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.
… It turns out it’s easy to be filled with the Christmas spirit when it’s chilled over a snowball, tastes like a whiskey-infused gingerbread cookie and comes in a glass decorated with prancing Santas and winter woodland creatures. Especially if the server slides it to you over a bar bedazzled with colorful wrapping paper, under a canopy of holiday lights, while a 4-foot-tall mechanical Santa shakes and wiggles in the corner like a bowl full of jelly.
This month, Front & Cooper in Abbott Square has gone all-in on holiday fun. The bar in downtown Santa Cruz partnered with Miracle, a Christmas-themed pop-up brand that started in New York City in 2014. The company licenses its over-the-top holiday pop-ups to high-end, mixology-focused bars across the nation and internationally. With its help, Front & Cooper transformed its hip industrial interior with kitschy holiday decor and a full menu of winter-themed cocktails served in cheeky custom glassware.
It’s a little bit naughty, definitely nice, and it’s only here until Dec. 31. Read the story here.
… On Saturday, chef Jessica Yarr opened The Kitchen Corner, a new retail shop next door to her restaurant, The Grove Cafe and Bakery, on Highway 9 in downtown Felton. The store is stocked with new and vintage kitchen wares and tools hand-selected by Yarr, like pelmeni and ravioli presses, multicolor plastic cutting boards, cookbooks, knives and that cute confetti-style dishware she uses in her restaurant. She likes to use tools in her kitchen that spark joy, says Yarr, and has sourced sturdy gear for serious cooks.
The Kitchen Corner is open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with extended hours starting the week of Dec. 15. People can also sign up for her cooking and baking classes at the shop, when they’re available.
… Farmers market updates: The Wednesday market in downtown Santa Cruz is shrinking to its smaller winter footprint starting this week. Its hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Felton and Scotts Valley markets are closed for the season and will reopen in May. No changes to the Saturday Aptos market at Cabrillo College, the Westside Santa Cruz market on Saturdays, or the Live Oak market on Sundays.
… Mark your calendars for a couple of fun dinners coming up:
On Saturday, Dec. 14, Ibiza in downtown Santa Cruz will once again host its now quasi-monthly paella dinner. This time, it’s serving up shrimp paella with farmers market vegetables, plus Spanish sides, salads and dessert. The $75 ticket includes two glasses of Spanish wine, sangria or nonalcoholic beverage. There’s one seating at 6:30 p.m. Make reservations at ibizasantacruz.com.
On Sunday, Dec. 15, The Grove Cafe in Felton is hosting a traditional Sunday roast for its monthly neighborhood night, with rosemary-crusted roast beef or pork, roasted root vegetables, brown gravy and two English desserts. Tickets are $40, with reserved seatings at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
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ON THE MENU
Seabright restaurant Linda’s Seabreeze Cafe has become a neighborhood institution over the past 35 years, known for its cozy atmosphere and homestyle breakfast and lunch fare. In August, Linda’s was purchased by longtime customers and restaurant industry vets Marcie and Mark Magdaleno. More on this transition and what’s in store for Linda’s later this week.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Get in the holiday spirit with a festive Tiki Cocktail Class on Monday, Dec. 9, at Venus Spirits on Santa Cruz’s Westside. Mixologist Lindsay Eshleman will teach students how to make three cocktails “that blend tropical flair with holiday cheer,” according to the website. Tickets are $60, and the class includes a guided spirit tasting.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
This Thanksgiving, we abandoned the traditional meal in favor of a fall Italian feast. We started our meal with an enormous antipasti board, and I made a porchetta for the main course, along with a fennel, blood orange and olive salad, and patatas al forno – oven-roasted scalloped potatoes. But I also reached out to some of my favorite local businesses for products I knew I couldn’t make myself. We ordered trays of focaccia from baker Cameron Meyers of Melrose Café, a farmers market stall my husband, Mike, and I love. I picked up butternut squash raviolis at Zoccoli’s Delicatessen in downtown Santa Cruz, and my mother-in-law brought a gorgeous persimmon tart from baker Enzo Pelliccia at Emozioni Pasticceria in Soquel. It was such a fun and delicious event — and no one missed turkey. (Plus the leftover porchetta and focaccia sandwiches were unreal!)
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Are you traveling this holiday season? Eater SF, an online food and beverage publication, offers its staff picks for the best places to eat at San Francisco International Airport in a list that includes banh mi stalls, sports bars and fancy bakeries. (Eater SF)
➤ You may like Thanksgiving, but chances are you don’t like turkey. “The national holiday of meat-eating revolves around an animal dish that no one really likes,” reports Vox. Millions of turkeys are thrown away every year, and the farms are rife with abuse. For a day that’s supposed to represent gratitude, perhaps it’s time to trade in the tradition for something most people actually look forward to eating? (Vox)