For being so old, the Dutch Garden is often the newest thing that a curious diner or drinker can find in Santa Barbara.
That happened to me, twice actually: first, when I visited around the time of my UCSB graduation in the late 1990s, quite surprised to find something like the beer gardens I’d visited while backpacking through Europe; and then again, around a decade later, when a friend introduced me to Klokke Roeland, the sneaky strong Belgian ale that flows exclusively at the Dutch.
I’ve since returned the favor to numerous residents and visitors, and they’re unanimous in their excitement that such a storied place exists, serving classic German plates such as schnitzel and sausage alongside house favorites such as pastrami with grilled onions and the Strammer Max, a grilled ham and Swiss served open-face with two eggs. The beer list of real European beers also never fails to enthuse.
Since opening in 1945 — “Dutch” being more acceptable than “German” at the end of World War II — the Garden has only seen a handful of ownership changes. But there have been three in just the past six years. The first was the end of tenure for longtime proprietor Ken Luetjen, who took over in 1985 and ran it until 2020. (We gave him a Foodie Award back in 2017.)…