Quick Take
Chef Tim Wood, known for Woody’s at the Airport in Monterey, has been selected to take over the restaurant space at Watsonville Municipal Airport following the closure of Ella’s after 12 years. Airport staff are negotiating lease terms, which must be approved by the city council, with hopes that Wood’s new restaurant could open by the end of the year.
Monterey chef and restaurateur Tim Wood has been chosen over two other candidates for a shot at the restaurant space at Watsonville Municipal Airport.
On Sept. 12, a team of Watsonville airport administrators, led by analyst Alexandra Aguado, selected Wood’s proposal for a restaurant at the airport. The new restaurant would follow Ella’s at the Airport, which closed in June after a 12-year run. Airport staff and Wood have begun negotiating the terms of the lease.
The airport is owned by the City of Watsonville, but is operationally self-sufficient and doesn’t receive funds from the city. Nevertheless, the city council must approve the lease after the terms are negotiated. Airport Director Rayvon Williams told Lookout in August that he hoped a new tenant would open by the end of the year.
Williams said he “did not have any details” about Wood’s proposal or why it was selected, but said that Aguado plans to meet with Wood later this week. “We are in the nascent phase of this effort. As such we are not sharing the proposal presented by Woody’s at this time,” Williams said via email. The proposal will be included in the staff report presented to the city.
On Monday, Wood did return calls or an email asking if his Watsonville concept will resemble his two full-service restaurants in Monterey County.
Wood was the executive chef at Carmel Valley Ranch for 10 years before he opened Woody’s at Monterey Regional Airport in 2020. Over the past five years, Woody’s has served as more than an airport restaurant, becoming a neighborhood institution for its American fare, offering starters like chicken wings and fried calamari, large salads, a burger and steaks, pastas and seafood. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, including holidays. This month, USA Today readers nominated Woody’s at the Airport as one of the best airport sit-down restaurants in the country.
In 2023, Wood opened Woody’s at Del Mesa in Carmel Valley with a similar menu.
The Watsonville airport’s 2,400-square-foot restaurant and cocktail lounge is located in the airport municipal building, and boasts a 430-square-foot patio where guests can watch the planes take off and land on the nearby strip. The restaurant’s liquor license is also up for grabs, although it must be purchased from former Ella’s owner Chielo Apac. The Type 47 license, or “on sale – general eating place” license, allows a restaurant to sell beer, wine and spirits for consumption on site, and can’t be transferred to another location.
The liquor license is “extremely valuable” because the airport restaurant is one of the only places on the west side of the city that serves liquor and cocktails, Williams told Lookout in August, and added that it’s one of the things that sets the Watsonville airport apart. “There are very few airports in the area that have a full liquor license on the field,” said Williams. “Watsonville is unique in that way because we can serve the pilots and the community.”
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