The best things I ate and drank in Santa Cruz County in June

With June came the bustle of summer fun as the season’s produce entered a time of sweet abundance. My favorite bites reflect this giddiness and glorious bounty and can be found at several food businesses that launched last month, or added fresh menu items. 

No Santa Cruz County summer experience would be complete without a day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and a new smash burger is worth the visit on its own. A year in the making, the Davenport Roadhouse entered the season with renovated rooms, more events, and a San Francisco-trained chef. She added memorable comfort foods to the restaurant’s list, including a barley bowl with kale, banana peppers and dates that I would happily drive up Highway 1 for. 

The best things I ate in Santa Cruz County in: January | February | March | April | May

If you love sweet corn, head to Pacific Cookie Company’s downtown shop, where a blue corn cookie offers a twist on one of summer’s most beloved flavors. On Santa Cruz’s Westside, H&H Fresh Fish Co. is offering made-to-order poke bowls at a new shop topped with Monterey Bay salmon, a traditional taste of summer on the coast that returned after a three-year hiatus. 

Business partners Ginny Miller, Gavin Parsons and Cascade Dewitt took ownership of the Davenport Roadhouse last summer, and over the past year they have invigorated the historic Highway 1 landmark with an outdoor event space, nine cozy and freshly styled rooms at the upstairs inn and the first-floor restaurant, bar and lounge. 

This spring, chef Jessie Curran joined the team, and her menu of playful seasonal dishes and California comfort food reflects the Roadhouse’s relaxed coastal spirit. Among the fried rockfish and chips, Cash Smash burger, and pimento grilled cheese sandwich are bright vegetable-focused appetizers and entrees. Don’t let memories of other tough, leafy salads turn you off from the barley bowl with kale ($18). Spicy peperoncini add punch and sweet dates lend depth and sweetness to this hearty and refreshing meal or shareable side. 

I kicked off the summer like many Santa Cruzans, with a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. In June, I rode the Vertigo 360, a new pendulum-like ride that flips riders upside down at six stories high, offering oddly serene inverted views of Monterey Bay. 

While I came for a dizzying thrill, I’ll return for a burger. After thoroughly reporting last year on the Boardwalk’s commitment to offering modern amusement park food made with from scratch ingredients, my expectations were high for several 2026 releases. Still, I wasn’t expecting to discover one of the best smash burgers in the county. 

Boardwalk Executive Chef James Squassoni spent two months developing a definitive recipe for Dipper Smash Burgers & Milkshakes, a cheery burger stand that opened near the Giant Dipper roller coaster in May. The result is a classic: 80/20 Angus beef smeared on a hot griddle, with softened white onion and gooey slices of American cheese with three pickles on a potato bun ($13.99 or $18.99 for a combo with fries). Definitely opt for the house-made roasted jalapeño and garlic sauce, and don’t skip the addictively tangy salt & vinegar french fries ($6.29). 

Pacific Cookie Company has been a staple in Santa Cruz since 1980, and as such, people have their go-tos. For years, I always reached for either a chocolatey Dr. Midnight or a nutty Almond Joe when I visited the Pacific Avenue shop. In June, my historic favorites were unseated by the blue corn cookie ($1.60). 

The first thing that caught my eye was the color. While the outside is a rich brown, the inside is blueberry blue – not exactly a coincidence, according to Pacific Cookie Co. President Cara Pearson. The blue color comes from anthocyanins naturally found in blue corn, the same antioxidant found in blueberries, she said. 

Pearson was inspired to create a corn cookie, but found most versions too sweet. She had an “aha” moment while munching blue corn tortilla chips, and fell in love with Marsh Hen Mill’s heirloom grains grown in South Carolina. “We made one batch of a simple recipe with a touch of honey and were hooked,” she said. 

With a tender yet crackling crumb and a rich nutty sweetness from corn and honey, the flavor and texture of the blue corn cookie is more dynamic and less sugary than a typical chocolate chip. It’s available indefinitely at the downtown shop. 

In June – and just in time for the second full closure of the Murray Street Bridge – Santa Cruz Harbor’s H&H Fresh Fish Co. opened a second location in Santa Cruz’s Westside neighborhood. The storefront, located in the Swift Street Courtyard, offers a sustainably-sourced seafood counter and a market with owners Hans Haveman and Heidi Rhodes’ favorite sauces, spices and ingredients, like the original harbor shop. 

But the Westside location also boasts a menu of meals and appetizers, like oysters on the half shell ($3 each), tuna crudo with yuzu ($12), ready-to-eat onigiri, poke and sashimi (MP), and made to order poke bowls ($15). Each bowl starts with a scoop of house-made tuna or salmon poke over rice, salad, or nacho-like wonton chips, with seaweed salad, cucumber salad and bright orange tobiko, aka flying fish roe. I couldn’t resist the Island style poke made with salmon caught off our coast, mixed with chili paste, sweet onion and shoyu. Don’t forget to add crushed macadamia nuts ($0.50) for extra crunch. 

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