When creating a dining guide about Santa Barbara's seaside restaurants, I encountered a dilemma: how do you define "dining by the sea" when the whole city is by the sea?

To narrow down the selection, I decided to only review restaurants that were a stone's throw from the beach - literally. For each dining venue, I took a dark, smooth stone and threw it from the restaurant towards the beach. If I could hit the sand or ocean, the restaurant was included in this seaside dining guide. If I couldn't hit the sand or ocean (and I have a great throwing arm) the restaurant was excluded.

I rate these restaurants, not by price or quality, but by distance to the beach. 100 feet might mean I was across the street from the beach when I threw the stone. 0 feet means my chair is literally sitting on the sand.