Resurrecting La Paloma Café

For all its historic charm and neon nostalgia, the Paradise Café — which closed in September after 37 years in business — was not the first restaurant to loom over the bustling corner of Anacapa and Ortega streets in downtown Santa Barbara, nor was it the establishment with the longest tenure there. That distinction goes to La Paloma Café, which Jennie Luera founded as a traditional Mexican restaurant in 1940 and ran with her daughters and grandchildren until 1983. 

This coming week, after rejuvenating the restaurant’s structures, style, and spirit, Acme Hospitality returns La Paloma to its perch as a neighborhood café. Instead of classic Mexican food, La Paloma is now serving oak-grilled meats, seasonal produce, and Mexican/Spanish/Chumash-influenced dishes under the banner of “Californio” and “ranchero” cuisine. Said Acme’s founder and owner Sherry Villanueva, “We wanted to go back to the roots of what was here on the corner that was beloved by the community.” 

The group behind such popular Funk Zone restaurants as The Lark and Loquita, Acme purchased the Paradise at the end of 2019. The plan was to continue operating the beloved café under that name, while modernizing the menu and dealing with years of deferred maintenance. But those goals quickly ran into complaints from all sides, and then came a pandemic, forcing reconsideration of the entire concept.