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.
… Restaurants throughout Santa Cruz County are offering food left over at the end of service for sale at rock-bottom prices with the help of national app Too Good To Go. Businesses that use it said the service helps recoup the cost of food that they would have otherwise thrown away, and keeps it out of the landfill by placing it into the hands of app users. Customers have the opportunity to purchase “surprise bags” from bakeries, restaurants and grocery stores, at about a third of the retail price.
Before Pizza My Heart started selling extra food through the app, it donated as much as it could to food banks, but a lot ended up in the trash, executive chef Spencer Glenn told me.
“We’re not making any money off of [the app] whatsoever, but it helps us have zero waste and minimize our loss, while offering the best possible experience for our customers,” he said. Read the story here.
… Viva Oaxaca Guelaguetza, a celebration of the vibrant food, art, culture and music of Oaxaca, Mexico, returns to Branciforte Small Schools in Santa Cruz this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Local and regional vendors will sell Oaxacan specialties like mole, tlayudas – aka “Mexican pizza” – and tejate, a cozy drink made with maize and cacao. The event is hosted by Santa Cruz nonprofit Senderos, which provides free after-school music and dance classes, educational support and scholarships for Latino youth. Admission is $10, and kids 5 and under are free.
… The seasonal farmers markets in Felton and Scotts Valley will reopen the first week of May. The Felton market, held on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the St. John’s Church parking lot in downtown Felton, returns May 5.
The Scotts Valley market, held on Saturdays outside the Boys & Girls Club off of Scotts Valley Drive, returns May 2. New this year, market hours are moving to 8 a.m. to noon, shifting an hour earlier to combat the heat that frequently scorches the mountains on summer afternoons.
… Downtown Santa Cruz cookware store Toque Blanche – formerly Chefworks – is celebrating its 30-year anniversary on Pacific Avenue this Saturday with discounts and deals starting at 9 a.m. Customers can get their knives sharpened for free before 11 a.m. and chat with representatives from high-end cookware brands Le Creuset, Made In and Shun throughout the day. The entire store is 10% off, and customers can choose a single item to receive a 30% discount. Visitors can also enter giveaways for big prizes, such as carbon steel frying pans, stand mixers and cast-iron cookware, with winners announced at the end of the day.
… Santa Cruz restaurants, bars and attractions got a big shout-out in the travel section of The New York Times last week. After visiting sites like Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum and the Beach Boardwalk, the writer recommends stops at Verve Coffee Roasters and 11th Hour Coffee, breakfast at Santa Cruz spots Zachary’s or Mad Yolks, and lunch at The Grove in Felton.
For dinner, the Times recommended Mentone in Aptos or Bad Animal in Santa Cruz, and noted newly opened downtown cocktail bar Alley Oop, Nicholson Vineyards in Corralitos and Venus Spirits on the Westside as must-visit drinking establishments. The Penny Ice Creamery also got a shout-out. Here’s a free gift link to the article, if you’d like to check it out.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Watsonville mainstay El Frijolito has opened a second location, Tacos El Frijolito, offering a takeout-only menu of Mexican staples near the Highway 1 corridor. The expansion builds on the family-run restaurant’s nearly 40-year history and recent remodel of its original downtown location. Check out the story here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
This Saturday, The Perfect Pair will be held at the Sesnon House at Cabrillo College from noon to 4 p.m. This culinary wine showcase pairs the talents of the Cabrillo Culinary Arts department with Santa Cruz Mountains wineries. A lecture on local microclimates by viticulturist Prudy Foxx starts at noon, followed by the food and wine pairing experience at 1 p.m. All-inclusive tickets are $120, or $40 for the lecture only and $85 for the tasting only.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
I’ve never been a big fan of Jell-O. Even as a kid, I found the texture unappealing, and in college, I choked down a few too many fluorescent spiked versions out of paper cups. Nevertheless, the internet has begun feeding me videos of what I can only describe as chic Jell-O shots inspired by classic cocktails, and I’m hooked. In these videos, solid cubes flavored like lychee martinis jiggle elegantly on silver trays. Orange wedges filled with spicy margarita and dipped in Tajin are paraded out at a party. They’re so cute, I decided to give it a try and make a batch for a girls night last weekend.
I came up with a recipe inspired by a dirty Shirley Temple, with 7Up soda, vodka and grenadine, with maraschino cherries suspended in the middle. Unfortunately – or maybe not, as it turned out – I misjudged the amount of gelatin, and added far more than I needed to: the final product looked cute and tasted great, but had the texture of a gummy bear. Perhaps this was the end result I needed – instead of slurping down soft goo, we munched on them like pieces of candy.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ The restaurant at the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park is getting a major menu makeover this week. The previously à la carte list will become a prix fixe offer, priced at $95 for five courses and $125 per person for seven courses, with dishes inspired by historic menus, like roast elk tenderloin with sunchoke purée, and pan-roasted halibut with yuzu-miso sauce. (SFGate)
➤ East Coast craft brewery Evil Genius Beer Company purchased 21st Amendment Brewery, which ceased operations in the Bay Area in 2025. It plans to revive 21st Amendment’s popular brands, including Brew Free! Or Die IPAs and Hell or High Watermelon wheat beer, and expand Evil Genius’ own production to the West Coast. (Brewpublic)