The new Bonny Doon Vineyard rose, a sustainable sushi restaurant and an update on the wharf spot formerly known as Carniglia’s.
Articles by Christina Waters
PLATED: Local Salmon is King
After a year off, local king salmon is back! Prowling around our top food places looking for the freshest catch at a good price, I (naturally) headed to Staff of Life, where the fish counter ice fields were laden with exceptional, caught-that-morning king salmon. Yes, for $20 a pound, it is headed into filet mignon price territory. But it’s worth it.
PLATED: Grapes & Nuts
Mina and Brody Feuerhaken have gone happily nuts and just opened Nut Kreations, a designer house of almonds, pistachios, cashews and more, at 104 Lincoln Street in downtown Santa Cruz. Mina, whose family has been in pistachios for so many generations they can trace their orchard roots all the way back to Persia, brings years of fieldwork to this new venture.
PLATED: Beautiful Mess
For decades I’ve sworn by Zachary’s as the heartland of the über breakfast. Between the endless cups of better-than-decent java, the sensuous jalapeño cornbread and the sinful sourdough pancakes, Zachary’s puts out superior breakfast product. And this week we renewed our adoration with a post-workout visit to the home of Mike’s Mess.
PLATED: Betty’s In Gear
The award-winning Seaside burger joint opens up a full-fledged eatery downtown, complete with turquoise barstools and cocktails. Plus: Lulu Carpenter’s is now at the Westside farmers market.
PLATED: Earth to Santa Cruz
With Earth Day two days away, the Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers Market is throwing a party for Mother Earth this Wednesday, April 20 (yes, that is 4/20). Writer/activist John Robbins will be on hand, as well as Save Our Shores Executive Director Laura Kasa and other eco-visionaries. Now opening at 1:30pm, the expanded market will feature more sit-down dining action, everything from Raw Daddy and Rib King to Penny Ice Creamery.
The Yin And Yang of Santa Cruz Mountain Wines
The array of microclimates within the Santa Cruz Mountains winegrowing region is as nuanced as its fog-cooled slopes and sun-drenched summits. This 480,000-acre appellation famously produces a range of intriguing wines. Rather than delivering a single, unmistakable hallmark, our wines seem to specialize in diversity driven by eclectic terroir.
PLATED: Party Season Begins
Yes, they’re baaack—the cool, creamy, handmade designer ice creams offered at the easy-access little ice cream window at Kelly’s French Bakery on the Westside. Many diehards are already in line for their rightful pound of awesome caramel almond, the flavor that stopped countless diets in their tracks. (How many metaphors were mixed in that last sentence?) Also, believe it or not, the popular Santa Cruz baking institution will celebrate its 30th anniversary on May 14. Hard to believe. Make this special day an excuse to sample Kelly’s new line of milkshakes and malts and see if you’re a lucky winner of prizes announced throughout the day. Stay tuned for extreme details.
PLATED: New Grill In Town
Gone are the central booths, new the sleek flotilla of high bar tables and chairs. Five flat screen TVs lure sports fans to the expanded bar area, and the front patio has been glassed in for more versatility. But the fresh seafood creations that were the Hawgs signature are still in place at the attractively re-named Coldwater Bar & Grill.
PLATED: Roots Rock
Chef Telos Delosil of Gabriella Café created an appetizer this week so gorgeous and tasty that it needed closer examination. The plate in question involved roasted Live Earth beets—pink, red and yellow—arranged on a narrow plate and strewn attractively with candied citrus zest, guajillo chili emulsion, some feisty greens called “castlefranco” and a provocative dusting of something Delosil calls “chocolate hazelnut soil.” I needed to know more about that delicious soil, which clearly referenced the freshness of the just-harvested ingredients. “It was influenced by a dish I used to make in a restaurant in Mendocino, and also by something David Kinch does at Manresa,” admitted the Gabriella chef, who like all artists, is inspired by the best prevailing concepts.
