Mark your calendars for an early workday on Friday, then get over to The Santa Cruz Food Lounge for the monthly Artisan Food Market. A delicious blend of farmers’ market and happy hour, this market is full of local artisan products and prepared foods – and an un-missable full bar!
Mingle with Santa Cruz foodies, sample local products and celebrate Friday with an after-work drink while enjoying live music.
Fogline Farms will host a guest chef from Argentina, who will be dishing out handmade empanadas made with their humanely raised meat and fresh produce. Food Lounge tenants Mortal Dumpling will provide their famous Dim Sum, and Kickin Chicken will sling their succulent fried chicken and crunchy waffles.
Other featured vendors include, La Marea with ceviche and tacos, Makse with fancy rice crisp bars and La Onda with their delicious almond sauces. Ashby Chocolates will “bring it” with tasty confections and Hidden Fortress Microfarm will have organic coffee, apple cider vinegar and jams. And that’s just the beginning!
New vendors this month include Gooses Goodies Toffee, Antidotum specialty beverages and Philospher’s Stoneground Nut Butters.
Carl Atilano and Patrice Wallace of Duo Melodious will serenade shoppers with jazz, latin, classical and more on their guitar and double bass.
The Food Lounge has been a catalyst for growing the community around local food in Santa Cruz. What they are best known for is their weekly PopUp series, hosting different chefs from Sunday through Wednesday. This has created the perfect collaboration spot for chefs and cooks without a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Their regular PopUp tenants include Ty’s Eatery, Mortal Dumpling, LionFish SupperClub and Kickin Chicken. Mutari Chocolate is a permanent resident of the Food Lounge, located just to the side of the main venue and serving up exquisite sipping chocolates and brewed cacao regularly.
Chef Andrea Mollenauer of Lifestyle Culinary Arts founded the Food Lounge with Sally Kane and Cat Hernandez in order to create a community meeting place centered on the local food movement. It is an event venue as well as a commercial incubator kitchen and full service food organization.
This versatile space is much more than what meets the eye. The Food Lounge hosts First Fridays as well as wine tastings and various other events. Featuring a long bar, an ample standing area and a large dining room that opens onto a homey outdoor courtyard, the possibilities for the space are virtually endless. During the artisan market, the tables are moved out of the way and there is plenty of room for numerous vendors and quite a gathering of people, mingling and milling about.
So head on over this Friday and check it out the delicious local food of Santa Cruz!
Info: August 14 at The Food Lounge, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz from 2:30-7:30 p.m.
