Three Pickles Deli & the History of Jimmy's Oriental Garden

Our next stop was an educational foray into Santa Barbara's history...

but first, we had lunch at this building across the street from El Presidio of Santa Barbara...a place with its own unique history...

Theee Pickles Deli used to be the site of Jimmy's Oriental Garden, a popular bar ar which served Chinese food and cocktails in Santa Barbara since 1947.  It closed in 2006 and reopened in 2011 with two businesses within, Three Pickles Deli and the Pickle Room (a bar). More informational links about the history of this building are at the end of this post.


Bert and TC both got sandwiches while I chose a salad to shae.



It was quite crowded inside but we were able to find a table in their outside patio which shares space with neighboring Handlebar Coffee Roasters (that post is forthcoming because, yeah, coffee).

Their pickle bar - slices, chunks and pepperoncinis.



My large garden salad with avocado.

TC's Italian meatball sandwich. Nice, meaty and saucy.

Bert's half pastrami.

Both sandwiches were pretty good, especially the meatball (I had a few bites and really liked it). Bert really enjoyed the pastrami, which was flavorful from both the meat and the coleslaw.  The bread was nice and toasted as well. My salad was shared and enjoyed by all.  Plus I felt a little better eating something somewhat healthy.

Pickles from the bar:

Next door, the cocktails sign remains. Gone however is the Jimmy's sign, but actually that is INSIDE the Pickle Room, which is a bar only open in the late afternoon.  The old sign has a place of honor over the new bar's bar.









Sign on the western side of the building.

Vintage photos of Jimmy's:

(photos from DigitalCommonwealth, linked below)


(photo from EdHat, linked below)


(photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation)

Info about Santa Barbara's Chinatown:
"Santa Barbara's Chinatown" Cartas, January 2009

Articles about the history of Jimmy's Oriental Gardens:
"Three Pickles relishes historic new location" Independent, May 18, 2011
History of Jimmy's Oriental Garden, EdHat Santa Barbara
"Reincarnating Santa Barbara's favorite bar", Independent, Oct. 2, 2013
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"Documentary on the history of Jimmy's Oriental Gardens", Jan 16, 2015
"Grasshopper for Grandpa", history of 'Jimmy's Oriental Gardens' to premier at SBFF 2015", FBWorld, Jan. 28, 2015
+ vintage photos from "www.digitalcommonwealth.org

Articles about the new Pickle Room:
"Pickle Roomopens a new era for famed Santa Barbara bar" NoozHawk, Nov. 3, 2013

History:
www.sbthp.org

Three Pickles Deli
126 E. Canon Perdido St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 965-1015

threepickles.com + reviews from you know where

I'm glad that we stopped here. Nice folks, good food and an interesting history! We were on a limited time frame since the parking across the street was only for two hours and we still had to visit the Presidio as well...