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.
… Watsonville Municipal Airport has tapped Monterey County chef Tim Wood to take over its on-site restaurant. Wood, the chef and owner of Woody’s at the Airport at Monterey Regional Airport, beat out two other candidates for the opportunity.
Next, Wood and the airport will negotiate the terms of the lease. Once that’s decided, the airport and Wood will seek approval from the Watsonville City Council. If all goes well, the airport will have a new restaurant by the end of the year, airport director Rayvon Williams told me.
Williams said he “did not have any details” about Wood’s proposal or why it was selected, but said that airport staff plan to meet with Wood later this week. “We are in the nascent phase of this effort. As such we are not sharing the proposal presented by Woody’s at this time,” Williams told me via email. Read the story here.
… It’s been five years since the CZU Lightning Complex fires ripped through the Santa Cruz Mountains and destroyed much of the 2020 wine grape harvest. The grapes didn’t burn – grapevines are quite resilient to fire – but the smoke clung to the delicate grape skins, and was impossible to wash off.
The 2020 harvest season and the years that followed became a crash course in identifying numerous chemicals found in smoke and their varied effects on wine. While that information will be invaluable should another wildfire strike the area, it was earned at great cost by local winemakers and producers who lost grapes during the harvest season or had to later destroy cases of spoiled wine, at a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Five years later, some winemakers are still feeling the financial toll. Here’s the story.
… The final stop of Collective Santa Cruz’s Extra Tasty Tour is this Saturday, and so is Lookout’s final behind-the-scenes tour. Lookout members have met the talented people behind more than 15 local food businesses across three food-themed events since May, and this is our last stop for the year. The festival series will finish with the Oktoberfest-themed Super Salty Hella Malty Taste Güd Fest at Humble Sea Brewing Co. in Santa Cruz from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is free to enter.
Before the festival starts, join me for a tasting tour of five vendors: Coffee Conspiracy Co., Tony’s House of Smoke, Scrumptious Fish & Chips, Square Cakes and one more TBD. Tickets to the tasting tour are $20 per person and open to Lookout members only. Get your ticket here – only 12 spots!
… The fall sport salmon fishing season has closed early, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife announced this week. After a brief summer season that also closed early, all of the allotted fish for the fall season were caught during the first opener in early September. The CDFW set the harvest guideline at 7,500 Chinook salmon, and estimated that 12,000 were caught between Sept. 4 and 7. As a result, the remaining fall dates of Sept. 29-30, Oct. 1-5 and Oct. 27-31 are closed.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
My reviews for La Bahia Hotel & Spa’s two restaurants, Low Tide Bar & Grill and dinner-only High Tide, are out. At both spaces, the design and service were lovely, but the food didn’t meet the high bar Santa Cruz’s first luxury hotel set for itself. At Low Tide, I wanted more innovation and glamour beyond the familiar appetizers and entrees. High Tide’s menu also lacked impactful dishes, and Santa Cruz-sourced ingredients were surprisingly absent. That seemed out of character for La Bahia, which has formed partnerships with several area businesses, and high-quality local products would have amplified the dishes. Read my thoughts on Low Tide here and High Tide here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
The food festival and fundraiser Taste of Soquel returns this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Held at the Congregational Church of Soquel, guests can sample treats and beverages from local restaurants, breweries, wineries and farmers, plus live music and a kid zone. Tickets are $30 per person, or $10 per person for food and music only.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
My husband, Mike, and I spent last weekend celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary in and around Bodega Bay. It was essentially a three-day eating tour, and the highlight was slurping down crisp oysters at Hog Island Oyster Company. We were also surprised to find former Santa Cruz chef Amelia Telc serving incredible seasonal fare at The Casino Bar & Grill, a tavern in Bodega, including a stunning dish of slices of pumpkin that were roasted to the point of being almost candied, then finished with a sweet-tangy agrodolce, almonds and ricotta.
On Saturday night, we had a memorable dinner at Dinucci’s, an old Italian eating house in tiny Valley Ford. We’ve driven by this funky white building on the way to the coast many times, and having dinner there was better than I could have imagined. It’s truly old-school: each entree includes homemade minestrone soup, an antipasti platter, warm bread and butter, a green salad and a pasta course are all included in the price, and served family-style before the main. The place was packed, and by 6 p.m. they had already run out of their famous prime rib special – so I suppose Mike and I will have to make a return trip next year.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, has resigned from the company he started more than 40 years ago. In a post on social media, Greenfield accused parent company Unilever of preventing Ben & Jerry’s from speaking out on political and social issues, which is core to the brand’s identity. (CNN)
➤ Marilyn Hagerty, a longtime food critic in Grand Forks, North Dakota, made famous by her viral review of a local Olive Garden in 2012, has died. Hagerty was 99 years old and a lifelong journalist. Former New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells wrote a touching and clever obituary. (The New York Times)