A vintage 19th-century hotel in Felton will soon find a new batch of patrons thanks to Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing‘s Emily Thomas, who is teaming with SLV New Leaf entrepreneur Bob Locatelli on The Cremer House project. The partners plan to transform the former 1880s lumberjack boardinghouse into a purveyor of craft brews wrapped around a restaurant featuring seasonal, local, organic wares. My Aunt Virlyne, a lifelong Feltonian, remembers that space as a once-upon-a-time beauty parlor and then Heavenly Hamburgers lunch spot in the 1950s. Thomas is deep into menu development for recipes designed to pair brilliantly with some of the inventive new brews Cremer House will offer. For many San Lorenzo Valley residents and visitors, the autumn opening date can’t come too soon. Stay tuned for more details, and congratulations to Thomas and Locatelli (didn’t I go to first grade with your sister Judy?) for this welcome revival of Felton’s rustic past.
Date Night Heats Up and Expands: The Nickelodeon Theatres Director of Marketing Ike Jablon knows how to hustle up some date night excitement. In fact his “dinner and a movie” special concept has proven so successful that it has grown beyond its initial downtown Santa Cruz arena. Collaborating with the Downtown Association, the Nick has rounded up even more delicious partners for filmgoers who want to maximize their evening options. The concept is effortless. You choose a dining spot, let’s say Hula’s. And a date night, for example Wednesday night. Then you purchase the Date Night Santa Cruz Dinner & a Movie package. For $50, you get a special menu for two, including shared appetizer and choice of entrees. You dine, and then you head over to The Nick, Del Mar or Aptos Twin theaters. You buy popcorn, sit in the dark and hold hands (etc.) and enjoy a film worth watching. Classic all-American date night fun, for such bargain prices that you and your sweetie decide to do it again the next week. Next time you might opt for Gabriella, where your package gets you $50 toward whatever you want on the menu. See? That way you have the fun of designing your own package. Or at Chocolate, where there’s a prix fixe menu for two specially created for this promotion. And now—drum roll please—nine more restaurants have joined the existing stable, which now includes Cafe Sparrow, 515 Kitchen, Hoffman’s, Laili, Louie’s Cajun Grill, Soif, Au Midi, Kauboi, Cafe Rio, Hindquarter and Assembly. Yes, this is the smartest gift idea on the planet. You can stop by any one of the three box offices or any of the partner restaurants to purchase your package tix, and make your reservations!
Another Excuse for Art Noshing: Painter Tom Maderos will replay his gala opening reception at Iveta with, you guessed it, a closing reception at Iveta on March 30 from 2-4pm. Don’t miss this celebratory send-off for Maderos’ figurative, neo-Diebenkornesque oil paintings. And for those of you who either missed the First Friday opening a few weeks ago, or have yet to make your first visit to the new Westside cafe hot spot, you’re in for a treat. Arm yourself with a bracing espresso drink, one of the sumptuous scones for which the house is famous or even something more substantial from Iveta’s daily special sandwich creations. Feeling reckless, you might just grab a glass of wine and head upstairs for some serious schmoozing before this prolific artist’s show comes down on April 1. Iveta @ 2125 Delaware Ave., Ste. F; (831) 713-0320.
