With Fat Tuesday around the corner, the Palace Grill brings a taste of the Big Easy to the corner of Cota and Lower State.
Step inside and the whole room hums. Glasses clink. Laughter erupts. Brass notes spill into the dining room as patrons gather for a night of celebration, continuing a tradition that has played out here for decades.
While most places mark Mardi Gras just once a year, this scene unfolds at the Palace virtually every night.
For owner Georges Bitar, that’s exactly the point.
“In New Orleans, restaurants are gathering places,” he said. “You come for dinner and end up staying all night. That’s the experience we try to create here.”
The menu leans into Creole and Cajun traditions, built around fragrant, spice-forward flavors like paprika, cayenne, thyme, garlic and slow-simmered roux.
Familiar staples anchor the lineup: jambalaya, étouffée, gumbo, Chicken Tchoupitoulas and Creole crawfish crabcakes, with steaks, seafood and New Zealand lamb chops rounding out the menu.
The blackened Louisiana redfish is the restaurant’s most sought-after dish, available only when fresh redfish can be flown in from the bayous. Too delicate to grill, it arrives tender, flaky and deeply flavorful.
Equally enticing is the Cajun popcorn: lightly seasoned crawfish tails dipped in cornmeal buttermilk batter, flash-fried crisp and paired with a creamy sherry wine sauce.
Dessert is nonnegotiable. The Palace chocolate soufflé arrives warm and decadent under a pour of chocolate bourbon cream, while pillowy beignets, generously dusted with powdered sugar, feel straight out of the French Quarter.
“When you start with great ingredients, you don’t have to do much,” Bitar said. “You just let the food speak for itself. We’re not reinventing the Palace, just honoring what’s already here.”
Behind the scenes, the restaurant is part of a larger family effort to preserve some of the city’s most beloved local institutions.
Georges and his wife, Nicole, are no strangers to Santa Barbara’s restaurant scene.
The longtime locals lead The Bitar Group, which has steadily built a portfolio of neighborhood staples, including Via Maestra 42, The Chase Restaurant and Lounge, Milk & Honey and Via Maestra Enoteca.
Over the past several years, the Bitars have become known for stepping in when long-standing establishments face an uncertain future, restoring energy and keeping them rooted in the community rather than replacing them.
“We didn’t set out to build a restaurant group,” Georges said. “Friends came to us with places they loved and didn’t want to see disappear. One turned into two, then three, and we realized our role was helping keep Santa Barbara’s traditions alive.”
For Nicole, the Palace carries a deeper personal history.
“It’s been a place where my family has gone to celebrate and to enjoy great food and fun cocktails for the last 40 years,” Nicole said. “We have a passion and love for Southern cuisine and an even greater respect for the culture. Southern hospitality and the sense of family is what we wish to bring to the Palace. It’s really magical.”
With Mardi Gras in full swing, the celebration ramps up even further.
“Fat Tuesday here is big and festive. We try to make it feel as close to Mardi Gras in New Orleans as we can,” said Nicolas Bitar, 21, the Bitars’ eldest son who helps manage day-to-day operations at the Palace. “It’s a full-on celebration. That’s what the Palace is all about.”
This year’s Fat Tuesday menu leans fully into the season, offered as a $125 prix-fixe with a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert, plus two included drinks, with hurricanes and Caribbean rum punch among the cocktail options.
As they say in New Orleans: laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
