Quick Take
Alderwood Santa Cruz, the city’s only restaurant listed in the prestigious Michelin Guide, has closed. The restaurant announced its decision on Instagram on Tuesday. A reason wasn’t specified, but news of the flagship restaurant’s closure comes after a turbulent year and half for Santa Cruz Sky, Alderwood’s parent company.
After six years, Alderwood Santa Cruz, the city’s only restaurant listed in the prestigious Michelin Guide, has closed. The restaurant announced its decision on Instagram on Tuesday.
A reason wasn’t specified, but news of the flagship restaurant’s closure comes after a turbulent year and half for Santa Cruz Sky, Alderwood’s parent company, owned by Santa Cruz resident Ahmed Hamdy.
In September 2023, Alderwood’s highly anticipated sister restaurant, Alderwood Pacific, closed its doors after just six months. During the pandemic, Santa Cruz Sky started a local chain of Flashbird restaurants, a fast-casual concept focused on fried chicken, but attempts to expand beyond its original location in Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz failed to take root. Locations in both Scotts Valley and the Pleasure Point neighborhood at the end of 41st Avenue closed after a few months.
The fate of the Flashbird kiosk inside Abbott Square – Santa Cruz Sky’s sole remaining storefront – is unclear. As of Tuesday, it was still open.
In March, 2024, Alderwood’s founding chef, Jeffrey Wall, under whom Alderwood earned its mention in the Michelin Guide in 2021, abruptly left his position. Neither party commented on the reason for the break, but the suddenness of his departure caught attention.
The restaurant won a lot of attention over the years for its cuisine, its uniqueness in the market – and a June 2020 restaurant incident that went viral. In that incident, a physical altercation between an off-duty employee, who was a person of color, and a group of patrons caused community outrage, which boiled over onto social media, and at least half of the staff quit in response. Though Hamdy condemned any “racism or bigotry” the restaurant was accused of, the damage to the restaurant was strong, and perhaps has had permanent impact.
Chef Mikey Adams, a Santa Cruz native who earned stripes at noteworthy restaurants throughout the U.S., joined Alderwood in August, and the restaurant reopened with a new menu in late summer. The new menu won some good reviews, but it’s unclear how much the public embraced the restaurant.
Sam Woods, Santa Cruz Sky’s former director of operations, also left the company last year for personal reasons. She joined the team in 2022 at what felt like a time of optimism and expansion for the company. During an interview with Lookout in 2022, she said that Santa Cruz Sky aimed to be at the forefront of downtown Santa Cruz revitalization post-pandemic, driven by an influx of wealth into the community during COVID.
In November, Flower Bar, a floral shop and café, also closed. Founded in 2021, Flower Bar was owned by Hamdy’s wife, Noha Gowelly Hamdy, and her business partner Sharon Schneider, and was a separate entity that did not fall under Santa Cruz Sky’s umbrella, but was considered part of the Alderwood family.
Lookout reached out to Alderwood but didn’t receive comment.
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