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.
… Popular downtown Santa Cruz brunch spot Mad Yolks is frying up a new location in Pleasure Point. Twin brothers Henry and Peter Wong have taken over the former Flashbird restaurant (formerly Kaito Ramen, and before that Pink Godzilla …) at 830 41st Ave., next to The Penny Ice Creamery and Verve Coffee Roasters.
I stopped by the new spot this morning, and everything is almost ready for the opening on July 8, a week from Tuesday. The menu is the same as at the 2½-year-old Pacific Avenue location: breakfast sandwiches on fluffy house-made brioche bulked up with additions like bacon, avocado, fried chicken, Spam and tempura-fried portobello mushrooms. There are other hearty dishes with Asian culinary influences, including a breakfast burger, tater tots with a sunnyside egg and furikake, and a Japanese twist on a Hawaiian loco moco smothered in curry; plus iced fruit teas and matchas — and a new breakfast burrito only available at the Pleasure Point location.
Additionally, the former Chill Out Café next door got an exterior glow-up from artist Samantha Crocker as it prepares to become the new home of Pleasure Point gallery and home goods store And Friends.
More info coming in a story later this week.
… Homeless Garden Project’s annual Sustain Supper returns to the Natural Bridges Farm in Santa Cruz’s Westside neighborhood on Saturday, July 19, from 4 to 7:30 p.m. This farm-to-table dinner fundraises for the local nonprofit, which provides transitional employment, support services and job training to people experiencing homelessness.
The Sustain Supper always draws big names in the food, farming and art realms, and this year Katie Reicher, the head chef at landmark vegetarian restaurant Greens in San Francisco, will prepare the meal. The keynote speaker is Manjula Martin, author of “The Last Fire Season,” a memoir about the CZU Lightning Complex fires that devastated large swaths of Northern California, including Santa Cruz County, in 2020. Tickets are $195 and available at homelessgardenproject.org.
… Attention families with little kiddos: organic Midtown restaurant Charlie Hong Kong is hosting a Noodle Party for children 6 and under on Saturday, July 12, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Silliness and fun are on the menu along with music, story time and face painting. Tickets are $5 per person and include a bowl of noodles, broccoli, ginger lemonade or hibiscus drink, and a strawberry dessert. Slurps up!
… Celebrate liberty and craft beer at Discretion Brewing’s annual Free Day this Saturday, July 5, from noon to 9 p.m. at the Soquel brewery. This is the brewery’s yearly Independence Day shindig, and “free” refers to freedom – not, unfortunately, the cost of its products. It’s a real party, with an expanded beer garden with outdoor cash bar, a fresh brew of Free Day IPA – this year it’s a West Coast IPA – as well as pizza, sandwiches and antipasti from in-house kitchen partner Sugo, an all-day lineup of four live music acts, plus corn hole.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
The 15th annual Hop N Barley Beer and BBQ Festival – the longest-running craft beer festival in the county – is popping up once again Saturday, July 12, at Skypark in Scotts Valley. Craft breweries and small cideries from around the state will pour dozens of beverages alongside food trucks serving everything from pizza to tacos, and, of course, barbecue. Live music on two stages goes all day. Tickets are $55 and include unlimited beverage sampling.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Last week, we got some very big news: my husband, Mike, is not allergic to shellfish! For the past five years, Mike and I have suspected that he may have developed a shellfish allergy due to reactions he would randomly have while he was eating. We learned that people can develop food allergies as adults, so until he could get tested he avoided shellfish entirely. It was a tragic hunch to have, since oysters, shrimp, crawfish, abalone and crab are his top five favorite foods. For two years, he abstained until he finally made time to make an appointment with an allergy specialist. To our surprise – and his immense relief – the tests came back negative.
Since then, we have been indulging in a smorgasbord of shellfish – and even splurged on live lobsters to cook for the Fourth of July with our family. If you need him, you’ll find him slurping oysters and peeling prawns until he makes up for lost time.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ More than 10 Santa Cruz County restaurants and bars got a shoutout in The San Francisco Standard this week in a story on the area’s food scene, including Bad Animal, Bookie’s Pizza, The Midway, Steamer Lane Supply Co., Birichino winery and more. (The San Francisco Standard)
➤ After drama at last year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, 16-time champion Joey Chestnut will return to the stage at Coney Island on July 4. In 2024, Chestnut was banned from the event by organizer Major League Eating because he partnered with a rival brand. (NPR)