A first-time visitor to Globe may struggle to determine whether this newest entry to East Cota Street’s restaurant strip is indeed a place to eat or just drink cocktails. The tables are all of different heights, shapes, and orientations; leather-y love seats mingle with leopard-print bar chairs; and the glitz-kitsch décor of fancy chandeliers, velvety lampshades, ornate mirrors, and bedazzled battens gives off more nightclub buzz than sit-down vibe. And that’s exactly the point.
“It’s a Disneyland for adults,” said co-owner and creator Laura Knight, who first developed the concept years ago. “It’s in between a restaurant and a bar — it’s a small-plates lounge.”
Globe’s menu, as its name implies, reflects cuisines from all around the world: from crab Rangoon and veggie pot stickers to green-chile-chicken enchilada and tortilla-lime soup to rosemary-crusted lamb chops and watermelon-mint-feta salad. The kitchen is open late, and, most inventively, the dishes all cost $10 or less, quite a rare bargain for stylish dining in the skyrocketing rentsville of Santa Barbara. “We tried to create a menu that everyone could afford,” said Knight, who’s owned and operated the ever-popular State Street trattoria Pascucci since 1993. “We priced it so affordable that we don’t need a happy hour,” added managing partner Gerry Cruz, who spent most of his career “rescuing restaurants” in Arizona.