Poke snacking

York intervened .

It’s all come true, eight years after the escape from Manhattan . Now they have two boys and all the rest(aurant) . “We opened Brass Bear [in 2016] when I was six months pregnant,” she said . “And I was head chef until the day before I gave birth .”

Children are a serious part of the business plan . “We wanted to make sure we stood strong for new parents,” Lindsay said . So they carved out room for a kid zone at the 150-seat Brass Bear, and have a babysitter on duty twice a week .

The menu stresses the fresh and the local, sourcing fish from the harbor boats, and cheese, bread, tri-tip, and liquor from local shops . They make all their own beer from recipes they’d been experimenting with as home brewers way back in Manhattan . “I happened to keep notes,” Lindsay said . The notebook is the guide they rely on every day for such crafted compositions as their Golden Bear IPA and Lindsay’s Lager .

Also featured, written on the walls inside, is their story . “I hope it inspires other who are doing nine-to-five and looking for something else to hit the pause button for a while,” Lindsay said . “When you find out what it is, go for it . Like a wildfire . ”

Open daily from 12pm. 805-770-761. 28 Anacapa unit E. www.brassbearbrewing.com

And the art of the two-minute lunch

Long ago, if you were hungry in Hawaii, you went to the fridge, got some fish, chopped it up, topped it with some seaweed, sea salt, and crushed kukui nuts, and you had yourself a mea'ai 'ono (“delicious snack”) . The only trick was the fridge was the ocean and you got the fish with a spear .

That’s what poke was for ages . In fact, the word poke means “to cut crosswise into pieces .” (It’s pronounced like “okay” but it’s better than that, so inject a little more enthusiasm toward the end .)

Somewhere along the line the chopping word became the name of the dish itself, which then made its way to the mainland . Hawaiian chef Sam Choy, known as the “Godfather of Poke,” is credited with that transition, starting in 2013 with a food truck in Washington, then brick-and-mortar restaurants . Then it swam south and conquered Southern California . And now it’s all over Santa Barbara . Google it and you’ll find dozens of choices and dozens of recipes, featuring all kinds of ingredients, like edamame, miso, avocado, pomegranate, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, even grilled Hawaiian Spam, plus rivers of sauces and the traditonal sushi sidekicks of wasabi, pickled ginger, soy sauce, and rice .

There’s also straight-up poke, which is the specialty of Santa Barbara Fish Market, right on the harbor .

“Just chopped fish, nothing else,” said Brian Colgate, founder and owner of the business . “Other restaurants offer it over rice or salad . Here the focus is the fish .” And that fish is ahi tuna or salmon . But they also offer accompanists like sriracha and caviar .

Big seller? It is, especially in classic California weather . For some reason, poke is a sunny-day specialty, whereas people moved toward cioppino when it’s chilly .

“People are creatures of habit in that way,” Colgate said . “Even just on foggy days, when the fog lifts, people wake up and say I need some poke . It’s about socializing and celebrating . It’s a celebratory kind of thing . ”

He also praises poke for waking people up to the beauty of seafood . “It’s awesome to be able to connect people with the ocean in a really healthy way,” Colgate said . “As people have learned more about the infinite options, it’s really created an amazing platform to enjoy fish .

” — by Jeff Miller

Looking for an easy lunch? Chop up some cucumber, radish, green onion and add SB Fish Market salmon poke with left over rice and you have the two-minute lunch in a bowl.