Chefs bring punk rock energy, wood-fired dishes to Death Box pop-up in former Alderwood

The fish carcasses hung from the light fixtures are the first clue that Death Box, a pop-up inside the former Alderwood in downtown Santa Cruz, definitely isn’t the same pricey, chic restaurant that was here before. 

Other clues are the frenetic thumping of early-1980s punk rock — Fear’s “I Don’t Care About You” — beating its way out of the speakers, the psychedelic Santa Cruz Skateboards stickers slapped onto flat services, and the battered skateboard decks decorating the shelves. While guests can take a seat at the same wooden chef’s counter in the same blue-upholstered chairs, the new tenants are painting the former fine-dining spot with a fresh vision. 

The chefs behind the temporary concept — how temporary remains to be seen — are Lance Ebert and Mikey Adams. They have teamed up to offer a short, changing menu of smoke-kissed dishes prepared over the kitchen’s open hearth, such as umami-packed sandwiches, salads and ramen, as well as deeply golden sourdough loaves and hand-piped cannoli. Pop-ups are held on Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m., Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a menu that shifts among brunch, lunch and dinner. 

Both chefs are lifelong skateboarders, and “death box” refers to the exposed filter box inside an empty pool, because, as Ebert explained, “if you skate over it, you might die.” Inside Death Box, he and Adams combine their culinary skills three times a week to workshop dishes and create buzz. Their goal is to raise enough capital through sales and investors to open a full-service restaurant in the not-too-distant future, either at this location or a couple others in Santa Cruz County that they’re considering. 

Ebert has become well-known in the county over the past four years, first for selling fresh cannolis and focaccia off the back of his Vespa during the pandemic under the name SC Bread Boy, then for pop-ups featuring dramatic, lacey-edged smash burgers. Last summer, he opened Emerald Mallard in the former Cremer House in downtown Felton, where he expanded his menu from burgers and fried-chicken sandwiches to include a rotating fanfare of French-inspired dishes. He also created a robust in-house bakery, offering sourdough loaves, baguettes and cannolis on the weekends. 

Last summer, he met Adams, who grew up in Santa Cruz and returned to the area last year to head Alderwood at the end of its run, after spending most of his career at high-end restaurants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In the mid-2000s, Adams worked at Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola and at Soif with chef Santos Majano, who Adams said opened the door to the fine-dining community for him. From there, Adams went to work in multiple Michelin-starred kitchens, became “obsessed,” he said, with cooking over live fire, and went on to become the executive chef at Restaurant 1833 in Monterey as well as Proper Hotel and Angler in San Francisco.

But for Adams, who lives near Capitola with his family, there’s no place like home. “Everything I did in all those years was because I wanted to come back to Santa Cruz,” he said. At Death Box and a future restaurant, he hopes to share straightforward fare amplified with ingredients from local producers and complex culinary techniques. 

On Sunday, the brunch menu was brief: avocado toast on grilled bread ($20), a simple salad with farmers market-sourced greens ($16), sourdough country loaves ($13) and cannolis dipped in pistachios, chocolate chips or nontraditional toppings like candied hazelnuts and Fruity Pebbles breakfast cereal ($8-9). But when they arrived, these simple dishes were turned up to 11. 

Creamy avocado was seasoned with a harmony of flavor boosters that ranged from a hippy favorite Spike seasoning to deeply rich yet delicate shiro dashi made with white soy sauce, bonito flakes and smoked fish bones. That blend was smeared thickly over rosemary-infused butter on hefty tranches of sourdough toasted on a yakitori grill. Each slice was decorated with Fresno chiles and scallions, and crowned with a jammy egg and dusted heavily with salty cured egg yolk. The salad, a mix of tender and crunchy lettuces with fragrant soft herbs — shiso, purple basil and tarragon — was bound by a tangy Thai-like dressing with Meyer lemon, jalapeño and garlic. 

Adams enjoys aging meat and fish to bring out more complex flavors and textures, and believes in respecting animal ingredients by using everything — hence the fish carcasses, which he uses to create powerfully flavorful broths. He hopes to bring what he’s learned in Michelin-starred restaurants and apply it to a casual setting. “We can offer special food and all those details to people at an affordable price,” he said. 

Ebert has found a kindred spirit and mentor in Adams. Both are committed to sharing their craft with their community while creating a positive, uplifting work environment for their coworkers and staff, all of whom are addressed respectfully as “chef,” regardless of their position in the kitchen. 

As Ebert turns his focus to these new projects, he has trimmed the more complicated French-inspired dishes from the menu at Emerald Mallard, while keeping the smash burgers, fried chicken and salads. That style of cooking will reappear once the pair opens their forthcoming restaurant — and yes, they have a name, but no, they’re not telling. At the new spot, Adams will be the executive chef and Ebert will be the head baker, where he’ll be in charge of the bread program, desserts, pastas and products like pâtés en croûte, terrines and pithivier, a type of meat pie. “That’s what really calls to me,” said Ebert. 

Skateboarding and music, in addition to an uplifting guest and worker experience, will be central to the vision, they said. “We want to make it into a comfortable space, and not one that feels stuffy, like you need to have a shirt and tie to come in,” said Adams. “That’s not Santa Cruz at all. Santa Cruz is a counterculture town. It thrives off that, and that’s what I love about it.”

155 Walnut Ave, Santa Cruz.

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