The Palace Grill

The Palace Grill is the higher end of the choices for New Orleans/Cajun style cuisine in Santa Barbara. My preference by far is the Cajun Kitchen(s), although the De La Vina location is preferred over the others.

The differences between the Palace Cafe and the Cajun Kitchen actually balance the scales quite well. The Cajun Kitchen opens at 6:30 am and closes at 2:30 pm, the Palace serves lunch at 11:30, dinner at 5:30 until 10:00 or 11:00 pm.  The Cajun Kitchen has a long list of breakfast choices and serves Dixie beer. The Palace Grill has a long list of dinner choices and serves hard alcohol and Abita beer. Abita beer tastes a lot better than Dixie to me.

In my opinion, the Cajun Kitchen wins out in taste, hosts and hostesses, cooks and busboys and the dollar figure at the bottom of the bill. The Palace wins only in that it serves food while the Cajun Kitchen is sleeping, it has a liquor license, and if you want an authentic beer with your Jambalaya, you can order an Abita Amber or Turbo Dog.

It’s a good drive, but really there’s no substitute for a meal at Coop’s Place.