Sambo’s Santa Barbara Where It All Began
Pancakes with butter and syrup, a carafe of steaming coffee with real Half & Half, and the sunny beach with waves tickling the shore–are you California dreaming? There’s only one Sambo’s restaurant (sambosrestaurant.com) left in the world overlooking the beach and Stearns Wharf at 216 W. Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara, Calif. The last standing coffee shop created by SAM (Battistone) and (Newell) BO(hnett), who combined portions of their names in 1957 to create a breakfast rage, SAMBO’S, serves more than great food. It serves memories to those old enough to remember the heyday of the dynamo breakfast place. Sambo’s grew to over 1,000 restaurants nationwide, before its financial meltdown and return to only one–where it all began! It was mere coincidence that diner that serves breakfast all day had the name of a children’s storybook character. The story was adopted and became part of the identity Sambo’s restaurant. Today, you can buy logo merchandise and dine on the comfort foods that are park of America’s breakfast heritage–scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, Belgian waffles, bacon–delicious! When you go, try the Mama Mumbo Special that includes 2 Ranch eggs and 4 Sambo’s pancakes.
