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.
… Dungeness crab season finally opened on the Central Coast last Thursday after four postponements from its traditional mid-November start date, and locally caught crab started showing up at Santa Cruz County markets and grocery stores on Sunday. But it might still be difficult to find. Deluxe Foods in Aptos and Shopper’s Corner in Santa Cruz did not have crab on Tuesday.
H&H Fresh Fish Co. in Santa Cruz buys directly from area fishers and has a limited amount – a few hundred, co-owner Hans Haveman told me – of live and cooked crab. Haveman said that he’s hearing reports that fishers are catching a low number of crabs, and with high winds expected over the next few days, it might be difficult for boats to go out.
H&H is selling them for $13 per pound at its market in the Santa Cruz Harbor. Cooked crab is $21 per pound. Sustainable seafood company Ocean2Table has cooked Dungeness for $24 per pound.
New Leaf Community Markets, a Santa Cruz County-based chain owned by global South Korean company Good Food Holdings, offered cooked Dungeness crab on its website on sale for $16.79 per pound.
Stagnaro Bros. on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf – which reopened on Saturday – is getting its next shipment of local Dungeness crabs in on Thursday. Live crabs will be around $14.95, but must be special-ordered. The price for cooked crab has yet to be determined.
… As we take our first steps into 2025, what will the year look like for Santa Cruz County’s restaurant industry? I asked six chefs and restaurant owners who launched new businesses in 2024 what their predictions are for the coming year, and their answers were surprisingly consistent.
For one, if your New Year’s resolutions include eating more vegetables and drinking less alcohol, you’re in luck, as those will be two major trends in the local food industry this year. Health-conscious diners are driving more plant-forward dishes and low- to no-alcohol beverages on menus, restaurant owners and chefs say. Some of the restaurateurs would like to see a greater commitment to using local ingredients, and at least one is also aiming to decrease food waste. They also believe customers should expect restaurant prices to continue to rise in order to reflect increases in the cost of labor and materials.
One dining trend that exploded during the pandemic doesn’t show any signs of disappearing: Takeout and delivery accounts for a huge portion of restaurant sales, some owners say – as much as 30% for businesses like Ozzy’s Pizzeria in Watsonville and Ibiza in downtown Santa Cruz. Read the story here.
… In late December, I had the pleasure of taking a hard-hat tour of the new La Bahia Hotel & Spa, currently in the midst of construction across from Main Beach in Santa Cruz. The hotel aims to be the most luxurious accommodation in the area when it opens this fall, and will include two restaurants and a Champagne bar open to the public.
Low Tide Bar & Grill will be a casual spot open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and, later, brunch. On the second story, High Tide will be La Bahia’s signature dining experience, an elegant dinner-only restaurant with a Pacific Rim-inspired menu. In the lobby, a London-inspired Champagne bar called Pearl will offer sparkling and still wine, and cocktails.
The food and beverage menus won’t be finalized until La Bahia hires an executive chef, but as details start to emerge, I’m excited to see what they’ll add to Santa Cruz’s restaurant scene. Here’s what we know.
TEXT ME
Want to stay on top of the latest local food news? I send text alerts every time I publish a story. And you can text me back! Share your thoughts, send tips and give feedback. Sign up here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
On Jan. 1, Santa Cruz County officially opened applications for microenterprise home kitchens, or MEHKOs. In September, the county board of supervisors approved a two-year pilot program for residents to be able to operate small restaurant-like businesses out of their homes. I spoke to several community members, some of whom already run pop-up food businesses, who are excited about the program. Here’s that story from September, in case you missed it.
ON THE MENU
The new coffee cart that opened outside of Simpkins Family Swim Center in Live Oak last month isn’t your typical place to grab a post-swim carrot cake muffin and a chai. Occupational therapist Molly Turner founded Skills of Life Cafe to help individuals with special needs get job training. The cafe, which operates as a nonprofit, offers job training to neurodivergent teens and young people with conditions like autism and Down syndrome, and includes a curriculum focused on developing soft skills like organization and time management. Watch for the story later this week.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
My husband, Mike, sent me this article from The Atlantic last night, titled “You’ll Never Get Off the Dinner Treadmill.” The author describes the constant work of figuring out and either preparing or buying dinner, what she identifies as America’s “most important” meal of the day. While I felt very seen, it also paints a bleak picture. How did we end up here? Are we all suffering under the weight of dinner?
Something about it feels like a uniquely American issue, unfortunately. In countries that I’ve visited, including Italy, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand, they have vibrant street food cultures. Meals are often eaten out of the home from an endless number of stalls, carts and small restaurants, and are affordable and great sources of pleasure and community. But eating out in America is still a special occasion for many. Even budget restaurants like McDonald’s are more expensive than ever.
Doing anything day in and day out, no matter how pleasurable, can turn it into a slog. It made me wonder, what could Americans do to get out of this mess? I don’t have an answer, but I am missing my backpacking days eating bowls of noodles on plastic tables in the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam, and fist-sized arancini in Palermo, Sicily.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Three people ended up in the hospital last week with severe mushroom poisoning after buying foraged mushrooms from a truck in a supermarket parking lot in Salinas. They were Amanita phalloides – or death cap mushrooms – a toxic fungus that can lead to liver failure, or even death, but looks similar to a harmless white button mushroom. Buy mushrooms only from reputable produce outlets, like a grocery store, Salinas Valley Health officials said. (Monterey Herald)
➤ Oakland has been lauded as one of the greatest food cities in America by national publications, but area restaurant owners say it’s impossible to survive there. They point to bureaucratic red tape, high crime and low post-pandemic sales as the reasons behind a spate of closings. (San Francisco Chronicle)