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EAT THIS: DELICATA SQUASH RAVIOLI AT THE MIDWAY
It’s difficult to recommend a single dish at The Midway, chef Katherine Stern’s restaurant in Santa Cruz, because her commitment to using local ingredients means that her hyper-seasonal menu changes every day. On a recent trip to the restaurant, located just a couple doors down from the Rio Theatre, I told my husband, Mike, not to bother looking at the menu posted to the website on the way to the restaurant. “It’s going to be different when we get there, anyway,” I told him.
Sure enough, I was right. But at The Midway, it’s hard to dwell on the dishes of the past when seasonal plates like the tender, delicata squash-stuffed ravioli ($27), dotted with apple mostarda and crispy Brussels sprout leaves, show up on your table. I love this style of cooking because it invites the diner to enjoy the present moment, including the current shoulder season between summer and fall, when summer tomatoes and peppers are making way for autumn’s squash, apples and pears.
There’s a good chance that by the time you visit The Midway, this dish will have transformed or been retired in favor of something else. But I’m confident that you’ll be able to find a new favorite that will soften the blow.
While many of the best restaurants in Santa Cruz County source at least some of their ingredients from local farms, few share Stern’s commitment to creating a menu based almost entirely on what’s grown and produced within Central California. She estimates that she sources 95% of her ingredients – even pantry items such as honey, sea salt, capers, walnuts and miso – directly from farmers and Monterey Bay-based purveyors.
I spoke with Stern about the joys and challenges of this commitment. Read the story here.
BEST OF THE WEEK AHEAD
Below, find a curated list of the best food and drink events in Santa Cruz County for the coming week. At the top, I share my picks of unmissable local happenings.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
ICYMI – here are the food news stories from Lookout that you might have missed.
- 11th Hour Coffee reopens downtown hub after three-month remodel (Lookout)
- At Open Farm Tours, visitors explore small farms from Ben Lomond to Aromas (Lookout)
- Santa Cruz Wharf repairs, Dolphin Restaurant demolition planned (Lookout)
- Eaters Digest: Everett Family Farmstand (Lookout)
