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. Check out all of my food and drink coverage here.
… If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me whether or not the beer garden in the old Wienerschnitzel lot on Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz will ever open, I would definitely have enough to buy myself a couple of pints at Beer Run Santa Cruz. The unopened sibling to Beer Thirty Bottle Shop & Pourhouse in Soquel and Beer Mule Bottle Shop & Pourhouse in Watsonville has been in progress for the last eight years.
But the opening is on the horizon, co-owner Kym DeWitt told me. Expect a similar experience to Beer Thirty and Beer Mule, with almost 40 draft beers, a bottle shop and a menu of craft hot dogs – a nod to the lot’s former tenant – from Guz Bros, who did their menu in Watsonville.
So, what’s taking so long? Over the years, a variety of different business opportunities and setbacks have pulled the owners in different directions and slowed the opening process, says DeWitt.
Check out the full story here.
… At the end of June, West End Tap & Kitchen, a 10-year-old restaurant operating seven days a week in the heart of Santa Cruz’s buzzy Westside neighborhood, relaunched as Izakaya West End, with an entirely new Japanese-inspired concept and menu.
The flatbreads, meat and cheese boards, duck fat popcorn and the rest of its American fare is gone. It’s still a gastropub – loosely translated, “izakaya” means “pub” – with shareable appetizers (I loved the pork belly-stuffed steamed bao buns), large salads and hearty mains, but now draws from Japanese culinary traditions and flavors. There’s no sushi, but a raw section offers intriguing takes on sashimi, fresh oysters and carpaccio-like beef tataki.
Owners Quinn Cormier and chef Geoff Hargrave told me that a change had been in the works for years. “I feel that the modern American gastropub concept is diluted. Not that it’s not great, but there’s just a lot of it around,” Hargrave said. “Quinn and I felt that the bigger risk was staying the same.”
See the full story and new menu rundown here.
… Dos Pescados, a new Mexican seafood restaurant in the former Palapas Restaurant Y Cantina in the Seascape Village, opened last week. It’s currently in its soft opening and is serving a limited menu while the staff gets the hang of things. Its full menu launches tomorrow, with an emphasis on sustainable seafood, bold Mexican flavors and seasonal ingredients from nearby farms.
The two owners, Brandon Smittcamp and chef Trent Lidgey, are new to the area but not the restaurant industry. The name is a reference to Lidgey’s restaurant One Fish Raw Bar in Campbell, and Smittcamp is a restaurateur based in Tracy.
I chatted with Smittcamp and Lidgey in May about their plans for the space – refresh your memory here. I’ll be stopping in soon – look for a story in Lookout next week.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
This month, California became the first state to ban service fees, those sneaky surcharges that can show up at the end of your bill for everything from a cup of coffee to a concert ticket. While other industries must now include all fees in a single list price, the food service industry can still charge separate service fees, with restrictions. Find out how it will affect your bill at bars and restaurants here.
NOTED
Be aware: Santa Cruz County Public Health was notified that a person with a confirmed case of measles visited Taqueria Los Pericos on Water Street in Santa Cruz on July 1 between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. If you are not vaccinated against measles, or if you’re unsure of your vaccination status, and visited the taqueria at that time, you may be at risk. The disease is spread through respiratory droplets. Watch for cold-like symptoms and a blotchy rash. More info here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Save the date: Gourmet Grazing on the Green returns to Aptos on Saturday, Oct. 5. Local wineries, breweries, cideries and restaurants converge on Aptos Village Park for this stellar foodie event, with unlimited tasting, sampling and live music. Proceeds benefit local cancer support non-profits. Early bird tickets are $90.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Last week I shared an update on our fledgling orchard; this week, let’s take a look at the garden.
This is the first year we’ve had a garden at our house, but we’re no strangers to growing veggies. My husband, Mike, built three redwood garden beds, and we planted three or four varieties of tomatoes – his specialty – plus eggplants, hot peppers, herbs, lettuce, and a pumpkin.
Two months in, things are only going ok. Mike accidentally broke the main stem off of one of the tomato plants when he was tying it to a stake, and another one broke when we hauled an old playhouse we got for free over our fence (we couldn’t fit it through either gate and we didn’t want to dismantle it, so it felt like a good idea at the time).
The eggplants have flat out refused to grow, and I’m not sure what’s wrong with them. The lettuces are doing well, but we lost two or three to some fat green caterpillars. I angrily snipped them in half with my garden shears when I found them in the leaves. The herbs aren’t flourishing the way I expected them to, and we think we may not have been watering them enough. But, the whole family is enjoying the process and optimistic for a few fruits for our labor.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
Since launching in 2018, Live Oak-based Pescavore’s line of seasoned tuna jerky products has found its way into more than 1,300 stores. Now, the Santa Cruz-based company is preparing for its first national partnership, which will bring its products to consumers throughout the country. (Lookout)