Bad Animal ended its acclaimed Hanloh pop-up in December and brought its kitchen in-house, tapping former chef de cuisine Nick Hahn to lead the downtown Santa Cruz restaurant. While his precise, produce-driven dishes show clear promise and technical confidence, the opening menu feels like an early chapter — polished and wine-friendly, but still searching for the sense of surprise that defines the space.
Bad Animal
Posted inFood & Drink
Expanding Bad Animal will feature modern Parisian bistro-inspired menu as it reopens its restaurant in January
Bad Animal will reopen its restaurant in January with former Hanloh chef de cuisine Nick Hahn, ending its long-running residency model and shifting the menu from Thai food to a modern Parisian bistro style influenced by both California ingredients and Hahn’s Korean heritage.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
In search of the most quintessential Santa Cruz Day ever
What constitutes a “quintessential” Santa Cruz day? Maybe it’s good coffee, a breakfast burrito, visits to Santa Cruz’s most iconic vistas and a reminder of what makes downtown so compelling as a reflection of the city’s unique personality.
Posted inFood & Drink
‘Books shouldn’t gather dust’: Chef David Kinch to sell personal culinary library at Bad Animal
World-renowned chef and Santa Cruz resident David Kinch will sell his personal collection of culinary books at downtown’s Bad Animal on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.
Posted inCity Life
Surf City Lights: Bad Animal’s grand ambitions to become the world’s next great bookstore
Blessed by Beat poet and San Francisco bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti, downtown’s Bad Animal — a high-end Thai-inspired restaurant and wine bar living inside a deeply thought-out bookstore that’s the brainchild of Andrew Sivak — deserves its own attention as an emerging Santa Cruz cultural touchstone on par with Bookshop Santa Cruz and its now-defunct predecessors Logos and The Literary Guillotine.
Posted inFood & Drink
EATERS DIGEST: Hanloh’s electrifying Thai cuisine at Bad Animal, triple-gold chili and Halloweekend
Hanloh chef Lalita Kaewsawang offers playful Thai cuisine as culinary artist-in-residence at Bad Animal in downtown Santa Cruz and East Side Eatery wins triple gold for the third year in a row at the Boardwalk’s Chili Cook-Off.
Posted inFood & Drink
Lily Belli on Food: Hanloh’s Kaewsawang coming to Bad Animal, a baking Companion and anchovies on ice cream
Heads up, foodies: I’m now sending alerts every time I publish a story. Sign up for texts from me here. Thanks to those of you who’ve already subscribed and offered your thoughts! And catch up on my recent work here. … I have returned from my summer “staycation” and it feels good to be back! […]