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.
… The restaurant community is banding together to support a local chef facing breast cancer with a fundraising dinner in mid-November studded with Santa Cruz-area culinary stars.
On Nov. 16, six chefs will collaborate on a five-course feast at Gabriella Café in Santa Cruz to support head chef Gema Cruz. Cruz has worked at the iconic farm-to-table downtown restaurant for nearly 30 years, starting as a prep cook in the late 1990s and eventually becoming head chef. Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and took a leave from the restaurant in April to undergo chemotherapy treatments and radiation.
Chefs Kendra Baker, Brad Briske, Jim Denevan, Katherine Stern, Jessica Yarr and Rebecca King – all alumni of Gabriella Café who have worked with Cruz at some point – will each prepare a course for the dinner. Tickets are $200 per person, and limited to 50 seats.
“When I think about Gema, I think of her smiling,” said Denevan. He hired Cruz during his 11-year tenure as Gabriella’s head chef, starting just a few weeks after the restaurant opened through 2005, when he left to establish traveling event company Outstanding in the Field. “She loves to cook for people and brings so much of herself, her warmth. I’m excited to hopefully raise some money and let her know that we love and care about her. ” Read the story here.
… Just a few scenic miles south of Santa Cruz County, a revival is stirring in Moss Landing. Following a series of restaurant closures and a disastrous battery fire, an area chef and a sommelier have teamed up on The Landing, a lunch and dinner spot inside the much-loved Power Plant Coffee building.
Sommelier Ryan Cooley – who co-owns Vin Vivant wine bar in Capitola – and former Post Ranch Inn chef Todd Williamson are offering wines from the local region and a seasonally driven menu with heavy-hitting dishes like a soft-shell crab sandwich ($21), a riff on a Carolina burger with chili, American cheese and mustard ($18), and the artichoke salada russa ($18), a mind-bending take on a Russian salad that took root in Spain adapted with a local delicacy: the artichoke. Here’s the full story.
… Santa Cruz nonprofit Grey Bears’ primary mission is to feed seniors who are food-insecure – meaning they don’t have enough to eat, or don’t know where their next meal will come from – but its free hot lunch program has ballooned into a daily event that attracts people from across economic divides, from the unhoused to the comfortably retired, from elderly to young adults, many of whom say they return for the community as much as the food.
Before 2020, the lunch was offered to about 20 to 40 volunteers and staff members daily. During the pandemic and CZU Lightning Complex fires, Grey Bears decided to open its lunch program to everyone. Since then, word has spread, and the numbers have grown. On a normal day, 150 to 200 come for lunch, and sometimes as many as 300.
“We don’t ask questions, because people come to us for different reasons,” said Grey Bears executive director Jennifer Merchant. “They come to nourish their bodies, their souls, and if somebody needs food, we’re never going to turn them away. We have enough to support our community and community means a broad thing.” Here’s the story.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
It’s only November, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has already postponed the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season until the new year. In 2025, a record number of whales became entangled in fishing lines despite efforts to curb interactions by shortening the fishing season and limiting the number of lines in the water. The CDFW will reassess conditions in mid-December to determine whether the commercial season can start around New Year’s Day. Here’s the update.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Cultural nonprofit organization Senderos is hosting a Día de los Muertos celebration at Branciforte Middle School in Santa Cruz this Saturday, Nov. 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. Guests can immerse themselves in traditional Oaxacan music, regional dances and, of course, food – including pozole, mole and chocolate Oaxaqueño. This event is free and family-friendly.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Applesauce is a wonderful cooking project to make with kids, especially on a rainy weekend. We had at least a dozen apples from my father-in-law’s tree taking up space in our refrigerator for weeks, so last weekend I brought out our slow cooker to make applesauce. I peeled and cored the apples, and then Marco, 4, and Cecilia, 2, cut them into chunks. (These little choppers are great for small hands.) Marco and I tasted the apples to decide how much sugar we should add – not too much, he decided, because they weren’t very tart – and his little sister got to add the cinnamon. We left it on low for a few hours, and when we came back we had a delicious warm afternoon treat – perfect for a rainy day.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Some customers at fine-dining restaurants have a choice between drinking white, red or clear. High-end spots are offering water menus alongside other beverages, with rare and imported bottles with tasting descriptions that note the water’s texture and mineral content. (The Wall Street Journal/$)
➤ With just days until the government shutdown pauses supplemental food assistance to millions of Americans, Bay Area restaurants are offering discounted or free meals to families affected by the delay of benefits. “I hope it’s a short-lived program, because that means [SNAP] gets funded. But until it does, it’s up to us,” said the owner of a Tony & Alba’s Pizza and Pasta in San Jose. (KQED)