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.
… Over the past six years, I have slid into the murky, umami-rich depths of countless bowls of ramen at Full Steam Dumpling, and shoved an untold number of hand-folded gyoza smothered in fiery chili crisp down my hungry maw. So I was deeply saddened when chef Andy Huynh announced last week that the noodle and dumpling shop inside the Santa Cruz Art Center in downtown Santa Cruz will close in July.
Yesterday, I chatted with Huynh about why he’s closing. “There are a million reasons, but long story short, it’s time to do something else,” he told me. Although his team is “crushing it,” the success of Full Steam was hard-earned; Huynh said he’s burnt out, and wants to focus on his health and spending time with his family.
“The energy it takes to be successful in the food business, it takes your all and then some more. Since I started Full Steam, my ‘all’ is different,” he said. “I was younger, and it was before I had kids. It’s just too much for me, personally.”
In the last six weeks it’s open, Huynh is bringing a few new dishes to the summer menu, including Sichuan-meets-Japan tantanmen ramen and two chilled ramens, and aims to give customers the best service they can.
He plans to take a few months off after Full Steam’s last service at the end of July, and give himself space to explore his creative culinary urges. He’ll be back in some form, he said. “It’s been a blast cooking in Santa Cruz. It’s been an epic journey and I’m super grateful,” said Huynh. “I can’t believe we did that, and people showed up.”
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… Two area restaurants are slowly opening, with limited hours and menus. Woody’s at Watsonville Airport is open for drinks and appetizers, with a full menu forthcoming. Toriman, the storefront and konbini-style market by pop-up Yakitori Toriman, opened for one day over the weekend in Capitola’s Brown Ranch Marketplace before closing again, and won’t be fully open until July. Both of these spots have been a long time coming and are finally close to welcoming guests full-time.
… The Davenport Roadhouse welcomed a new chef last month. Jessie Curran moved from San Francisco to Santa Cruz and reimagined the menu at the stately Highway 1 restaurant and rest stop with hearty and seasonal California comfort food. I enjoyed a punchy and robust barley salad with kale, brown-butter dates and banana peppers ($18) and maple-glazed sweet potatoes with goat cheese and spicy granola ($12). I’ll be back to try more and talk to Curran about her approach. And FYI: Owners Ginny Miller and Gavin Parsons have summer events planned for the kid-friendly outdoor area – follow Davenport Roadhouse on Instagram to learn more.
… Everyone’s favorite dessert festival is back for a fourth year. Sweet Home Santa Cruz returns to Humble Sea Brewing’s Swift Street taproom with sweets, eats and live beats, artists and makers, and a kids activity zone. The festival is free to enter and goes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 20.
ON THE MENU
Last week was a “big rush,” Jake Mann, a fifth-generation apple grower in the Pajaro Valley, told me. On Monday, Lookout broke the story that Watsonville juice and cider company S. Martinelli & Co. told farmers in the area it won’t renew their contracts, and his phone started ringing off the hook. Friends and former colleagues were upset that Martinelli’s, which has traditionally purchased the vast majority of apples grown in the valley, was pulling back from using local apples, and offered advice on new markets or business opportunities to explore.
Are any of those ideas viable, I asked? Most aren’t, Mann admitted, but a few are promising, especially a partnership with area schools. Read more about the possibilities in a follow-up story later this week.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Santa Cruz County’s premier homebrew festival is back. On Saturday evening, amateur brewers of mead, wine, cider, beer and rare libations and liqueurs will pour at DIYine: A Celebration of Homebrewing at the Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Santa Cruz. A $35 ticket includes hors d’oeuvres, live music and tasting, with proceeds benefiting nonprofit Urban Works Santa Cruz. I went last year and had a blast – read my story for a taste of what’s in store.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Lookout’s first behind-the-scenes tasting tour was a success! On Saturday, I led 12 Lookout members to four vendors at Santa Cruz VegFest before the event started. We tasted baked churro-flavored donuts with Hole Foods Vegan Donuts, acai bowls at Samba Rock Acai Café’s bright yellow food truck, mini arepas stuffed with spiced tofu, jackfruit or black beans with Areperia 831 and hard cider with Santa Cruz Cider Co. Thank you to our members for joining us, and to the incredible vendors for donating their time!
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ The wine industry is in turmoil, and wineries in the Napa area are responding by – slightly – lowering their tasting and bottle prices. Roughly 30% of wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, which have the highest tasting fees in the nation, dropped their prices in 2025. (San Francisco Chronicle/$)
➤ The World Cup is coming to the Bay Area this week. If you can’t afford a pricey ticket to one of the games, check out this roundup of nearby restaurants inspired by each match’s teams, many of which will show soccer’s biggest event on a big screen. (The Mercury News/$)