Chace Duma

I love when life’s biggest developments hinge on the smallest of coincidences. In 2019, somewhere, somehow, I found a sticker with an alien skateboarding over the word “Nexustentialism.” It was the spring quarter of my freshman year and one of my darker times at UCSB; I was wandering listlessly around questions of the future, I was unpassionate, uninspired and unwell, self-medicating my then undiagnosed depression by steeping my brain in ungodly amounts of Phoebe Bridgers.

The first meal I remember truly loving was from a barbeque restaurant in my hometown when I was five or six. Eighteen years later, I still find it hard to beat a good barbeque meal. Barbeque summarizes everything I love about food. Barbeque is bold, it’s passionate, it’s messy, it’s unapologetically delicious.

The Daily Nexus On the Menu Team wants to ring in the new year by highlighting some recent changes in Santa Barbara’s restaurant scene. A recurring theme in our local restaurant coverage is documenting how the pandemic has made restaurant ownership more difficult for owners facing challenges such as supply chain issues and difficulties in hiring employees.