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.
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… Good news for hundreds of Santa Cruz County residents: This week, California legislators voted to preserve a critical food assistance program. Over the past 15 years, Market Match has allowed millions of low-income residents throughout the state to boost their purchasing power at farmers markets by “matching” SNAP benefits with extra cash. But funding for the program was on the chopping block for California’s 2025 budget, as the state grapples with a budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars.
Over the past few months, local farmers market organizers have sounded the alarm and brought public attention to the program’s benefits to both low-income residents and small farms. The legislative support is a step in the right direction, but Gov. Gavin Newsom still needs to approve the budget by the end of the month.
Nicole Zahm, the education outreach coordinator at Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Markets, estimated 300 to 350 people use the benefits at their markets every week, many of whom say the extra help is “lifesaving.” Zahm is actively involved in lobbying to keep Market Match, and even visited Sacramento with almost 100 other supporters in March. Get the update here.
… On Monday evening, Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project released 150,000 juvenile chinook salmon, called smolts, directly from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. It’s part of a California Department of Fish and Wildlife effort to mitigate losses of Chinook salmon during their migration from river systems inland, where they’re spawned, to the ocean. It’s the second year in a row that MBSTP has released smolts off the wharf, among the millions the organization has released over the past 20 years. The releases support the struggling salmon populations, and in turn, the Monterey Bay’s commercial and sport fisheries, which are facing critical issues, necessitating the cancellation of the salmon season the past two years. More info at mbstp.org.
… Last week, one of Santa Cruz’s most popular taqueria’s opened a new location in Aptos. Taqueria Los Pericos has a new spot in the Rancho Del Mar Shopping Center, and serves up the same menu of rich, vibrant classic Mexican dishes, including tacos, burritos, chili rellenos and tortas. I stopped in for a couple of Pericos tacos – one with pastor, and one with lengua – and plenty of warm, thick chips and homemade salsa. Here’s what you need to know.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
On a warm evening last week, I was poking around my little collection of wine bottles and found a bottle of Ser Winery’s 2022 Dry Orange Muscat. I had been given the bottle a while back and it had somehow gotten tucked into a corner. After a long chill in the fridge, I opened it and discovered the wine I’ll be reaching for all summer. Made with 100% orange muscat grapes, this white wine is not sweet at all, but is bursting with floral, citrus, pear and stone fruit aromas. It’s delicate and dry on the palate, and would be the perfect thing to plonk on a picnic table and enjoy with friends on a warm evening.
Turns out, Lookout’s wine correspondent, Laurie Love, is way ahead of me – this wine was her Wine of the Week in March. I should have listened to her sooner! Read her review and find out more about this local wine here. Don’t miss Laurie’s biweekly wine column. Here’s the most recent edition.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
This Sunday, head to the Westside in Santa Cruz for the Surf City Wine Walk. Enjoy wines from 12 small wineries with tasting rooms scattered throughout the walkable neighborhood. Tickets are $55 per person for unlimited tasting, a wine glass and a map. More info here.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
This is a short but important public service announcement regarding frying foods. And no, I’m not talking about safety – although you know to always wear close-toed shoes and fry in a well-ventilated area, right? – it’s about potato chips. Monday night, I made fried lingcod sandwiches for dinner, and instead of a batter or breadcrumbs, I used a 50-50 mix of panko and crushed-up Lay’s potato chips. The end result was the most beautifully golden-brown, cataclysmically crunchy and perfectly salty piece of fried fish I’ve ever eaten. I had to share this tip with you, dear readers. Here’s one more: To get the most adhesive coating, dry your fish thoroughly with paper towels and season it with salt. Coat it completely in flour, then egg, and then the potato chip-panko mixture, pressing it into all sides until it’s completely covered. Importantly, wait until your oil is hot enough – use a meat thermometer if you have one – and don’t dip it until there’s plenty of sizzle.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ In an effort to be more sustainable, some restaurants are finding creative ways to cut down on plastic waste, including cutting down on single-use containers by loaning out reusable ones. It’s getting slightly easier to do so, with reuse services that loan out everything from stainless steel coffee mugs to takeout containers on the rise. (Civil Eats)
➤ Weight-loss foods are nothing new, but Nestle is the first company to launch a line of foods directed toward the growing number of people taking medications like Wegovy or Ozempic. The high-fiber, protein-packed whole-grain bowls, sandwich melts and pizzas are proportioned for consumers taking GLP-1 medications, known as semaglutides. (CBS News)