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.
… An electrical engineer and marine biologist walked into a bar, bonded over their love of the ocean and channeled their scientific skills into an unlikely creative pursuit: gin.
It’s no joke. Aquatic-themed Fathom Spirits is preparing to open on Hangar Way in Watsonville this weekend for private tours, launching with four gins infused with Santa Cruz-inspired botanicals.
Distilling started out as a COVID-era hobby for founders Chad Kecy, senior electrical engineer for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and Elisha Wood-Charlson, a biologist for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They’ve channeled their scientific skills into gins distilled with herbs harvested from their own neighborhoods, unusual citrus and sea salt.
“We’re trying to make gin for people that think they don’t like gin, and make it very approachable,” Wood-Charlson told me during a visit in August. Read the story here.
… Pacific Cookie Company is honoring musical icon Dolly Parton, who passed away on Aug. 25, the best way it knows how: with a cookie.
The Santa Cruz bakery released Dolly’s Cookie, a lemon drop sugar cookie covered in hot pink sprinkles. All of the proceeds from sales of the cookie go to the Santa Cruz County chapter of Parton’s Imagination Library, a nonprofit that donates a book a month to children from birth to age 5.
The cookies are available at Pacific Cookie’s downtown Santa Cruz storefront while supplies last.
Get full access to Lookout Santa Cruz
Become a member to read all of Lookout’s local coverage, from politics and policy to education, dining and more. Annual and monthly membership options are available — start reading for as little as $17 today!
… Last week, Watsonville’s Fruition Brewing released Ebb & Flow Tropical Pale Ale, a collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The golden-colored brew is packed with tropical fruit flavors like pineapple and mango, and packaged in a plastic-free printed can. A portion of every sale supports the aquarium’s conservation efforts.
“As a certified California Green Business, we strive to conserve energy and water, reduce pollution, and be good stewards to our environment,” Fruition shared in an Instagram post. “We are honored to have the aquarium recognize these efforts in working with us.”
… One of the county’s most beloved fall destinations is preparing for pumpkin season. Rodoni Farms, located south of Davenport on Highway 1, will welcome guests for u-pick pumpkins on Sept. 26 and will be open daily through the end of October. Visitors can find their perfect jack-o-lantern among acres of different varieties of gourds and squashes, plus a 5-acre corn maze, produce market, hay bales and scary cutouts.
ON THE MENU
Get ready for my column of the best things I ate last month. August was one for the books, and I can’t wait to share an exquisite tomato pasta, a pulled duck wrap aromatic with warm spices, an Instagrammable poke “burger” that meets the hype, and a successful riff on a classic salad. Watch for it later this week.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Watsonville-based berry giant Driscoll’s has a new CEO. Brie Reiter Smith, vice chair of the company’s board of directors, has replaced Soren Bjorn as chief executive officer, the company announced last Tuesday. Here’s the story.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
The Santa Cruz County Fair returns to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds from Sept. 16 through 20, with four days of live entertainment, agricultural events, rides, foods and more. Are you an exceptional baker or cook? There’s still time to enter your fresh salsa, cookie, jam and more to be judged at the fair. Last year, I had the pleasure of being a judge for the iconic apple pie contest – here’s the story from 2025, in case you missed it.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
My son, Marco, starts kindergarten this week, and I’m transferring the emotional storm that is brewing within me over this fact into making sure he has everything he needs at his new school. For the first time, he will need to bring his own lunch. His preschool provided two meals and a snack, so this is new territory for me. Parents, do you have a lunch box you love that would be easy for a 5-year-old to use? Any strategies for lunch packing you can share? I know we will find our own rhythm eventually, but my mind is swimming with too many mental images of him as a newborn to work properly. #iykyk
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Trump’s got beef. The president is temporarily lowering tariffs on imported lean beef trimmings in hopes of bringing down record-high ground beef prices, but agricultural economists say the impact will be small. Shoppers might temporarily see a 25- to 35-cent decrease. (NPR)
➤ Thieves made off with 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer at a Southern California distribution center. While police investigate fraudulent shipping documents, Pabst turned the bizarre heist into a social media campaign: “We hope that whoever managed to steal our truck also knows the importance of keeping beer cold,” wrote the company in an Instagram post. (San Francisco Chronicle/$)