Secret Bao in downtown Santa Barbara serves modern Asian cuisine and, in our view, the creativity and experience of the owner/chefs, takes their food to the level of extraordinary.
Judging by the crowd on a recent Wednesday evening, Secret Bao, at 1201 Anacapa St., may not be so secret anymore.
Peter Lee and his wife, Felicia Medina, are the team behind the success, and they’ve been cooking and working together since 2009, when they met in culinary school.
Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, but raised in the Bay Area, and decided on a career in restaurants while in college.
He had talked to friends who were working office jobs, and, “They hated them,” he said, “I didn’t want to get stuck in that world.”
Medina, originally from the Inland Empire area of Southern California, told us, “I grew up cooking with my Chinese/Cuban grandmother, using my Easy-Bake oven.”
She found that cooking came easily to her, and enrolled in culinary school straight out of high school.
Secret Bao’s owners — husband and wife Peter Lee and Felicia Medina, with their son, Raiden — have taken a circuitous route to their Santa Barbara restaurant, working in kitchens far and wide, including their own apartment’s. From there came the idea for an Asian pop-up concept, which led to a place of their own at 1201 Anacapa St. in Santa Barbara. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Blistered sugar snap peas with burrata, roasted bell pepper vinaigrette, pistachios and Japanese chili is the whole dish. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Chef Peter Lee and a teammate prep dumplings in Secret Bao’s open kitchen. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Momma Lee’s grilled Korean beef short ribs with bossam sides is a dinner delight at Secret Bao in downtown Santa Barbara. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Secret Bao features its own wine program. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Be sure to save room for a doughnut dessert bao with ice cream of your choice. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Team Secret Bao. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Judging by the steady stream of customers, Secret Bao’s secret is out. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo 
Welcome to Secret Bao. Credit: Rob Raede / Noozhawk photo
For those new to this sort of cuisine, a Bao is a steamed bun similar to a light puffy dumpling, but can be flattened out a bit to hold fillings, sort of like a taco.
Secret Bao offers a Bao menu that includes crispy grilled Spanish octopus (our favorite), pork belly with persian cucumbers, and Korean fried chicken with cole slaw and scallions.
But the menu is much more than Bao, and includes Let’s Go Eat Team favorites like The Mama Lee’s Ribs (order with the “bossam” accompaniments), the 5 Spice Duck Noodles, and the Asian pear/Avocado salad.
To keep the menu fresh, Lee and Medina said, “We challenge ourselves with this game … what’s the least best thing on the menu right now? How can we improve it? Should we replace it?”
Prior to starting their own place, they’ve worked together and separately at well-known restaurants like Solbar and El Dorado Kitchen in the Napa Valley, Joël Robuchon and Jaleo in Las Vegas, and four years at Santa Barbara’s own Loquita.
Lee even worked at the somewhat less well-known Der Wienerschnitzel in Lancaster, where, he said, smiling, “I learned a lot — both good and bad.”
“The El Dorado (where they worked together) was where we learned how a well-run kitchen operates,” they both agreed.
A glance at the Secret Bao kitchen, which is open to the dining area, suggests lesson learned. Each of the staff of 20 or so seems to know exactly what they should be doing without anyone saying too much.
In 2016, while in Las Vegas, Lee got a call to interview for the executive chef job for a place just opening in Santa Barbara: Loquita.
“As part of the interview, they wanted me to cook a paella, which I had never done before,” he recalled. “‘No problem,’ I said.”
Fortunately, his wife was a chef at José Andrés’ place, Jaleo, and she taught him how. Loquita hired them both.
Four years later they left Loquita to open their own restaurant, but the COVID-19 pandemic intervened. So during the lockdown they tried a pop-up Asian food concept out of their apartment, which was an immediate hit.
They rapidly outgrew their apartment kitchen and convinced the owners of Handlebar Coffee Roasters to let them take over some unused food-prep space.
“On opening night we hoped to serve 30 or 40 customers,” Lee told us, “but the line was out the door and an hour long.”
Seven months later, in March 2021, they finally opened that place of their own, calling it Secret Bao for their time as an underground apartment-based restaurant.
What should a first-time visitor know?
“Some people only order a beer and a Bao, and that’s fine,” Medina said, “but they’re kind of missing out on the other dishes we’re creating.”
And they’d be missing out on Medina’s recommendation to pair the Stolpman Sangiovese with the ribs.
The Let’s Go Eat Team boldly took that challenge. Result? Instant regulars.
Locals Only
Paella is on the “secret menu,” but you have to ask for it. And be prepared to wait a bit.
When You Go
Secret Bao is open for lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and until 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. It’s closed Monday and Tuesday.
