Empty Bowl Fills Asian-Fusion Noodle Cravings

There remain a lot of yet-to-be-knowns for the Santa Barbara Public Market, the indoor mall of restaurants and gourmet retailers at the corner of Chapala and Victoria streets that opened in April. Most everyone who loves hand-crafted, artisan-minded food and drink wants the project to succeed, but many are curious whether all of the shops will survive and, if not, which ones will stand the test of time and rent? One thing’s for sure: The almost-always-bustling Empty Bowl Gourmet Noodle Bar is here to stay and may even expand to other locations in the years to come.

“I wanted to create that memory people have from traveling in Southeast Asia,” said founder and co-owner Jerry Lee, a familiar face on Santa Barbara’s fine-dining scene since he moved to town from San Luis Obispo in 1993. Amid jobs at Citronelle (where he rose to become wine buyer during 10 years of work), San Ysidro Ranch (where he helped relaunch the Stonehouse’s beverage program over eight years), and, most recently, as director of restaurants for the rebuilt El Encanto for a brief time, Lee always had his eye on starting something like Empty Bowl. The noodle-focused bar is best described as Asian fusion, tapping a broad array of cultural influences from China to the Philippines, but it mainly puts a creative twist on classic Thai dishes, all menu items relying on the freshest ingredients possible.

“I crave noodles,” explained Lee, and one reason is that, 14 years ago, he became good friends with Nui Pannak, another familiar restaurant face to many — she was the main waitress at Zen Yai on lower State Street for years. Though she never cooked at Zen Yai, Pannak was an amazing home chef, and Lee often left her home amazed and hungry for more. So when the Public Market’s visionary developer Marge Cafarelli called Lee one afternoon last summer to say that a spot had opened up, Lee quickly turned to Pannak. Together with his friend Emre Balli, a sommelier from both San Ysidro and El Encanto, the pair began to hash out a plan.