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South Bay Accent - Feb/Mar 2015

Yet, there were glimmers of a bigger future, food-wise, over the years. The Cellar Door Cafe, opened in 2009 by iconoclastic local vintner Randall Grahm, excited regional foodies, employed star chefs and even got a nod in the New York Times, but financial challenges closed it in 2012. Happily, some other noteworthy, more casual spots also launched in the previous decade, like wine bar Soif and its sister operation, Italian darling La Posta, and still are going strong. While they won’t be in line for Michelin stars, some less sophisticated but finger-licking eateries often build enthusiastic fan bases in an eclectic, laid-back town like Santa Cruz. Good examples are family-run Lillian’s Italian Kitchen, opened in 2007, longtime Capitola landmark Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria and Americanized-Mexican comfort-food purveyor Cafe El Palomar at the harbor—all enduringly popular. Some dining spots have even become local institutions, such as O’Mei, which has been dishing up Sichuan specialties since 1979, and Oswald, launched in ’95 and known for its noisy hipster vibe and ubiquitous modern menu. For foodies seeking the next big thing, however, the local culinary winds started changing for good around 2010 when former UC Santa Cruz grad Kendra Baker—a budding star with several notable establishments on her resume—left Michelin two-star Manresa in Los Gatos to open her own place in Santa Cruz with business partner Zachary Davis. The former pastry chef launched The Penny Ice Creamery—an artisinal establishment where everything, even the add-ins, is made from scratch. It was mobbed from the day it opened. The California native had often vacationed in Santa Cruz as a child and chose the beach town partly for its beauty and family-friendly environment but also for savvy business reasons. “There was a little bit of a void,” she says, “at least, not enough of this kind of food. So we recognized that there was definitely potential here.” “The Penny,” as she calls it, quickly grew to three locations while she and Davis also opened The Picnic Basket near the beach, a hugely popular purveyor of simple, delicious food and snacks. Last year, they added a more ambitious restaurant, Assembly, in downtown Santa Cruz with the same commitment to local, seasonal ingredients and great craftsmanship as their other businesses. Their most recent endeavor is a pop-up space next door to Assembly that features up-and-coming local food artisans. With about 120 employees at present, Baker’s mushrooming empire has succeeded not only because of her well-documented cooking skills. Pleasing the local audience also has been a key element. “We think about how we’re presenting our food so it’s accessible to people—a wide range of people,” she explains. “We have foodies in this community, but we also have people who just want to eat. We want to create a place where people feel comfortable and where it’s not like a ‘Portlandia’ skit.” With a tasty beachhead established, other new eating spots have opened recently in Santa Cruz and are going strong. Once a Chez Panisse Cafe pizza chef, Benjamin Sims spent several years cooking with local ingredients at Ristorante Avanti in town before launching Bantam, his modern Italian eatery that features wood-fired pizza and a wide range of simple, Chez Panisse-style dishes. Another newcomer is glitzy Solaire, the restaurant inside what was once the Holiday Inn but is now a sophisticated boutique hotel in downtown Santa Cruz with food to match. The menu features local ingredients and modern treatments, served in a sleek, sybaritic environment. With Santa Cruz evolving into a foodie magnet, other newer dining spots have been popping up, from always-popular Italian joints to ethnic eateries featuring cuisine from places like Mongolia and Afghanistan. The good news for Bay Area diners is that there are now many more reasons to extend a day at the beach into an evening at the table. Here’s our guide to fine dining in this free-spirited beach town. 84 South Bay Accent Paul Cocking, owner of Gabriella Cafe in downtown Santa Cruz. GABRIELLA CAFE This tiny downtown cottage isn’t just a romantic spot; Gabriella was one of the first Santa Cruz restaurants to buy ingredients from local farmers. This farm-to-table mindset has, over the years, inspired young chefs like Kendra Baker, who started her restaurant career here. Opened in 1992, the cafe turns out fresh Cal-Ital-style food including scrumptious highlights like crispy Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and house-made pappardelle with a rustic Bolognese sauce. Plentiful appealing salads, house-made pasta and satisfying entrees like marinated chicken and slow-roasted pork shoulder keep customers coming back. Charming owner and art lover Paul Cocking is on hand to attend to guests, and he adds some local culture by having regular art exhibits in his eatery. Overall, Gabriella is an appealing choice for intense flavors, good local wines and thoughtful service. 910 CEDAR ST., SANTA CRUZ, 831/457- 1677; GABRIELLACAFE.COM PREVIOUS PAGES, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Grass-fed ribeye steak with fried shallots from Assembly; Oswald’s chocolate soufflé and chilled heavy cream; Santa Cruz surfers catching a wave; seasoned pork chop, winter vegetable slaw and Fuyu persimmons at Soif; house-made loaf of French levain and Pizza Ortiche with wild nettles, mozzarella di bufala, melted leeks and fennel pollen, both from La Posta; braised pork shoulder with Yukon Gold potatoes at Gabriella Cafe; entrance to Bantam, site of a former gym; diver scallops paired with parsley root puree and rainbow chard in bacon broth at Solaire; from La Posta, locally foraged chanterelle mushrooms.


South Bay Accent - Feb/Mar 2015
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