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.
… If the bookstore is the heart of a community, then its stomach might be the cookbook section. For the past three decades, the cookbooks at Bookshop Santa Cruz have been curated by one woman: Stefanie Berntson, a New Orleans native who wandered into the independent bookstore in downtown Santa Cruz in 1992 to apply for a job and stayed for the next 32 years, quietly keeping the shelves stocked with endless ideas for weeknight dinners and information on cuisines from all over the world.
Most homes in Santa Cruz County probably contain at least one cookbook from Bookshop Santa Cruz, but Berntson has never thought about her influence on the local food culture. “I admire so many people who are in the food industry and who have an effect on the community, the farmers and restaurants,” said Berntson. “It’s a delight to think that the store and that cookbook section has impacted so many households. I feel so much fulfillment in getting cookbooks into people’s hands.”
In this story, Berntson shared her selection process, how the industry has changed, some of her favorite memories from the past 30 years and why, despite the availability of online recipes, she believes that cookbooks are just as relevant as ever. Read it here.
… Looking for a great bottle of local wine to share or gift this week? Wine expert Laurie Love has you covered. She found 10 local wines under $30 that all pair well with food (wines that are higher acidity and lower alcohol) and are approachable and not overly fussy, which makes them great candidates for sharing with people who don’t usually drink wine. See her list here.
… After three postponements, the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season will open throughout Central and Southern California, including Santa Cruz County, on Jan. 5. Santa Cruz fisher Tim Obert predicted that the price for consumers will be high this year, due to a low volume of crabs. Read the story here.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
After a tumultuous and difficult four years, Scotts Valley restaurant Casa Nostra closed its doors last week. Owner Raffaele Cristallo cited financial difficulties that stretched back to the pandemic, a devastating mudslide in 2023 that made travel to its original Ben Lomond location difficult, and rising costs throughout the industry as reasons that led him to close the Italian eatery’s doors. “This was my dream, but it turned into my nightmare,” he told me last week. Read the story here.
NOTED
No Eaters Digest newsletter this Friday while I take a break for the holiday. It will return Friday, Jan. 3.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Don’t feel like cooking on Christmas Day? Head to Chaminade Resort & Spa for a Christmas buffet from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 25. The feast includes a chilled seafood station, a carving station, prime rib, caramelized yams, seasonal salads, desserts, fresh crepes and more. Reservations are required. Tickets are $85 per person, $25 for kids 3 to 11 years old.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Usually my family has Dungeness crab on Christmas Eve, but this year we decided to go a different route. I’m making these Coca-Cola-braised short ribs, inspired by the ones the character Sydney Adamu attempts to perfect during the first season of “The Bear.” Have I ever made them before? No, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them ever since I flipped open the page in Food & Wine magazine last month. What else will we be eating over the holidays? On Christmas Day, we’ll have a brunch with my parents and my in-laws with a big frittata, breakfast sausages and cinnamon rolls from Santa Cruz’s Companion Bakeshop. Christmas dinner is a more casual affair in my house – we’re going to let a Bolognese sauce simmer all afternoon for an easy pasta dinner that night.
I hope every one of you has a safe and joyous holiday!
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Dozens of people have become ill with norovirus after eating raw oysters from San Francisco Bay-based company S&M Shellfish Co. The company issued a recall of its oysters, which are served widely at Bay Area restaurants and throughout California, as well as 15 other states. (Eater SF)
➤ Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the spread of H5N1 bird flu through California dairy herds. The risk to the public remains low, and most people who have been infected are in the dairy industry. One child in Alameda County might have become sick after drinking raw milk. (Los Angeles Times)