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.
… For the first time in four years, salmon fishing seasons will open in California for both commercial and recreational use this spring.
That could be great news for local anglers and for professional fishers in Santa Cruz County, many of whom previously relied on the lucrative season for a significant portion of their annual income. But that doesn’t mean California salmon will come flooding back to markets, Ocean2Table founder Ian Cole told me yesterday.
The sport fishing season will open first, on April 11 in ocean waters south of Pigeon Point, about 30 miles north of Santa Cruz. The commercial season, which has been closed in the state since 2023 due to low stock numbers, is set to open in California in mid-May, with a final date and regulations to be set in mid-April. The recreational fishery had only limited openings in 2025 following closures in 2023 and 2024 for the same reason. Here’s the story.
… Last week, I was invited by the Venus Spirits team to attend a dinner held by new chef Sarah Bargetto, who took over the kitchen at Venus Spirits Cocktails & Kitchen Beachside in Aptos last fall. The multi-course meal, titled “La Mia Famiglia,” took the diner on an exploration through Bargetto’s Italian American heritage, growing up as a member of one of the area’s most famous winemaking families and her deep appreciation for locally grown and raised ingredients.
Standout dishes included a Calabrian chile-washed Aperol spritz with a breath of heat, a breaded and fried oyster served in its shell with a silky eggplant puree and kicky Italian pepper relish. My favorite course was the cioppino freddo, an aguachile-meets-chilled Italian seafood stew with Dungeness crab, clams, halibut and raw rock shrimp. I see a bright future for this young Soquel-raised chef, and I look forward to returning to try more of Bargetto’s dishes at Beachside.
… After being held in custody without bail since mid-December, Pescavore seafood founder Clarice Owens has been in court over the past week for a series of hearings related to her jury trial, scheduled to begin April 6. Next week, a judge will consider a motion by Owens’ defense attorney to dismiss 14 out of 35 charges against her, including two charges of felony stalking.
Yesterday, a judge set a $100,000 bail for the Santa Cruz entrepreneur, to the dismay of eight victims who have protective orders against her for online harassment. Here’s the latest update.
… Roving farm-to-table dinner series Outstanding in the Field released its first batch of 2026 tour dates earlier this month. The summer series will kick off with an event at Happy Valley Farm in Santa Cruz on June 6, hosted by founder Jim Devenan’s brother, Bill Denevan. On June 14, the series will return to Everett Family Farm in Soquel. Tickets to both events are $390 per person.
On Nov. 12, a dinner will once again be held on the Capitola Wharf. I was lucky enough to attend this stunning event last year, sitting at a table that stretched down the length of the pier on a gorgeous sunny evening. When Jim Denevan and I spoke about his reflections on 20 years of Outstanding, he mentioned that although he’s traveled all over the world, the Capitola event was the closest feast he’d ever held to his home in Pleasure Point. Here’s that story again, in case you missed it.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
In February, Ryan Thompson became a fourth-generation restaurateur when he opened Pogonip Pizza in Santa Cruz’s Upper Westside neighborhood near the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus.
In a county brimming with pizza joints — more per capita than New York or Chicago — Thompson brings his own vision to California-style pies, offering creative and primarily vegetarian toppings made with seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. He draws inspiration from Santa Cruz’s culture and mountain biking community with pizza names that reference films set in the area and nearby trails, like Barking Dogs ($22.50) and Magic Carpet ($23.50), lending a welcoming atmosphere to neighbors in the know. Read the story here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Two local chefs are collaborating on a seasonal dinner this week. On Saturday, Jessica Yarr of The Grove Cafe and Bakery in Felton and Diego Felix of Colectivo Felix will create a seven-course menu at their Spring Collaboration Dinner, held at The Grove at 7 p.m. The feast includes flavors from Felix’s Argentinian background while celebrating springtime produce. Tickets are $110 per person.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
My dear daughter Cecilia’s third birthday is Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day. When she was born on March 17, I wondered how I would marry these two important holidays together. Birthdays are a big deal in our family, but so is this little Irish tradition – I’m from a town called Murphys, so this holiday was always a Big Deal – and my children love the leprechaun lore. So far, the blending looks like gold-wrapped chocolate coins left by a feisty leprechaun as a surprise in the morning, followed by green pancakes for breakfast. Tuesday evening, we will enjoy corned beef with potatoes and colcannon – with chocolate birthday cake for dessert. Every year I learn a little bit more – this year, for example, the green milk did not go over well with the birthday girl. Better luck next year!
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Santa Cruz County pizza-makers earned not one but two spots out of five in this Food & Wine article on California’s coolest pizzerias. The story named Bookie’s, home of chef Todd Parker’s Detroit-ish seasonal pies, and Mentone, chef David Kinch’s French- and Italian Riviera-inspired Aptos eatery. (Food & Wine)
➤ In the wake of abuse allegations going back to the mid-2000s, renowned chef René Redzepi stepped down from daily operations at Noma. The restaurant’s 16-week Los Angeles residency – which sold out at $1,500 per spot within minutes when reservations opened in January – will continue without him. (Eater)