Hook & Line’s bar-raising sustainable seafood brings the star power back to a favorite downtown Santa Cruz spot

Before Santos Majano opened his new seafood-focused restaurant Hook & Line in the high-ceilinged, storied former Soif space on Walnut Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz in April, he had already earned a devoted local fandom over the past two decades for his highly seasonal, precise yet never too stuffy style of cooking. 

At Hook & Line, which he opened with business partner Lejla Borovac in April, Majano brings his familiar ethos of exceptional ingredients, often sourced directly from local purveyors, prepared with flawless technique, to a new theme: sustainable fish and seafood. In doing so, he has created a seafood restaurant unlike any other in the area. 

It was a pleasure to step back into the former Soif dining room, a star in Santa Cruz’s fine dining scene for 20 years before it closed in 2022. Majano and Borovac refreshed the spacious restaurant with the help of Santa Cruz-based Stripe Design Services, lightening up the formerly terra cotta walls with fresh white paint and bubble-like fixtures that drip from the ceiling. The bar is now open with seating on both sides, with a few discreet tables in the bar area to the right. It’s clearly already become an industry favorite; I saw more than one local chef and restaurateur sidle up for a plate of oysters and a well-mixed cocktail while I was there. 

Many, including me, first became acquainted with Majano when he was the executive chef at Soif from 2008 to 2014, where he created a menu of small bites, snacks and appetizers ideal for nibbling in between sips of evocative European wines. Later, Majano struck out on his own and established The Kitchen at Discretion Brewing, a tiny restaurant located inside the Soquel brewery with a menu of lively takes on pub fare, meant to be enjoyed with Discretion’s award-winning ales and lagers. 

The menu at Hook & Line follows a pattern that will be familiar to Majano fans, with an emphasis on small plates, some as succinct as one or two bites, others a bit larger. There are around a half-dozen entrees, too, that are worth experiencing, but the ideal way to approach the meal is to focus on the top half of the menu, wandering through three to four snacks before settling on a main course – if you even get that far. 

To Majano, “sustainable” means sourcing first from local waters and working out from there, while keeping environmental practices at the ingredient’s origin in mind. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to get stuff from Alaska or from Hawaii, but what it means is that first we look at what we have around us and then we get a little further away,” Majano told Lookout in April. 

In practice, that ethos has given center stage to intensely flavorful but less glamorous fish and seafood like mussels, trout and even high-quality tinned fish – there’s a short menu of conservas, served with grilled bread and house-made pickles. Silky cured trout and fluorescent trout roe were supported by two bites of brioche and a spoonful of creme fraiche ($10), and four deviled eggs ($8) became little umami bombs once topped with crispy shallot, tobiko and capers. 

Majano has a way of creating deep flavors while keeping the overall dish light and fresh. A perfect example is the ceviche ($21), made with firm-fleshed halibut, ripe avocado and – a delightful surprise – creamy sweet potato, all bound by a tart, barely spicy leche de tigre, a Peruvian marinade. It’s uncluttered but impactful, marrying flavors of the sea and land. I’m not too proud to say that I tipped the bowl back to capture every last drop. 

More than any single cuisine, Hook & Line’s menu is driven by the season, by what’s available at the farmers market that pops up every Wednesday a block away, and what’s brought to the restaurant’s doorstep delivered directly from local farmers, fishers and makers. It evokes a feeling of alive-ness across the board, like the risotto ($38), where earthy, tender morel mushrooms and crunchy ribbons of shaved raw asparagus were paired with crisp-skinned pieces of kampachi, or yellowtail. The scallops – impossibly buttery and maximally sweet – were decorated with zingy shiso, plump microgreens, wild ramp pesto and the tiniest, most delicate baby radishes I’ve ever seen. 

There is a whole section of the menu devoted to mostly fish-free vegetable dishes, like grilled cabbage with miso brown butter ($17). A small plate of fat sugar snap peas ($13), piled over goat cheese with mint, was transformed and blackened by a few seconds of high heat but retained plenty of crunch. 

The bar program was curated by Front & Cooper manager Patrick Ferraro, and leans bright and crisp. My Coriscan Highball ($15), a spritz-meets-gin and tonic minus the gin, was made with quinquina, a white wine aperitif with quinine, and was as refreshing and light a cocktail as I’ve ever enjoyed. The pretty Pink’s Margarita ($15) was sweetened with pineapple and left a nip of heat on the back of my throat. The wine list, created by Soif Wine Bar co-owner Alexis Carr (the wine bar split from the restaurant in 2022 and plans to live on in a new location), is similarly oceanic, favoring coastal wines that have an element of the sea to them. A glass of 2020 furmint ($16) from Tokaj, Hungary, washed over my palate like a crashing wave, leaving behind hints of white peach and green pear. 

When Hook & Line opened in mid-April, it hit the ground running with an ease and professionalism earned by Majano and Borovac’s many collective decades in the restaurant industry. Its vibe is approachable enough for a spontaneous drop-in after a day at the beach, but elevated enough that it will be top of mind for anyone seeking a special experience. And there’s more to come, including weekend brunch, a happy hour menu, a kids menu, and grab-and-go items for lunch. 

It’s been four years since Majano’s last kitchen closed, and two years since Soif’s last service, leaving two holes in Santa Cruz’s tight-knit dining scene. Now, Hook & Line is breathing new life in the storied downtown restaurant, and the light has turned back on.

Hook & Line is located at 105 Walnut Ave. in Santa Cruz; eathookandline.com.

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