The downtown Santa Cruz market is now home to almost two-dozen new vendors and service providers. Here are a few of them.
Farms
Old Creek Ranch
This Cayucos-based farm sells beef, lamb, goat and pork, all grass-fed and free of antibiotics and hormones. Also eggs from free-range chickens, plus lard and meat stock. Avocados and certified organic hard-to-grow-in-Santa-Cruz citrus fruits like lemons and Valencia oranges.
Massa Organics
Certified organic and sustainably farmed brown rice, almonds and almond products.
Prepared and Artisanal Foods
Hula’s Shave Ice
Slurpees and sno-cones cry when they see a shave ice operation come to town; the velvety texture holds too much flavor to compete with. Hula’s serves up the genuine article in classic tropical flavors like mango and lilikoi.
Lulu Carpenter’s
The locally famous cafe sells fragrant, fresh-roasted estate beans and espresso drinks.
RoliRoti
The nation’s first mobile rotisserie specializes in slow-roasted, sustainably farmed chickens rubbed with herbs like rosemary and thyme and served up with a lime. Roasted potatoes also available. Half chicken $6.50. Whole Chicken $12.
Snake and Butterfly Chocolates
A recent addition to the downtown market, Snake and Butterfly makes single-origin raw organic chocolate bars, each type made strictly from beans from one locale. The “bean to the bar” method means they refine their own cocoa beans, which come from Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.
Services
Sharp-Quick
Knife sharpener Terry Beech and assistant sharpen knives as well as scissors, gardening shears and any other gadgets that may be lying dull and forgotten in the top drawer. Sharpening prices start at $4.
Veggie Valet
Shoppers whose eyes are bigger than their biceps can drop their bags off in order to continue shopping or to retrieve their vehicles and pick up the veggies. Free.
