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.
… Jeffery’s, an all-day restaurant that has stood at the corner of Capitola Road and Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz for nearly five decades, closed suddenly Jan. 28, leaving few clues about why it shut its doors and whether it will reopen.
I briefly spoke to owner Jeffery Walsh last week, but he told me that he wasn’t comfortable discussing the status of the restaurant, and wouldn’t share why it was closed, if it had been sold – as several online rumors suggested – or when it would reopen. Read the story here.
… The acclaimed partnership between Bad Animal and Hanloh chef Lalita Kaewsawang ended in December, and in January, owners Andrew Sivak and Jess Mackay tapped Nick Hahn, Kaewsawang’s former chef de cuisine, to lead the kitchen.
Hahn’s opening menu is compact, with three entrees alongside a handful of small plates and a couple desserts, and draws from a range of cuisines, from French to Indian to Japanese. In the wild mushroom pasta ($24), Hahn opts for chewy, hand-cut Chinese-style noodles, emulsifying the thick strands with abundant garlic and earthy hedgehog mushrooms until they nearly melt together. He coaxes all the sweetness from a half-head of braised cabbage ($22), and serves it in a pool of sensual vadouvan curry and fiery chili crisp.
But some of the dishes, like cheesy gougéres ($8) and chocolate mousse ($12), felt a little safe, and I kept wishing for a few more surprises, a similar sense of delightful discovery to match the unconventional offerings within the bookstore and wine list. Read my review here.
… Congratulations to two locally owned restaurants on significant anniversaries. Left Coast Sausage Worx is celebrating a decade of serving creative, elevated hot dogs in Capitola Village. In Live Oak, Taqueria Michoacan has been offering epically flavorful tacos, tortas, burritos and seafood for 25 years.
… There’s one other anniversary I think is worth noting: Lookout started this newsletter on Jan. 25, 2022, and four years of sharing news about the county’s food and drink industry has flown by. Happy birthday to us! Thank you for reading!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
California Fish and Wildlife officially OK’d ropeless pop-up gear for commercial Dungeness crab fishing in the spring. For three years, fishers on the Central Coast and in Northern California, including one fisherman in Santa Cruz, have tested the gear under experimental permits. This year, any licensed crab fisher in the state can apply to use pop-up traps. If approved, permit-holders will be allowed to fish with the ropeless gear from April 1 through July 15, after the main crab season closes. Here’s the update.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Following a festive holiday market in December, Collective Santa Cruz is opening the doors of the former Logos Books & Records in downtown Santa Cruz this weekend with a Valentine’s Day Mega Market. The two-day event will be held Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature treats like oysters by Hook & Line restaurant, handmade chocolates courtesy of Ashby Confections, brand-new flavors from Cracked Cookies, and other food vendors, in addition to art, crafts and music.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
I know I write about Dungeness crab quite a bit during the winter, but it truly is one of my family’s favorite local foods. I came from a crab-eating family, and I married into one, too. So on Sunday, while the Benito Bowl played in the background, we celebrated my mom’s visit with a family dinner. My husband, Mike, bought seven enormous crabs from H&H Fresh Fish Co. in the Santa Cruz Harbor – they each easily weighed 2 pounds – but the idea of cooking them all on my flimsy electric stove in the kitchen was daunting.
Luckily, we had an alternative option. We dusted off – quite literally, as we had not used it in about five years – our old homebrewing set, which included a standing burner that hooks up to a propane tank, and a huge kettle made out of a 15.5-gal beer keg. After a bit of fiddling with the regulator, she fired up beautifully, and before too long, the water was boiling and the crabs met their delicious end. Aside from being handy, sipping cans of beer in the backyard around the old set brought me back to those old homebrewing days. I’m glad this old gear still works, and came back into our culinary rotation.
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ In Minneapolis, despite a major ICE enforcement operation and two deadly shootings, one restaurant owner has kept the doors of My Huong Kitchen open as a refuge, offering warmth, food and shelter to protesters, journalists and neighbors in need. (Civil Eats)
➤ Food fraud rose 1,000% globally between 2020 and 2023, affecting pantry staples such as olive oil, honey and spices. In addition to costing the food industry billions of dollars annually, it can expose shoppers to toxic additives and pose serious health risks. (Food & Wine)