Welcome to Lily Belli on Food, a weekly food-focused newsletter from Lookout’s food and drink correspondent, Lily Belli. Keep reading for the latest local food news for Santa Cruz County – plus a few fun odds and ends from my own life and around the web.
… Good news in Watsonville: El Frijolito – lovingly nicknamed “The Bean” – reopened on Nov. 8. It was closed for nearly two years in order to complete extensive renovations, which doubled the size of the dining room and expanded the kitchen and other facilities. The popular “hole in the wall” takeout window behind the restaurant will reopen in a few weeks.
One thing that hasn’t changed: the classic Mexican recipes that have made it a neighborhood favorite for almost 40 years. Last week, there was a line out the door that stretched down the block of hungry customers eager to order popular dishes like camarones a la diabla, chicken enchiladas and burritos. Read the story here.
… Downtown Santa Cruz has a new ice cream parlor. Nico’s Real Fruit Ice Cream, a Portland, Oregon-based chain, opened a shop on Locust Street in early November, its fourth shop after two locations in Portland and a third that opened on Cannery Row in Monterey in October.
What sets Nico’s Ice Cream apart from other nearby ice cream options like The Penny Ice Creamery, Mission Hill Creamery and Italian ice shop Izzy’s Ices? Real fruit – the current menu offers strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries – is blended to order in front of the customer with Nico’s house-made vanilla ice cream base using a special machine imported from New Zealand, resulting in a creamy soft-serve texture and an appetizing swirl.
The shop was previously home to Central Coast Juicery and, from April 2023 to its closure in August, it shared the space in collaboration with coffee pop-up Coffee Conspiracy. Central Coast Juicery juices are still available online through the website of parent company Central Coast Live Foods, and Coffee Conspiracy plans to open a coffee shop in a former Starbucks in the Capitola Mall early next year. Read the full story here.
… Tuesday afternoon, the Santa Cruz City Council will decide the fate of live outdoor entertainment at brewery Woodhouse Blending & Brewing in a meeting at Santa Cruz City Hall. In September, city planning commissioners unanimously granted a change of use to Woodhouse that would allow it to host live entertainment outside at its brewery and taproom on Madrone Street in an industrial area near the Sash Mill, but the decision was appealed by a nearby business owner shortly after.
Guy Mitchell, the owner of Lighthouse Windows, which is adjacent to Woodhouse, and his wife, real estate agent Stacey Mitchell, say they plan to eventually build an apartment complex on the site, and worry that the proximity to a live music venue would reduce the property’s value. According to the meeting’s agenda, the council will recommend a motion to deny the appeal. I’ll have the results later Tuesday.
… Former Lookout wine correspondent Laurie Love is still combing the area for the best local wines, and this week she met with André Beauregard, owner and wine buyer at Shopper’s Corner in Santa Cruz, to talk holiday deals. In a new blog post, Love shares 12 wines on sale for under $14 – most are under $10 – with tasting notes. They can be found on the “Wine Deals” rack in front of the frozen foods, to the left as you enter Shopper’s Corner. The prices are good through the end of the year, said Beauregard. Here’s the post.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
More Santa Cruz County restaurants are focusing on sourcing “sustainable” and “local” seafood, but while the shift toward environmental consciousness is a good thing for the ocean and for diners, these terms are nebulous. In this story, I spoke to local industry experts and chefs about how they define sustainable seafood. They offer suggestions on what to look for on restaurant menus, and outlined the challenges to using locally caught fish. Read the story here.
ON THE MENU
This week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will assess the risk of marine entanglement to determine whether or not the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season can open in early December. The fishing season has been postponed for the past six years due to an abundance of migrating whales off the coast, which can become entangled in the fishing gear used to harvest crabs.
The delays to the lucrative crab season have been devastating for local crab fishers. This week, I’m talking to some of them about the effect the postponements have had on Monterey Bay’s crab fishing industry, and what’s being done to protect fishers and preserve this part of our ocean economy.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Cooking with my 3½-year-old son, Marco, has transitioned from a stressful activity that usually resulted in one of us having a meltdown, to something that we both really enjoy. I’m not sure if it happened gradually or all at once, but now he can keep the whisk or spoon in the bowl while he stirs, and can dump and pour measured ingredients carefully with minimal spilling. He knows to take “a teeny bit” of salt from the bowl, instead a fistful. And he lets me put my hand over his hand to crack eggs, instead of trying to wrestle them from me and sending them flying across the kitchen.
Not only that, he can list the ingredients before we even get started. The other day, he asked if we could make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, and then went on to tell me everything we would need: flour, pumpkin – “to make it so yummy” – yogurt, baking soda, salt, an egg and butter. Parenthood is wild like that. Should I teach him to say “yes, chef” next?
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Eighteen states, including California, are grappling with yet another food-borne illness outbreak. One person has died and 38 have been sickened due to an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots. A recall applies to whole and baby carrots sold at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target and more. (NPR)
➤ Despite his campaign promise to lower the cost of groceries, President-elect Donald Trump’s other promises to deport undocumented immigrants and impose tariffs are likely to increase food prices, say economists. Fewer workers would lead to a domestic labor shortage, and high taxes on imported goods would raise prices on products from abroad. (The Atlantic)