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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… Santa Cruz-based brewery Humble Sea Brewing Co. is known for the playful, cartoonish art that decorates its cans, merchandise and social media posts. These drawings are all custom drawn by local artist Juan Llorens, and for the first time, Minnow Arts Gallery is hosting an exhibition of his creations for Humble Sea. The show kicks off at 5 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 5, with a meet-and-greet with Llorens, and runs the month of January at the downtown Santa Cruz art gallery, located at 204 Locust Street.
… Margins Wine has a new tasting room on the Westside in Santa Cruz – emphasis on “room.” The tiny, 120-square-foot tasting “cubby” is located around the corner from 11th Hour Coffee and next to the ordering window for Fonda Felix in the Swift Street Courtyard. What it lacks in size it makes up for in character; its beautifully designed interior is decorated with art and treasures from winemaker Megan Bell’s life and travels. Here, Bell showcases her elegant natural wines curated from hand-selected biodynamic vineyards. Her wines are some of my favorites in the county – read more in one of Lookout wine correspondent Laurie Love’s latest column.
… The list of symbols that represents California includes the California Grizzly Bear (state animal), California golden poppy (state flower), denim (state fabric), West Coast swing (state dance) – and, as of Jan. 1, the California Golden Chanterelle, or Cantharellus californicus. The new state mushroom’s creamy yellow color makes it a fitting representative for the Golden State, and it has a symbiotic relationship with California trees, especially oaks. It’s also a popular edible mushroom, with flavor notes of apricot and black pepper.
Golden chanterelles grow widely throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains, if you know where to look. If you go foraging, keep an eye out for its toxic look-alike, the yellow Jack-O’-Lantern mushroom, or Omphalotus olivascens. And I recommend checking out the full list of California symbols, which includes the state dinosaur – Augustynolophus Morrisi – and state sport – surfing.
… FYI, Lillian’s Italian Kitchen is closed for a remodel through Jan. 15. The update should provide “more comfortable spaces and further reduce noise,” according to an Instagram post by the restaurant. Lillian’s will reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 16, although the changes will be ongoing through early February.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Waterfront restaurants in Capitola and Rio Del Mar were damaged by storm swells and high tides on Thursday, Dec. 28 and Saturday, Dec. 30, but the destruction was minimal compared to the January storms in 2023. Most of the restaurants were able to reopen by New Year’s Eve, or even earlier.
NUMBERS
4.5 million — The number of chickens, ducks, and turkeys in Sonoma County either outright killed by a highly contagious avian flu over the last two months, or culled to prevent its spread. This infection follows national and international outbreaks over the last two years that have forced egg and poultry prices up.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
I’m kicking off 2024 with a culinary goal I’ve wanted to do for a while – I’m going vegetarian for the month of January, and I’m really looking forward to it. After researching Lookout’s Santa Cruz County burger guide and a month of holiday gluttony, I want to shift the way I’ve been eating for a few weeks. And I’m curious about how it will change the way I look at dining out in Santa Cruz County.
Our agriculture is world-renowned and beloved by chefs near and far, but do the vegetarian and vegan options at local restaurants reflect that? I want to see if I can still enjoy dynamic, exciting food while forgoing meat and, as much as possible, animal products all together. I’m not too worried – some of my favorite restaurants right now are plant-forward or vegetarian, so it should be a fun project.
This month, I’m only going to highlight vegetarian and vegan dishes in my Friday Eaters Digest newsletter. Make sure you’re signed up so you don’t miss out.
And, please send me your recommendations for your favorite dishes and restaurants – I love hearing from you.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ In Santa Cruz, city officials are still working on a permanent, streamlined solution for restaurants with temporary outdoor dining permits on private property. The temporary permits expire at the end of March but the city plans to extend them until a new system is in place. Meanwhile, the parklet program for outdoor dining areas in public parking spaces is already underway. (Lookout)
➤ The chef credited with creating avocado toast has died. Australian restaurant owner, TV personality and cookbook author Bill Granger passed away on Christmas Day in London at the age of 54. According to his obituary, Granger wrote more than 500 recipes but was most well-known for a zesty avocado on toast served at his Sydney restaurant chain, Bills. The dish went on to have a life of its own as a symbol of millennial extravagance. (New York Times)
Happy dining ~ Lily