A Gala celebration

New restaurant’s long and winding road

by Jeff mIller

Many rainbows end in Santa Barbara. Some even start and end here. But few do that and, in the middle, roam as far around the globe as the story of Gala. It’s a seriously meandering rainbow.

To begin the journey:

Tara Penke is a third-generation Santa Barbara native (Cleveland Elementary, SB High School, UCSB). Her restaurant career dates back to high school, when she worked at Barcliff & Bair, Tupelo Junction, and True Grit. “I took the early chemistry class so I could work the lunch shift,” she recalled.

A month after graduating from the U, “I sold everything I owned and moved to Spain,” she said, adding, “very naively.” But it worked out. In between odd jobs she got an MBA and ended up working for Wrangler Europe, in charge of marketing for both Spain and Portugal. Then, one night through a mutual friend, she met Jaime Riesco.

A list of the places Riesco has roamed, learning to cook, almost spans the alphabet. But first, this:

A native of Chile, he and his parents left Santiago for London during the brutal Pinochet regime. When the family returned

What is a fried green tomato?” to Chile, Riesco earned a degree in economics. Then he seized an opportunity to return to London, where he worked as a commer- cial trader of Chilean goods. Eventually, bored with desk work, cooking started to simmer.

It began with creating Chilean food for trade shows, where he became intrigued by the notion of “transforming food into beautiful plates.” Along the way “I did a show on a London dock,” he recalled. It went well. “Oo,” he thought. “I like this.”

Very long story very short, that led to culinary school in Barcelona, then a job as chef for the Cirque du Soleil, traveling throughout Europe, cooking for performers from 17 nationalities. Then a jump to Berlin, where he and a partner opened a tapas shop. He loved the city, but the “miserable, cold, dark” third winter was too much. “I’m from Chile,” he said. “Lots of sun.” So back to Chile, then to the tiny beach town Trinidade in Brazil, where he cooked for a bed and breakfast. and then, finally, back to Barcelona, “where I lived the life of a chef.” And then, “Six months later, I met Tara.”

But wait, more rainbow ahead.

The couple moved to Manhattan, where Penke worked as a server at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant, JoJo, and Riesco cooked at Public, serving the likes of Beyonce and Ralph Lauren. “Very hip, Michelin star,” Riesco said. “Sixteen-hour days, horrible pay. But I learned a lot.” ing for a restaurant location. It took more than six years, but the result was worth the wait. The former Low Pigeon, on Anacapa, was available.

“It’s a dream location,” Penke said. “I used to eat at the Paradise across the street. My mom worked at the bank up the street. I played in the Youth Symphony at the Lobero. The neighborhood means a lot to me.”

Things happened slow and fast after that. Permits eventually came through. The Miramar Group did “an amazing job renovating,” she said. They were lucky finding a team, helped by both Penke and Riesco’s fluency in Spanish. (He’s also got German, Portuguese, and Catalan, thanks to those years on the road.) And then, in mid-February, Gala launched, with Riesco running the kitchen and Penke the front.

Word spread quickly. The 45 seats inside and the 35 outside were often full. They couldn’t buy enough oysters to satisfy demand. The menu is eclectic, as you might imagine from all that Cirque du Cuisine travel the couple has done. “Last week stuffed zucchini flowers were sold out every day,” Riesco said.

Penke sings the praises of the steak with chimichurri and bone marrow butter, the shrimp croquettes, the hash browns with home-cured gravlax, and the duck confit.