Where to find antojitos in Santa Cruz County: Six spots for Mexican snacks and sweets

One of my greatest culinary regrets is that I was in my 30s before I discovered antojitos. 

From my first dive into a bag of Tostilocos — Tostitos chips topped with jicama, mango and cucumber, a swirl of chamoy and slippery strips of pickled pork skin — I was hooked. My eyes were opened to the playful, flavor-packed world of Mexican snacks. 

“Antojito” translates to “little craving,” and the term encompasses a huge array of Latin American street foods, from tortas to fruit cocktails dusted with Tajin. The name might be diminutive, but the flavors and presentations are anything but. Even comfort foods such as cups of sweet corn topped with crumbled cheese, mayonnaise and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are unapologetically flamboyant. 

This is a realm where fantasies come to life, where a miniature watermelon can be stuffed with pineapple spears, plus handfuls of gummy candy, including literal lollipops. Antojitos are pure fun, a balm for weary souls that have spent too long tracking macros and fibermaxxing. 

Antojitos are found throughout Mexico and Latin America, and regional and creative riffs abound. Tacos and tamales fall under the category, but shops in Santa Cruz County skew more toward sweet than savory. There are more than half a dozen businesses specializing in antojitos in the Watsonville area, each with its own take on popular dishes like Tostilocos, bionicios — bowls of fresh fruit in thick sweet cream and granola — and housemade milk- and water-based popsicles and ice cream. Their eye-popping menus can feature dozens of variations. 

These colorful snacks are slowly spreading north, reflecting growing interest in antojitos beyond Watsonville. Last fall, Raymund Aparicio expanded his family’s fleet of mobile ice cream trucks with the addition of Saborcito Aparacio, a food truck offering a variety of Oaxacan antojitos in the Live Oak area. In the spring, former restaurant owner Hugo Moreles established Paletería Los Freseros, an ice cream parlor in Ben Lomond. 

After opening three Aparicio Ice Cream trucks, Aparicio, who is from Oaxaca, was inspired to offer other immigrants a taste of home in Santa Cruz. “He wanted to make a special place not only for them, but the whole community,” said his son, Alex Aparacio, who works at Saborcito Aparicio while his mother and sisters run operations. 

Raymund worked in Mexico City, which boasts a thriving antojitos culture, and wanted to carry on the tradition in Live Oak, his home for nearly two decades. At the food truck, Raymund cares about the details. He makes the sweet cream and sorbets used in his desserts, prepares fresh fruit and vegetables, and carefully cuts cueritos — pickled pork skin. “We try to make it not too big and not too small, just a perfect bite,” said Alex. 

Saborcito Aparicio parks daily in Chanticleer County Park, where a stream of people from different cultures — some familiar with antojitos, some not — pass by every day. Regulars, many of whom know their ice cream trucks, return frequently, but new faces can be hesitant to try an unfamiliar menu, they said. 

“They always think we have tacos. We don’t know how to describe antojitos in English, so we usually say we serve desserts and fruit,” said Alex. When those people see other customers’ orders, they often come back. “They ask a lot of questions, and we feel amazed that a lot of people have that wonder to know what we do. That first bite is a shock for them.”

Their family, as well as their flavors, keeps the business strong, said Raymund, using Alex as an interpreter. “He feels proud that as a family, we face every struggle together. We’re so grateful for the community of Santa Cruz for supporting us.”

In Watsonville, La Michoacana Plus Ice Cream is also a family-run business. Abdul Klassem immigrated from Yemen to California in 2008 with his wife and four children, fleeing economic and political crisis. After working in healthcare, he sought a new career in the restaurant industry, in part because of the challenges posed by his limited English.

Klassem opened his restaurant — a franchise with locations statewide, including another in Watsonville — in 2022, adding pizza and crepes to a menu that includes nachos smothered in fresh corn, crumbled cheese, sour cream and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. He sources Watsonville-grown strawberries for aguas frescas and frescas con crema, ripe berries bathed in thick, sweet cream. 

“The company tells us to make the basics, but he added crepes since the other franchises don’t sell it, and pizza because this spot was a pizza parlor before,” said Esme Klassem, who interpreted for her father. Her mother and sister also work in the shop alongside Abdul Klassem. 

