The best things I ate and drank in Santa Cruz County in September

In Santa Cruz County, September is known as “secret summer,” with some of the warmest beach weather, festivals and late-season eats of the whole year. 

My list of the best things I ate last month is full of local knowledge of edible delights that are unlikely to make it onto a tourism brochure, simply because they’re hidden in plain sight in places just off the main stomping grounds for visitors. 

A fantastic smash burger and an agua fresca where the homemade chamoy is the star are both available at two different food trucks parked in Santa Cruz. For some of the best seafood in the area, head south from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf to the less-visited Santa Cruz Harbor, and some of the most memorable baked bites can be found at an eclectic wine bar steps away from Capitola Beach. 

No matter the season, it’s always fun to play tourist in your hometown. 

The best things I ate in Santa Cruz County in: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August

At the Best of the Best All-Star Fest, an inaugural food festival held in Santa Cruz in early September, I gorged on smash burger, eloté lobster roll, ube-flavored Filipino halo halo and fried maitake mushroom “wings.” But the dish that turned the most heads as I traversed the scorching blacktop was a 24-ounce pineapple agua fresca rimmed with chamoy and gummy candy. 

As refreshing as the cold, tropical drink was, it was there to show off the sticky homemade chamoy applied to the lip of the lid, where it flavored every sweet sip with smokey, chile-infused flavor. It also coated three sour gummy candies, skewered on top as a garnish, adding a fun foil to the brightly colored beverage. 

Marcelo Ruiz started his lifestyle brand Royal Waves during the pandemic, and added a menu of homemade chamoy under the name Chamoy Waves, in addition to a line of streetwear. These days, Ruiz sells 9-ounce containers ($15) in four flavors — original, spicy, watermelon and mango — and dipped gummy candies through his family’s Oaxacan food truck, Espadin. 

Ruiz uses real tamarind fruit and chiles to make his chamoys, all gluten-free. Many people visit the food truck just for the aguas frescas, he said. 

“I try to use the best ingredients, and incorporate my own childhood memories and culture of snacks that I grew up on into the food truck,” said Ruiz. “It has a little sweetness, a little tang, and a little sour.” 

Watsonville-based food truck High End Comida set up a regular spot in downtown Santa Cruz at the end of September. Its new home on weekdays from noon to 7 p.m. is the corner of Locust and Cedar streets, where owner Jorge Rocha cooks up a menu of burgers, burritos, tacos, sandwiches and fries. 

Rocha makes maximalist comfort food, combining Mexican, Hawaiian and American flavors into creations oozing with cheese and housemade sauces, from ribeye-stuffed grilled cheese sandwiches and a surf-n-turf plate with steak, a skewer of garlic prawns and macaroni salad, to fries topped with smokey asada and homemade salsa and guacamole. It’s Instagrammable, stuff-your-face indulgent, in the best way. 

Even the relatively modest sourdough bacon smash ($16) makes an impression. This burger has it all: beautiful griddled sourdough that crunches into a beefy smashed patty bound with cheese. Grilled jalapeños and caramelized onions melt into the secret sauce, adding a kicky sweet heat, all on a bed of well-seasoned fries. 

Chef Jeffrey Wall, formerly of the now-closed Alderwood in Santa Cruz — which earned a mention in the prestigious Michelin Guide under his tenure — has been at the helm of Johnny’s Harborside since spring 2025. In that time, Wall has elevated the menu at the longstanding seafood spot in the Santa Cruz Harbor from dated chowder-house staples to more modern, technique-driven fare, while still capturing that familiarity that Johnny’s customers crave after more than 20 years by the docks. 

In pushing the menu in this new direction, Wall has strengthened the relationship with H&H Fresh Fish Co, the harbor’s dedicated seafood buyer, located on the ground floor under the second-story restaurant, to include fish caught in Monterey Bay and along the coast. California halibut filets are breaded and deep-fried for fish and chips, and when H&H purchased a whopping 455-pound Pacific bluefin tuna in September, Wall created a special $65 fixed-price tasting menu with four courses. It sold out in half an hour. 

Dishes rotate seasonally, and a fresh pasta added in September bridges the divide between fine dining and familiarity. The Maine lobster cacio e pepe ($43) is a luxurious crowd-pleaser, with tiny housemade rolled pasta that captures the creamy, truffle-scented sauce, studded with abundant sweet lobster meat and a handful of earthy chanterelles.

I fell in love with baker Talia Damon’s creative treats while she was the head baker at 11th Hour Coffee in downtown Santa Cruz. The young pastry chef began her career at three-Michelin-starred Aubergine in Carmel before coming to Santa Cruz in 2024 to create eye-catching baked goods like tahini brownies flecked with halva, fragrant orange-cardamon muffins, crackling cannelé and banana-chocolate chip cookies. 

Damon left 11th Hour during the summer, which means, for the time being, the only place to enjoy her baking genius is Vin Vivant, a Capitola wine bar run by fellow Aubergine alumni Ryan Cooley and John Haffey. At Vin Vivant, Damon updates a seasonal menu of wine-friendly sweet and savory baked goods every few weeks.

In September, I pulled apart impossibly fluffy pieces of rust-colored sweet potato brioche, swiped with smokey harissa butter. It paired perfectly with a crisp white Burgundy selected by Cooley, creating an indulgent little fall treat. 

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