Marilyn Emery’s healthy fast food creed is short and sweet: “Ready in 45 seconds to two minutes.” And she means it. I peek inside her miniature curbside kitchen as she whips up the Muffalleta wrap I have just ordered. A supple, pie-sized whole wheat tortilla materializes. Hummus is instantly spread across every centimeter. The chopped olives, red peppers, capers, pepperoncini and garlic are slapped into the middle, followed by a healthy handful of organic baby greens. Whoosh! Her lightening hands roll everything into a tight, fat cylinder. She makes a diagonal cut forming two perfectly uniform halves. It’s packed tightly into a to-go sheet of plastic wrap or served up on a biodegradeable plate to eat on the spot. Bam. It’s done and you’re good to go.
Let’s review: unroll, spread, fill, wrap, cut, serve. I request a little container—“it’s made of corn, all biodegradable”—of Dijon vinaigrette from Emery’s wall of condiments, but mostly I just cannot wait to sink my teeth into one of these delicious, utterly sin-free creations. And even though Emery has taken a mere one minute and 40 seconds to produce this wrap, there are already three people behind me waiting to order one of Alfresco’s vibrant salads, hot rice bowls and especially those addictive wraps.
Longtime locals remember Emery’s cooking at the original Pearl Alley Bistro. That legacy morphed over the years into food gigs at Farmers Exchange, Domus in Los Gatos, Carried Away in Aptos and Chefworks downtown and, for the past seven years, as kiosk queen of Alfresco. Always reinventing herself, Emery clearly likes her one-woman domain. “I like not having a boss. And I like not being a boss.”
Emery has a quick smile for a very serious person. And she is serious—especially about quality, flavor and sustainability. Alfresco’s all-vegetarian menu reflects its creator’s personal philosophy. “I believe that it’s healthy and it’s good for the environment,” she says. Two months ago, Emery took her act from its longtime location in front of New Leaf further up Pacific Avenue to its new home opposite Pacific Wave, just down the street from Bookshop Santa Cruz. “This has been a much better location for me,” she confesses. “In fact, this has been close to my busiest month ever.”
Running her own shop seven days a week is “a lot of work,” but Emery has plenty of motivation. “I’m an aggressive saver,” she says. “I want to be able to retire when I’m 70.” That’s about a decade away, but Emery confesses that, like many of us, her retirement package has taken a beating in the recent economic downturn. But necessity isn’t the only thing keeping her in the biz. “It’s partly about retirement, but also I love to be here in the summers when the weather is nice,” she says. As her own boss, Emery can—and does—take off during bad weather winters. “I’ve had more vacations,” she confides happily, “with this business than I ever had working for someone else.”
Emery doesn’t play favorites with her menu items. If it isn’t popular, it isn’t on her menu. “The Paella Bowl is really popular now,” she says. “And the North African Bowl. All the salads sell really well.” We circumnavigate the various sauces and condiments, as well as the custom-made teas Emery offers. What’s not to like?
Live a little. Try one of Alfresco’s pomegranate balsamic salads atop a bed of brown rice. That’s $6 you can believe in.
Alfresco
1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz (in front of Pacific Wave)
831.429.1765
Open daily 11am-6pm