If business improves, he’d like to diversify the menu further, depending on what customers want. “Our goal is to keep our family connected, continue [my children’s] education, and support ourselves,” said Abdul Klassem. 

Cecilia Fernández, a teacher at Pajaro Valley High School, was inspired by memories of her childhood in Mexico, watching her uncle make ice cream. In 2018, she and her husband, Victor Melgoza, founded their own parlor in Watsonville under the franchise Michoacana Pedir de Boca. Earlier this year, they separated from the franchise and renamed the shop Apapacho Ice Cream Shop, Spanish for “a warm embrace.” 

At Apapacho, Fernández and Melgoza serve savory snacks like Tostilocos and esquites, but the emphasis is on ice cream and popsicles, dozens of them, all made by hand in flavors ranging from rich Ferrero Rocher chocolate to sweet, earthy ube and smooth sorbets made from soursop, cucumber or passionfruit and mango, flecked with small black seeds. 

All of the recipes are their own, with a creamy, smooth texture that comes from using high-quality cream and sugar, said Melgoza. Cutting the recipes with milk or water can create ice crystals, something they refuse to do, he said. 

Customers come for the service, as much as the sweet treats, said Fernández. 

“Every customer is very important to us, and we try to make their experience unique. I think it transmits, because they almost always come back,” she said. “We just love what we do.” 

My appreciation for antojitos led me to shops across the county. Here are a few of my favorite spots, with recommendations on what to order. 

Businesses are listed north to south. 

This shop in the Santa Cruz Mountains specializes in cold desserts, from ice cream cones and sundaes to milkshakes, banana splits and homemade popsicles. There are also plenty of fruit-based treats, often swirled with chamoy, and occasionally topped with gummy candies and Tajín. I can’t resist the concha sandwich ($8.99), which features a classic Mexican shell-shaped brioche pastry cut open and filled with your choice of ice cream and whipped cream, and finished with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and fresh fruit. 

Few chicharrones preparados in the county rival the one at this food truck. Saborcito Aparicio tops its version of a “Mexican pizza” with care, adding ripe slices of avocado, bites of cueritos and swirls of sour cream. Crack a chunk off and carefully ferry it to your mouth for a crunchy, satisfying bite. 

For a sweet treat, owner Raymund Aparicio recommends their indulgent banana split, an extra fruity spin on the American version. The banana plays a supporting role to scoops of homemade mango and strawberry sorbet, chopped apple, mango and strawberries, sweet cream and granola under whipped cream and chocolate sauce. 

This out-of-the-way spot is tucked into a small shopping center off Freedom Boulevard. Make a stop here to try one specific dish: the sandia loca. A miniature watermelon is carefully hollowed out, then restuffed with spears of watermelon and pineapple, sour gummy candies and ropes, plus a few lollipops — a Piña Loca and a spoonful of tamarind – all poking out with zany flare, finished with sprinkles of hot sauce and chili. It’s so tasty and fun, and highly shareable, so bring a friend.

This is the spot where I had my first Tostilocos, and I would return here for it again. Choose your bag of chips and have it loco-fied with a diced blend of jicama, mango and cucumber, shatteringly crisp Japanese peanuts, ribbons of cueritos and tangy chamoy and hot sauce. 

Don’t leave without at least one popsicle — they serve nearly a hundred different kinds including Mexican flavors like chongos zamoranos and jamaica. 

Choosing among Apapacho’s 36 flavors of ice cream and more than 80 popsicle flavors is an enviable problem, but that doesn’t make it easy. Remember that there is likely no wrong answer here, and to let your heart guide you toward traditional flavors like mint chip or more rare varieties like grosella, aka gooseberry. Don’t leave without at least one scoop of bright and fruity mango-passionfruit sorbet, one of the shop’s most popular flavors. In addition to the impressive menu, owners Cecilia Fernández and Victor Melgoza’s warm hospitality inspires their customers to return again and again. 

Aguas frescas are popular at antojito shops, but the aguanada at La Michoacana Plus Ice Cream stands apart. A cross between an agua fresca and a mangonada, each drink is made to order with freshly muddled Watsonville strawberries, lime juice and ice, and poured into a bright pink barrel-shaped goblet rimmed with chamoy. The whole drink is topped with diced cucumber and mango, a sprinkle of chili and a tamarind candy — tangy, fruity and refreshing.

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