Fast, Casual, Healthy — New Urbane Café Fits Right in Goleta

The Goodland’s got a good, new, healthy, fast-casual food option with the opening of Urbane Café in late October. And from the looks of things when I went to check it out this week — and could barely get a table — word is catching on quickly. 

Owner Tom Holt opened the first Urbane Café in Ventura in 2003, with a mandate to make fresh, high-quality food a staple of the fast-casual experience. Focaccia baked from scratch in-house is one of the brand’s notable features, and the fresh bread on the Santa Maria BBQ roasted chicken sandwich I tried was key, setting an ideal stage for the barbecue sauce, applewood-smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and housemade apple coleslaw to play together nicely. 

The sandwiches all come with a nice house salad, and there is a wide variety of options, including a Bánh mì (both chicken and tofu options), pesto and sun-dried tomato with chicken, cranberry brie with roasted turkey, a southwest style with roasted chicken, a SoCal-style roasted chicken, a Californian veggie sandwich, as well as a bbq tri-tip, chimichurri steak, portobello mushroom, pastrami tri-tip, and a club sandwich. 

The hearty salmon bowl — made with barbecue-glazed salmon, mixed whole grain rice, marinated kale, roasted sweet potatoes, and edamame, with a sweet chili aioli drizzle — recommended by Store Manager Alejandra Sanchez (a wise hire, who worked locally for almost two decades at The Habit), was both tasty and filling, and a good deal at under $20 (most of the menu is in the $10-$17 range). Additional bowl options include seared ahi tuna, a mediterranean style, a baja style, and garlic sesame steak or chicken.

We also tried the excellent crunchy peanut salad, which has cilantro chicken on mixed greens, with assorted veggies as well as edamame, mandarin oranges, crispy onions, and honey-roasted peanuts. I’ll definitely order that one again. But the cilantro chicken and ahi salads also looked very tempting. 

The night we were there they were handing out free mini chocolate chip cookies that were soft and gooey and definitely housemade. I would definitely give the food a thumbs up for flavor and price and also variety. 

Another nice touch in the new Goleta store, as Alejandra pointed out, is that Carol Holt (wife of founder Tom) is an excellent photographer, and the photos on the wall are of UCSB students enjoying food from Urbane Café right on the nearby beaches. 

This is the 46th location for this California-born brand, but it’s the first one in the Santa Barbara area. “We love the Central Coast and are excited to bring our scratch-made menu to Goleta,” said founder Tom Holt, in an opening day statement. “The Santa Barbara community has been inquiring about a location for a long time — and we are thrilled that we are able to officially be a part of their amazing community. Their enthusiasm means a lot to us, and we look forward to serving them for years to come.”

Urbane Café, 7000 Hollister Ave., Suite 102, Goleta. Open Monday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday: 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. See urbanecafe.com.