The best things I ate in Santa Cruz County in July

Summer is still coming in hot, with meals and snacks throughout the county that encapsulate the season. 

Although I spent most of last month physically in Santa Cruz County, scanning the area’s restaurants for superlative bites, mentally I was relaxing on a sunny island, far away from my computer and deadlines. Luna’s Borikén Bites, which opened in May in Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz, supported this fantasy with vibrant Puerto Rican dishes made by chef Ali Luna, with a menu full of the flavors of slow-cooked pork, crispy tostones, ripe plantains and seasoned rice and beans. 

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

It’s also all about the tomato right now, and there are two places who know how to celebrate summer’s most luscious fruit. The BLT at Other Brother Beer Co. in Aptos has all of the right components – heirloom tomato, salty bacon, crisp lettuces and creamy aioli – on a soft bun, perfect with a cold pint. At Pretty Good Advice’s original Soquel location, find fried green tomatoes served with spicy remoulade that are the perfect snack for hot days. 

Pernil Plato De La Casa at Luna’s Borikén Bites

118 Cooper St., Unit B, Santa Cruz

lunasborikenbites.com | 510-750-9061

Tucked away inside the Octagon, a historic eight-sided brick building next to Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz, is a tiny Puerto Rican restaurant, but don’t let the size fool you. At Luna’s Borikén Bites (“Borikén” is the Indigenous name for Puerto Rico), owner Ali Luna packs huge flavors into a menu of dishes inspired by his culture. 

Luna is a professional musician and plays percussion in several Santa Cruz bands, including La Familia and Cuarteto León, and also has a long background in the restaurant industry. In the early 2000s, he opened and ran a restaurant in Oakland called Sofrito for five years. Luna opened Luna’s Borikén Bites in May, after several years of testing the concept as a pop-up. Now, his vibrant cuisine has a permanent home at Abbott Square, offering a taste of La Isla del Encanto in Santa Cruz. 

There’s a lot of good stuff here, from empanadillas frituras ($8), crisp, golden empanadas packed with shredded chicken, seasoned ground beef or cheese, to “loco tostones” ($15), a play on nachos with flattened and fried starchy plantains mounded with guacamole, pico de gallo, a choice of meat – I went with slow-roasted pork – and a drizzle of pink ketchup-mayo sauce. 

You can’t go wrong with one of Luna’s platos de la casa ($20), and you have choices: chicken or pork, yellow rice and beans or stewed pink beans with sweet potato served with white rice, and sweet ripe plantains versus starchy, fritter-like tostones. All of the plates come with a refreshing side salad with pickled onions and avocado. Whatever you decide, I highly recommend the incredibly tender and flavorful pernil pork shoulder, which Luna roasts every morning. 

When it comes to BLTs – the iconic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich – too many people are seduced by the bacon and forget that it’s really all about the tomato. The bacon is seasoning, a supporting role, not the star. (The lettuce, let us be honest, is just tagging along). BLTs are a summer food, as seasonal as blackberry pie and corn on the cob. It should never be made with a standard pale tomato, shipped in from god knows where. Nothing but a tender, perfectly ripe fruit is appropriate – any size, any color, but ideally still warm from the sun.

Chef Josie Lewis at Other Brother Beer Co. in Aptos, which opened late last year in the Aptos Village, appreciates the art form. Her BLT ($18) boasts thick heirloom tomato slices (I wouldn’t mind if they were a touch thicker), layered with salty bacon, crisp little gem lettuce and a garlicky aioli on a toasted brioche bun. It’s well-seasoned and layered to prevent slippage, while the soft bun absorbs the tomatoey juices. Grab it — along with a cold brew — before summer’s gone. 

Pretty Good Advice founder Matt McNamara might be the only chef in the county who’s also a farmer. Produce grown at the Pretty Good Farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Soquel regularly makes it onto the menus of his vegetarian fast-food restaurants in Soquel, downtown Santa Cruz and San Jose. Seasons shift faster than you might expect, so don’t sleep on these specials – they go fast.

Such is the case for the fried green tomatoes ($9), available only at the Soquel location for the next one or two months, McNamara told me. There, they slice unripe, vegetal slices of tomato, batter them in rice flakes and fry until deeply golden and crispy. Eat this vegan snack piping hot and dipped in the spicy remoulade sauce for a Southern-inspired taste of summer.

While you’re there, cool down with the fresh mint soft-serve ($6). This dairy-based treat is infused with mint and is utterly refreshing and sweet. For a richer indulgence, get it swirled with the dairy-free chocolate flavor. 

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