Miro - Santa Barbara, CA

At the Bacara they have a first class restaurant, Miro, it was located just steps from our room and we could not wait to try their tasting menu. Leaving our taste buds up to the chef seemed like a adventurous plan for the evening!

To kick things off our amuse bouche was oyster with mignonette. It went down nicely and I enjoyed the salty, acidic punch!

These are when things started to get scary for me. That pretty plate contained a Fricassee of Burgundy Snails. A sweet carrot puree, chantrelle mushrooms and a parsley emulsion calmed my fears so I dug right in. Ahhhh!!! I could not eat another one. Snails taste just like you would imagine they do, like little earth dwellers. Melissa Good Taste was officially stumped by a snail!

Chanel Island Halibut - it was delicious in a parsley and almond milk, along blood orange and braised endive. Obviously this was my favorite of the whole night!

Hello Rabbit! Our next course was bacon wrapped sirloin of rabbit served with a cous cous medley of golden raisins, pistachio, cauliflower, petite carrots and Castelvetrano olives. My favorite with the use of the herb pan jus, it made the plating look pretty and tasted divine! 

Onward! The Humboldt Fog goat cheese served with (my favorite) slow roasted beets, pear and arugula. This dish is never not good, pretty common but always tasty!

This one is a mouthful. Vanilla ice cream with caramel "braised" pineapple, cinnamon sable, macadamia nut "nougatine" and Pedro Ximenez "nectar" - Did you get all that? Ha! Basically it tasted like a fruit sundae. It was good!

Keep up! Orange Blossom Beignets served with a Pistachio pot de creme. I loved the cream! I think they need to make them in large crocks and sell them in the gift shop as you check out of the hotel. I think I may have just come up with something... The beignets were heavenly, we were just really full to eat them! I guess we could have taken them back to room for a midnight snack! Shoot, that was an excellent idea! 

Awe, how sweet! Almond squares and peanut butter truffles. The truffles were a-MAZ-ing. We had to be rolled out of there because we were stuffed to the gills. Full on wine, food and excitement we couldn't wait to hop into the cozy bed that was waiting for us!

Cheers to such a wonderful year. Many more to come!