Santa Barbara Community Builders (2013) | Page 42

Enterprise Fish Company Is a Santa Barbara Favorite After 35 Years of Serving Great Food, food, friendly service, and a rocking happy hour brought everybody back to the old brick building, former home of the Enterprise Laundry, which serviced local area hotels. Bank and Laferr honored that era of Santa Barbara’s history by keeping the Enterprise name. “We are working toward a totally sustainable menu, and we hope to continue to present new and exciting menu offerings, but most of all we’ll just keep making this a place where people can feel at home and get great seafood,” said Bank. 225 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 962-3313 www.enterprisefishco.com L ast year, when the Enterprise Fish Company rolled back prices to celebrate 35 years of serving Santa Barbara some of the best seafood on the South Coast, people stormed the doors of the building with its familiar smokestack trademark. It was the culmination of decades of dedication, hard work, and an early financial gamble by the cofounders, Michael Bank and Randy LaFerr. “It is wonderful to see,” said Bank. “We were almost overwhelmed by the number of people who came in to help us celebrate. It’s nice to know that we are a part of the fabric of Santa Barbara.” The continued success of the friendly restaurant and bar on lower State Street is based on the consistent quality of the food and service and its highly popular happy hour. “Our lobster specials on Monday through Thursday nights are a popular part Santa Barbara Community Builders of our signature menu,” said Bank. “We serve a two-pound Maine lobster for $29.95, and people really love it.” Executive chef Bruce Choi is also known for superb and innovative salmon dishes and other seafood and American cuisine offerings. Happy hour draws locals and visitors alike in a cacophony of conversation, laughter, and clinking glasses. Televisions line the walls, so ball games are always easy to catch. Bank and LaFerr opened the restaurant not long after graduating from UCSB, but they soon split with their financial partner, who took over the restaurant, while they assumed ownership of a second restaurant in Santa Monica. In 1991, Bank and LaFerr took a gamble and repurchased the now struggling original restaurant and added a partner, Michael Schmidtchen. Great “Our lobster specials on Monday through Thursday nights are a popular part of our signature menu.” Santa Barbara Community Builders 45