of The Lark. The new eatery is the anchor in a three-restaurant collection set in a buildout of a corner building (formerly a net house of the Castagnola fishing family and more recently an auto body shop and catering kitchen) inspired by the street markets of Bangkok and Saigon. All that’s missing for the full effect are roaming tuk-tuks (Thai rickshaws), live chickens, and visible wooden crates of produce for the herbaceous, flavor-packed, somewhat traditional Asian menu.

“It’s affordable, fun, casual, accessible, and it’s super fresh. And I think Santa Barbara is a lot like that,” says managing partner Sherry Villanueva, the indefatigable force behind all of Acme’s restaurants—The Lark, Loquita, Les Marchands, Lucky Penny, Santa Barbara Wine Collective, and Helena Avenue Bakery—which happen to be located within a few city blocks. The choice to go Asian also strikes a personal note for Villanueva, who recalls the flavors and open hospitality of an eastern culture after spending part of her childhood living on an air force base in the Philippines. Known for taking bold but calculated risks, she’s earned a reputation for finding kitchen talent that stays on after the opening period. For this venture, an exhaustive search for Tyger Tyger’s executive chef led to Daniel Palaima, a Santa Barbara native who was thrilled to finally come full circle.

“When I heard about the concept, I jumped right on it,” says Palaima, who first started out at Mattei’s Tavern and Bradley Ogden’s Root 246, both in Santa Ynez Valley, and since then has shown a penchant for Asian cuisine. He’s done California-style Japanese and Korean fusion with chef Shaun King, who is now a major force at Momofuku in Las Vegas. More recently, Palaima opened Duck Duck Goat, the modern, authentic Chinese restaurant in Chicago with acclaimed chef Stephanie Izard. “Her style taught me how to do high volume without sacrificing quality,” he says. Still, developing the menu for Tyger Tyger was a personal challenge. “With this cuisine, I had to dig deep,” he says.

Servers take orders at Tyger Tyger, a casual, walk-up-to-order restaurant, turning out flavor-packed twists on traditional Southeast Asian dishes. Part of the festive decor, colorful ribbons inscribed with patrons’ wishes stream from vertical wires like mini Tibetan prayer flags.

References to Asian cultural themes decorate the walls (painting by Erika Carter), the ceilings, and numbered placards for tracking orders. Executive chef Daniel Palaima (below, left) makes liberal use of fresh herbs, chilis, soy and fish sauces, and tangy pickled ingredients in dishes like Weeping Brisket With Coconut Sticky Rice.

Palaima’s well-conceived dishes straddle the line between tradition and invention, with a flavor arsenal that includes plenty of chili heat, bright citrus, salty soy and fish sauces, pickled tang, and an abundance of fresh herbs. Small plates on his ever-changing menu include mild or extra-spicy crispy chicken wings with caramelized fish sauce and a Thai green-papaya salad with pickled chilies, fried shallot, whole-leaf basil, and mint presented with an unexpected mix of seaweed for added texture. Banh mi sandwiches with crispy pork belly and perfect summer rolls with shrimp are straightup satisfaction and vegan options are available for both. The most inventive vegan dish on the menu may be the larb bowl with a savory mixture of minced Impossible burger (a nonmeat alternative to the minced pork also offered), mounds of rice vermicelli, and mixed varieties of lettuce topped with fresh mint and chopped peanuts.

A small plate of Tart Pickles pairs up with a bowl of Thai Sweet and Sour Soup. The restaurant’s signature pink lanterns continue to add cheer from overhead on the outdoor patio.

Steaming bowls include Northern Thai curried egg noodles with bites of tender pork in a mild, yellow coconut curry balanced with fermented mustard greens and a hint of chili oil; and the Weeping Brisket, braised then grilled, with house-made chili jam, a crunch of mung bean sprouts, and a side of coconut sticky rice served in a small lidded basket. Traditionally the rice is rolled into a little hand patty for dipping (a nice way to lick the plate clean), but using the pink chopsticks works just as well.

A standout bowl that shows Palaima’s talent for riffing on classic dishes, the Crispy Rice Salad replaces the traditional fermented pork with chunks of grilled-rare albacore in a mix of chewy, crispy rice bites, avocado, cilantro, kefir lime leaf, lemongrass, shredded cabbage and a mild citrus dressing. A lesser known, hands-on dish, the Banh Xeo or Vietnamese crispy crepe tastes like fried chow mein noodles, filled with shredded duck confit and whole shrimp. It’s meant to be torn by hand and rolled with bean sprouts and butter lettuce then dipped in a deliciously pungent nuoc cham sauce made in-house.

Acme wine director Hayden Felice has put together a complementary beverage list with a Belgian-style white ale from Avery Brewing Company, Singha, the popular Bangkok lager, and a variety of western European wines—a grüner veltliner from Austria, a Sierra de Gredos grenache from Madrid, and a choice of German rieslings.

Local Conscious Kombucha on tap, plus teas, espresso drinks, and nitro cold brew are available within the marketplace-style collective from Dart Coffee Co., a small-lot roasting company owned by locals Erika Carter Dart and David Dart. For dessert, Monkeyshine, also on-site, offers frozen swirls of soft-serve ice cream created by Palaima in exotic flavors like black sesame and Thai spice chocolate, plus a choice of toppings such as miso caramel, green tea Pocky sticks, and mochi balls.

Tyger Tyger’s bright, eclectic interior designed by Doug Washington of August Studio features an open kitchen, communal tables with hand-painted chairs, and natural teak counters for walk-up ordering. The vibe is irresistibly festive: The ceilings are festooned with hundreds of iconic, hot-pink paper lanterns that extend onto a small outdoor patio, where diners are invited to write wishes on colorful ribbons to be tied onto a wall of vertical wires like mini Tibetan prayer flags. Some might say a little prayer has been answered with the addition of Tyger Tyger to the Funk Zone.

By Victoria Woodard Harvey

Photographs by Gary Moss