The Santa Barbara culinary scene can often seem stodgy — so slow to move thanks to old money set in older ways and because tourist dollars are easy targets for turn-and-burn spots that serve mediocre food. Or maybe paradise simply doesn’t need amazing eats on every corner, because it’s so darn easy-living beautiful anyway.
But the upscale all-day café is finally here, and we should all be thankful it’s Café Ana. It took more than two years for wife-and-husband owners Katherine Guzman Sanders and Julian Sanders to renovate the former Coffee Cat location. “Restaurant construction — always a joyful experience,” quipped Guzman Sanders sarcastically, before adding more seriously, “That bought us plenty of time to fine-tune the concept.”
The result is one of those chic spots like you may find in Melbourne or Brooklyn. In fact, Chef Ryan Whyte-Buck comes to Café Ana from a job at all-day café Golda in Bed-Stuy. “Great coffee, food, and wine” is how Guzman Sanders explained the formula. “You can get everything you need all in one place.”
