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.
… Although stormy weather prevented many boats from getting out on the water, last weekend marked an important transition for fishers in the Monterey Bay Area: the start of the salmon fishing season.
For three years, the state closed the commercial and sport salmon fishing seasons – with the exception of five days of recreational fishing in 2025 – due to low populations.
But on Saturday, the sport fishing season opened along the coast south of Pigeon Point, which includes Santa Cruz County. On Sunday, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, the federal commission that oversees West Coast fisheries, announced that the commercial season will open in our area on May 1 for the first time since 2022.
Veteran Santa Cruz fisherman and industry representative Tim Obert told me that the daily limit of 160 salmon per boat could benefit small boats, like those in the Santa Cruz Harbor, in particular, because of their low overhead costs. Here’s more information on how the seasons will play out.
… On Sunday, Lookout broke the news that nonprofit organization Grey Bears will move its free food market, daily hot lunch and grocery packing, plus an office — all currently in deteriorating former farm buildings — into a much larger warehouse right next door.
“We’re bursting at the seams,” Grey Bears executive director Jennifer Merchant told me last week. “This is an opportunity for us to create a home where we can live for the next 50-plus years.” The building is expected to open by early 2028.
And, the organization is already well underway to reaching their funding goal of $9.6 million, with 81% already raised through private donations.
The expansion comes at a critical time for seniors and food insecure residents. Participation in Grey Bears’ daily hot lunch program has surged since the pandemic, from 20 to 40 people to up to 300 a day. In 2025, federal spending cuts gutted food security programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and permanently halted large monthly deliveries of food from the US Department of Agriculture to food banks. Santa Cruz County also has the fastest growing population of seniors in the state, a group that is sensitive to economic shifts due to often relying on fixed incomes. Read the story here.
… Just before lunchtime on April 3, Yogi Shapiro, the manager at Dharma’s Restaurant in Capitola, sent out a newsletter to the restaurant’s email list. It was a cry for help.
After years of mounting costs and declining business, the longstanding vegetarian eatery warned it could close, prompting an immediate surge of community support that filled tables and boosted short-term revenue.
This week, I sat down with Shapiro, who shared some of the struggles the 44-year-old restaurant is facing. The challenges reflect a changing industry and shifting consumer tastes. As Shapiro prepares to take over from his father, he’s now working to adjust prices, portions and the restaurant’s model to stay viable in a changing dining landscape. Here’s the story.
… The DIYine Homebrew Festival announced this week that it will return to the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building in downtown Santa Cruz on June 13. The festival returned last year after a five year hiatus, and I was blown away by the creativity and skill of the beverages I tasted, from prickly pear cider to blueberry mead. It marked a resurgence of a once-robust homebrewing scene in the county during the 2010s that was disrupted by the pandemic, the CZU Lightning Complex Fires in 2020, and other factors. Get acquainted with the event with my story from last year.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A Santa Cruz mom’s meal delivery service is growing quickly by tackling a common challenge for busy parents – what to eat for dinner. Kelly Langstaff launched Village Foods to help people solve the nightly dilemma, and the meal delivery service has quickly taken off. Less than a year in, the business is expanding into its own Live Oak storefront as Langstaff builds on both a national trend and a mission to support busy families like her own. Read it here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Teen Kitchen Project – a nonprofit that gives teens a culinary education and supports community members with hot meals – is hosting a fundraiser with chef Brad Briske at Home Restaurant in Soquel on May 20. Reception starts at 5 p.m. with wood-fired appetizers and HOMEmade charcuteries followed by three family-style courses. Tickets are $175.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
This video of a slightly drunk dad eating noodles is the most poetic piece of food writing I’ve heard in a long time. Woody Shin, in his 50s, is an influencer in Korea who muses on fatherhood, friendship, marriage and, occasionally, food. In the video, Shin dictates his thought process as he leaves a fun evening laughing with his friends, starts to walk home, and realizes that he doesn’t want the night to end. He films himself slurping down a bowl of ramen as the steam fogs his glasses, and perfectly captures the humanity of a mundane moment.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Farmers and environmental groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its rollback of vehicle emissions rules and repeal of the endangerment finding, arguing that it’s unlawful and will worsen climate change. The policy shift, the groups say, ignores already intensifying impacts on agriculture, from extreme weather to declining crop yields. (Civil Eats)
➤ On April 6, the crew of Artemis II traveled the farthest distance from Earth ever – and so did a jar of Nutella. The chocolate hazelnut spread drifted across a video from the inside of the spaceship minutes before it passed the milestone, and promptly went viral online. “Nutella is out of this world,” the brand posted to X. (People)