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.
… Pioneering farm-to-table restaurant Gabriella Café in downtown Santa Cruz is entering a new era. After 30 years at the restaurant, including nine as the head chef, Gema Cruz is retiring to Mexico following some health issues. Carlos Padilla, the former head chef at Lago di Como in Live Oak, is now at the stove, and has brought more traditional Italian food to the menu, owner Paul Cocking told me in an email – think spaghetti carbonara, squid ink seafood pastas and roast rosemary chicken.
Cocking said he was considering selling Gabriella Café, which he founded on Cedar Street in 1992, but discovered he is enjoying being more involved in menu planning, and “not nearly old enough to retire.” I’m looking forward to exploring the menu changes from Padilla in the coming weeks.
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… Following the departure of chef Gus Trejo last fall, Dream Inn Santa Cruz has hired Florida native Michelle Gomez as head chef of the beachfront hotel and Jack O’Neill Restaurant & Lounge. Gomez will lead all of the culinary experiences, banquets and catering, and will bring her own additions to the farm-to-table-focused menu later this summer, said a Dream Inn representative in an email to Lookout.
Gomez’s culinary roots began working alongside her father in his Mexican restaurant, and she went on to receive classical French training at Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, according to a media release. She said she aims to expand the hotel’s relationship with area farms and vendors. I’m planning a few visits to the restaurant to report back on how this will play out on Jack O’Neill’s menu.
… I mourned the loss of Venus Spirits’ canned cocktails when they discontinued them a few years ago, but the Westside distillery launched cocktails to go 2.0 over the weekend – just in time for summer hangs. Customers can grab 1-liter bottles of ready-to-drink batch drinks of Venus’ fan favorite recipes: Beach Don’t Kill My Vibe, a strawberry-basil gin cocktail, a margarita made with Venus’ El Ladrón Blanco Agave, and the Laura Palmer, made with Venus Gin 01, hibiscus tea reduction and lemon.
All bottles are $28 each and serve four to six cocktails. They’re available in the Westside tasting room only. More info at venusspirits.com.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
U-pick season is warming up around the county. Strawberries are available from Rodoni Farms on Highway 1 down to Gizdich Ranch outside of Watsonville, and everywhere in between, with blackberries, tomatoes and apples to follow throughout the summer and into the fall. Check out my handy guide to Santa Cruz County u-pick farms from 2025 to plan your pickings.
NOTED
Last week, the state issued another warning to not pick or eat wild mushrooms due to a surge of accidental poisonings. The number of people who have become sickened from eating death caps, a potentially deadly mushroom with an edible lookalike, has surged since November to 50 cases of severe poisonings, including four deaths. Typically, there are fewer than five cases for the year.
I reported on this outbreak in January and, sadly, an additional 14 people have become sick, and one person has died, since that story came out. If you’re hungry for wild mushrooms, purchase them directly from a certified buyer like Far West Fungi and Ocean2Table and local grocery stores.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Over the past few weeks, my husband, Mike, and I have spent most evenings grilling. It has long been our favorite way to make dinner, more relaxing than standing over a stove and with fewer pans to wash. Especially on weekends, this is where you can find us after the kids go to bed.
On Saturday, I sent him to the grocery store to pick up something to throw on the Weber that night, and he came home with a ribeye and two dozen oysters. Most bivalves are too creamy for me in the summer to eat raw – I follow the adage to eat fresh oysters only in months that end in “r” – but we knew they’d be fantastic on the grill. I pulled out the “Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood” that we bought as a souvenir during our trip to Tomales Bay last September, and quickly whipped up their famous chipotle-bourbon butter. If you’ve never had these sweet-spicy oysters, they are heaven on earth, and so easy to make. The kind folks at Hog Island posted the recipe to their website.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ One of the most entertaining pieces of food writing I’ve read lately is this ode to a 96-calorie American lager. “Most of the time, it’s Miller Time,” writes the author, who begrudgingly but respectfully extolls the benefits of the mass-produced beer over craft counterparts. (The Atlantic/$)
➤ In this essay, the writer argues that the descriptor “neighborhood restaurant” has become so overused in the industry that it’s meaningless, especially among premier dining destinations. “It’s probably driving its immediate neighbors bonkers,” she said of a popular Los Angeles spot with lines out the door and a monthslong waitlist. (Eater)