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.
Stay in touch with me by text throughout the week – I send text alerts every time I publish a story. And you can text me back! Share your thoughts, send tips and give feedback. Sign up for texts from me here. Thanks to those of you who’ve already subscribed! Check out all of my food and drink coverage here.
… Sunny days are on the horizon and last weekend, Humble Sea Brewing Co. reopened its pop-up beer garden on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. The Santa Cruz-based brewery launched the open-air satellite location in 2023, and it’s back for another year. The beer garden features Humble Sea beer on draft and in cans, with a rotating lineup of food trucks. It’s currently open Friday through Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. but that can change due to weather.
… This week, chef Katherine Stern is launching dinner service at The Midway restaurant, which opened at the end of December just two doors down from the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz. Starting Thursday, Stern will offer a three-course dinner menu for $75 per person on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The menu will change weekly and will be hyper-seasonal and farmers market-driven, like her current breakfast, brunch and lunch menus. To kick things off, Stern is celebrating springtime with grilled asparagus, braised lamb or celery root with a lentil and beet salad, and a lime curd tart with rhubarb. Guests can add Dungeness crab salad with preserved yuzu or potato gnocchi with black trumpet mushrooms for an additional charge. View the menu and make reservations at themidwaysantacruz.com.
Get your first year for just $99 — nearly a 50% savings!
Right now, during election season, get your first year of an annual membership to Lookout for just $99 with coupon code Election2026. Members have full access to all Lookout’s local coverage, from politics and policy to education, dining and more.
… Set your alarms: Tickets to Outstanding in the Field go on sale Tuesday, March 19. This blockbuster dinner series takes guests to exotic locations in order to bring them closer to the origins of their food. Jim Denevan founded the series in Santa Cruz 25 years ago and it has since expanded nationwide and internationally. Local tour dates in 2024 include Saturday, June 1, at Everett Family Farm in Soquel; Saturday, June 8, at Sea to Sky Farm in Davenport; and Wednesday, Oct. 23, at a secret location in Big Sur. There are also tickets for events throughout the U.S. and one in Korea. Go to outstandinginthefield.com to check out the full 2024 tour.
… On March 1, Santa Cruz-based Flashbird Chicken opened a third location, on 41st Avenue, in the former home of Kaito Ramen and Pink Godzilla Sushi, filling a space that had been vacant since 2020. The fast-casual restaurant offers a similar menu to what it serves in Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz and in Scotts Valley, including fried chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, wraps and sides, with housemade condiments and buns. The Pleasure Point location also has housemade mac and cheese and fried pickles, as well as beer and wine. It’s open every day from noon to 9 p.m. Flashbird Chicken is owned by Santa Cruz Sky, a local company headed by Ahmed Hamdy; its portfolio includes Alderwood Santa Cruz, in-house bakery Buns & Sons and hot sauce brand Burn.
On that note – the Pleasure Point commercial district is going through some other changes, too: I shared in January that Mad Yolks is expanding from downtown Santa Cruz and opening a second location in the former Chill Out Cafe, which closed at the end of 2022. Up the street, craft brewery New Bohemia Brewing Co. closed after nine years at the end of February, and breakfast spot Cliff Café closed in November after 33 years to make room for a new commercial development.
TEXT ME
Want to stay on top of the latest local food news? I send text alerts every time I publish a story. And you can text me back! Share your thoughts, send tips and give feedback. Sign up here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
“Vegan” used to be one of the most dreaded words on a menu, but over the past few years it’s come a long way from portobello burgers and tofu scrambles. Plant-based dining is on the rise nationally, and in Santa Cruz County, some of the most exciting restaurants and chefs are offering compelling vegetarian and vegan options and menus. I rounded up 13 local restaurants that are setting a new standard for plant-based dining, and giving “vegan” a good name.
QUOTE
“I don’t want other people to be prevented from trying new projects because they know that they’re going to fail financially if they try. The only businesses that can afford to have a place sitting empty like this is a national chain. If the city wants to support local businesses, they need to fix the system.” — winemaker Megan Bell. It took Bell 483 days to complete the permitting process of a new tasting room in Santa Cruz for her winery, Margins Wine. She feels that the city’s clunky and bureaucratic process has created a system that is stacked against small entrepreneurs like herself. Read the story here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Farmer Ryan Abelson of Pajaro Pastures is hosting a Spring Lamb Jam at his farm in Corralitos on Sunday, April 14, featuring a five-course Iranian dinner prepared by Greg Tavangar of pop-up Cosmos Cocktails. Tavangar is channeling his Iranian heritage into a spring menu of traditional Persian dishes like lavash with housemade condiments and dips, and ghormeh sabzi, a fresh herb lamb stew, with tahdig, or crispy rice. The entree is lamb kebab layered with onion, tomatoes and figs, and the meal will include a variety of traditional Persian drinks and cocktails, as well as beer, wine and cider. There are 30 tickets available, $150 each, with drinks included. Don’t miss out – view the menu here and purchase tickets at pajaropastures.com.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
I grew up in Murphys, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was founded by Irish immigrants during the gold rush, and every year the town channels its heritage into a huge St. Patrick’s Day festival. St. Patrick’s Day in Murphys was like Thanksgiving or Christmas — the whole town participated in the celebration. The week before, well-meaning vigilantes paint huge green shamrocks on the main street intersections in the downtown area, and fill between the yellow lines on the road with a long green stripe that stretches through the whole town. Irish Days, the main event, is held the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. The day starts with a parade, followed by an all-day street fair, performances, Irish dancing and music. One year, someone dyed the Murphys Creek that runs through the town a fluorescent green with a nontoxic dye.
It wasn’t until I came to college that I discovered that St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a major holiday. Most people drink a green beer, listen to some Celtic music and call it a day. But in my family, it’s marked by a big family dinner of corned beef, colcannon and homemade soda bread. My kids will wake up with gold chocolate coins under their beds, left by leprechauns. And if we’re lucky, the sunshine will illuminate clover-studded hills, promising that spring is just around the corner.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ For 15 years, the state- and federally funded Market Match program has allowed low-income shoppers to stretch their money to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets. But a new state budget has proposed cutting funding to this program, and local farmers market organizers fear it would affect hundreds of residents and farmers who rely on it. (Lookout)
➤ Climate change is threatening fruit trees nationwide. Erratic weather, including dramatic temperature and water fluctuations, as well as pests, are stressing trees and inhibiting their ability to create beautiful fruit. Not only that, trees can accumulate stress in the same way human bodies do. (The Atlantic)