Quick Take
A Santa Cruz chef and commercial kitchen owner plans to transform the former Burger. and D20 Pizza restaurant space on Mission Street into the Cruz Room, a collaborative hub for food, music and art with multiple businesses under one roof. Established pizza pop-up Sleight Of Hand has already signed on, and owner Matisse Selman is seeking additional partners to bring the community-focused concept to life.
A former chef and commercial kitchen owner wants to transform an empty restaurant building on Mission Street in Santa Cruz into a hub of food, music and art called the Cruz Room.
That might sound like a big dream, but owner Matisse Selman believes that the key to success for the large space is collaboration, with several businesses operating under the same roof, buoyed by a shared bar, free arcade games and live entertainment.
“I’m creating this space for people who have families, and students, and anyone who wants to hang out,” said Selman. “It’s about the experience. It’s gotta be fun.”
His vision aims to revitalize a blockish, 3,300-square-foot restaurant at the corner of Mission Street and Bay Street, the former home of Burger. and the short-lived D20 Pizza, which closed in February.
Although it sits at a major intersection, across the street from an elementary school and next to a vital bus stop for UC Santa Cruz students, its large footprint and limited parking have made attracting a new business difficult.
Selman is uniquely positioned to facilitate a metamorphosis. A Santa Cruz native and former chef, he operates two commercial kitchen spaces in the county: Extra Kitchen on Potrero Street and Kitchen 831 on Soquel Avenue. Between 15 to 25 tenants rent his facilities, from nonprofits like Teen Kitchen Project and food trucks like The Real Taco, to farmers market stalls like Adorable French Bakery and creators of wholesale products like Happy Jackal Salsa.
After updating the building last year with a fresh coat of paint, cleaning and some much-needed repairs, Selman is using his knowledge and connections with small food businesses to create a place where they can thrive. Ultimately, he’d like to have a café open for coffee and breakfast items in the morning through the early afternoon, and then two food businesses open for dinner in the evening.
Selman would manage the bar in-house and coordinate a rotation of local bands, trivia nights and other community events. He’s also partnering with Mattie Leeds, a well-known ceramics and visual artist. As the Cruz Room’s artist-in-residence, Leeds will create murals, showcase pottery and participate in live events.
One established pop-up and catering business has already signed up: Sleight of Hand Pizza, owned by multi-time World Pizza Champion Justin Wadstein. Wadstein, who also earned medals for his acrobatic pizza-spinning skills, started Sleight of Hand in 2017 and regularly hosts pop-ups throughout the area, in addition to throwing pies at private events and weddings.
The Cruz Room will be its first brick-and-mortar location, operating six nights a week. Guests sitting at the bar will have a front-row seat to the Neapolitan-style pies sliding into and out of the wood-fired oven.
Wadstein said a shared space in the Cruz Room is ideal for his business, because he’s not taking on the risk of an entire restaurant while offering a sit-down experience for his customers.
“We can still keep up with our catering and we’ll be able to grow our staff. It’s a very manageable staff,” Wadstein said via text as he competed in the World Pizza Games in Las Vegas on Wednesday. He also hopes to add appetizers and other menu items that aren’t typically available at his pop-ups.
Several critical components still need to come together. Selman is looking for the two other businesses to add to the roster before he opens the doors, and said he’s open to creative business ideas, even monthslong pop-ups or residencies.
“I’m looking for professionals that are ready to take that next step,” said Selman. “I don’t want somebody to come in and just fry frozen chicken wings and egg rolls. We’re looking for fresh, good food.”
Selman grew up in Santa Cruz and attended culinary school before working at area restaurants in the late 1990s. In the early 2000s, he established a prepared sushi business called Sushi Now! that distributed to local grocery stores such as New Leaf Community Markets, and built a commercial kitchen space to accommodate his growing business. When markets began making sushi in-house, he pivoted, and opened the kitchen to tenants in 2010, offering management and consulting services in addition to a professional workplace.
“I love it,” Selman said of his career path. “It’s like working with [reality TV series] ‘Shark Tank.’ All these entrepreneurs come in and they have these big ideas, and it’s like, ‘OK, let’s channel it. What do you really want to do?'”
To create the Cruz Room, he’s drawing inspiration from other collaborative spaces, particularly 11th Hour Coffee’s downtown Santa Cruz location – formerly called The Food Lounge – which houses a coffee shop, a bar, ramen shop Full Steam Dumpling and fried chicken sandwich spot Chubbs Chicken Sandwiches, as well as hosting live events. Abbott Square Market in downtown Santa Cruz also draws crowds to nearly a dozen privately owned dining kiosks, such as Pana Venezuelan Food and Cat & Cloud coffee, which share seating and outdoor event space with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.
Selman also aspires to emulate the vibe of a beloved Santa Cruz hangout: Caffe Pergolesi, which closed in 2017.
“It was the coolest place, and I want it to be cool like that,” said Selman. “You’re not just coming to eat and go. You can, but you’re missing out on the experience.”
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