Lucky Penny ★ 3.5
Funk Zone pizza and wine bar in a building tiled with 150,000 copper pennies. Wood-oven pizzas, seasonal salads, and frozen rose at a back-patio counter.
OrderWood-fired artisan pizza, Frozen rose, Seasonal salads
The Funk Zone popularised a distinctive California-inflected wood-fired pizza in the 2010s, shaped by seasonal produce from the Saturday farmers market and the natural leavening tradition. Lucky Penny anchors the Funk Zone approach: counter-service, wine-bar-adjacent, wood-fired pizza alongside frozen rose in a penny-tiled room.
California pizza's modern form drew from Wolfgang Puck's Spago kitchen in the 1980s, which introduced California produce and smoked salmon to a Neapolitan format. The Funk Zone iteration developed in the 2010s when converted industrial spaces became restaurant venues: Lucky Penny opened its wood-burning oven in the penny-tiled building next to The Lark, treating naturally leavened dough as the primary ingredient alongside seasonal Central Coast produce.
1 editor pick for Wood-fired California Pizza in Santa Barbara, ranked by editorial score. All Santa Barbara signature dishes · Wood-fired California Pizza across every city.
Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide
Wood-fired California Pizza makes more sense with someone from Santa Barbara explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
Book food experiences in Santa Barbara
Guided tour · 3 hours
Santa Barbara: Funk Zone Food & Photo Tour
Feast your way through Santa Barbara's award-winning Funk Zone neighborhood while you learn about local history, discover local street art, and pick up a few easy food...
from$160 Check dates
Day trip · 6 hours
Santa Barbara: Wine Country Tour with Lunch
Join the group as we explore wines from boutique, family-owned wineries. We give you the full wine tasting experience by visiting a mixture of vineyards and small prod...
from$225 Check dates
Day trip · 7 hours
Santa Barbara: E-bike wine tour w/ transport, tasting, lunch
Experience the Santa Barbara Wine Country in the most immersive way possible, via e-bike. Enjoy a gourmet picnic lunch at a winery, and savor a flight of five wines at...
from$225 Check dates