When We Want the Funk brought oyster, flatbread, and bubbly vibes to the heart of Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone last winter, owners Ted and Greer Ellis pledged to pour frosé, the rosé-meets-slushie concoction cooling down wine-lovers’ gullets across the globe. They did so, installing not one but two slushie machines, one of which is pouring the refreshing “traditional” rosé base with a hint of agave syrup.
The second slushie slanger, however, is where the intoxicating innovation is underway. Instead of wine, Ted is using Ysidro, the sake-based, grapefruit- and sea salt-flavored spritz developed in Montecito. Amplifying the drink’s natural ingredients, he lines each glass with a housemade grapefruit sea salt rim, and the result is casually delicious and very thirst-quenching, if occasionally brain freeze-inducing.
“People love it because it’s summery, and it’s not as sweet as the frosé,” he explained. “It’s perfect with the oysters, perfect with the flatbreads.” Try it out at 210 Gray Ave. # A; (805) 837-8584. See wewantthefunksb.com and ysidro.com.