Esau’s Cafe Closes in Santa Barbara After 76 Years

Since 1939 Esau’s Cafe in Santa Barbara has been serving up hearty breakfast and lunches that won acclaim from many travel magazines and on line postings from loyal customers. Today the grills are cold and the doors are closed.

Owner Scott Stanley said the rent has jumped by several thousand dollars a month at his 721 Chapala Street location and he could no longer keep the operation running with that financial burden.

He has been there since 2007 after being forced to relocated from his long time location on State St. and Gutierrez when that site was scheduled for remodeling. The State St. location, however, has never been improved and remains closed.

Customers hearing of the surprise shut down expressed sadness over losing this widely known and locally owned cafe.

Stanley reminds them he is still keeping his Carpinteria site open on Linden Ave. a couple of blocks from the beach.

Easu’s is one of the few remaining restaurants in Santa Barbara with a history of over 50 years. Many customers who dined there, came regularly, knew the staff like friends and had their favorite menu items.

The interior of Esau’s has an array of beach and surfing photos on the wall and locally crafted surf boards hanging from the ceiling. Those boards are being returned to the makers, and the restaurant equipment is being sold off in the next few days.

It’s unknown what will be going into the site in the future.

Esau’s story dates back to the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair.

The menu and online history tells the story like this:

Two vistors departed from the fair and returned to their homes to make decisions that forever changed the recorded history of their communities.

Elmer Hanson, a Santa Barbara restauranteur, had attended the fair looking to bring fresh new ideas back to his then small beach town. He instead discovered a talented and industrious young man in one of the food preparation areas of the great tented dining pavilion. That young man was Tom Esau.

W.C. “Tom” Esau had been raised in America’s heartland (Lincoln, Nebraska) from where he moved first to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then to San Francisco, to work at the year long World’s Fair.

Tom started working for Elmer Hanson at Elmer’s Restaurant (at 1014 State Street) where he found the kitchen and ideal showcase, allowing him to perfect and refine his talents. Elmer had two restaurants then; Elmer’s on State Street and another at the Greyhound Bus Terminal. Both were populr places for local crowds to congregate, but Tom Esau’s famous pancakes were developing a reputation at Elmer’s on State Street.

One of those attracted by Esau’s talents was Chris Prib, son of prominent Scandinavian family that owned, amoung other things, Radio Square (at Carrillo and De la Vina) and the 101 Restaurant near the intersection of Gutierrez and State Streets. Prib invited Esau to work at his newly opened 101 Restaurant, and Esau accepted.

Benny Bray bought the 101 Restaurant from Prib in 1952. Due to the interstate highway system, which would run a freeway right through the dining room, the restaurant was forced to close in December 1960. Bray, however, moved the operation out to Goleta where for many years Bray’s 101 sign was a familiar beacon for motorists from the north until its closing in 1987.

Tom Esau, on the other hand, decided that the time was right to start his own place. (Besides, who would want to live so far from town in such a sparsely populated and isolated community such as Goleta?) So, in January 1961, Tom Esau bought the Ha Da restaurant, which is the location of the original Esau’s Coffee Shop in Santa Barbara. It is the oldest continuously operating breakfast house.

Tom raised his family working in his restaurant, starting the tradition of home cooking, large portions, and pride in his work. His Midwest upbringing remains an influence on his original menu, with such popular items as grits and biscuits and gravey. His top secret pancake recipe using fresh buttermilk is the exact recipe used today, more than 60 years after he developed it.

Tom retired in November 1978. The current owners, Scott and Arti Stanley, have been continuing Tom’s traditions since then. For 25 years they have raised their family in the restaurant just like Tom did, and have been the recipients of many awards, such as Best or Most Popular Breakfast House in Santa Barbara.