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Cafe Delmarette • Santa Cruz

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Cafe Delmarette, located in downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific (next to the Delmar Theater, get it, Delmarette), is THE place to meet friends for lunch OR to take out of town friends for lunch, coffee, house made teas (such as house made caramelized pear tea), homemade scones (Bacon, chive, & cheddar Scones, Fig goat cheese Scones, Strawberry Scones etc…), sandwiches, salads, and soup.  This is an order at the counter cafe with limited indoor and outdoor seating. The casualness to the setting makes eating Delmarette’s local, tasty food quite wonderful.

Delmarette serves seasonal foods from a variety of pressed sandwiches to a great salad, daily soup special, and even a grain salad special which is always delicious too (such as Ta-Boo-Lee = Bulgur, Carrot, Red Onion, Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Kale, Parsley & Dill).  They serve VERVE coffee, another one of my Santa Cruz favorites, and they put frozen coffee ice cubes in their Iced Coffee (see photo above)!  Their little cupcakes are delicious too – Blenheim Apricot Buttercream Frosting w/ fruit topping.  My brother says it is the only place he eats lunch in downtown Santa Cruz and I have to credit him with introducing me to it as I walked by it so often and thought it was just another coffee shop.  The atmosphere could be described as ‘cozy’ (not warm cozy like a diner or lodge in the winter, but small cozy). I would say that it is very much like a cafe you would find in Berkeley with local, homemade and seasonal foods for lunch with lots of folks strolling in and out.  You order at the counter and can sit among cool little art inside or sit outside on the street on a little patio and people watch.

CLOSED TUESDAYS

Mon: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wed – Sat: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sun: 9:00 am - 6:00

http://www.facebook.com/cafedelmarette

Cafe Delmarette
1126 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

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San Jose Native: A Local Eat & Special Treat

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

San Jose Native: What the locals drink!

  • Name: An
  • Occupation: Art Student with an Eye on the Time
  • How long she’s lived in San Jose: More than 20 years!
  • Favorite Local Eat: Mint Mojito Iced Coffee @ Philz Coffee
  • Location: San Jose, CA (Two Philz Locations in SF too)

An has lived in San Jose since she was one years old, so that counts as a native CA’er for sure!  She told me to go to Philz and order the Mint Mojito Iced Coffee and to get a large for a whopping $4.50!  She says you will want a large if you order a small and it is only .50 cents more than the small.   Philz even charges $3 for their drip cups of coffee and An claims it’s that good.  They make a mocha type of coffee drink with a frothy top and add fresh mint.  An discovered this drink in SF one afternoon and later found out they had a location in downtown San Jose where she now goes to get her fix while parked in a free, secret spot near the MLK Library. Thanks for the tip An!

Philz Coffee

118 Paseo de san Antonio
San Jose, CA 95112

Open Weekdays 6:30am-10pm; Sat 7am-10pm; Sun 7am-9pm

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Chill Out: Santa Cruz

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Can you really judge a restaurant by eating there once? As a food blogger, love at first site only happens on special dining occasions, and then I often wonder if it was just lust.  Love at first site didn’t happen at Chill Out. In past dining experiences at Chill Out I must have wanted to make it more of a long term affair with substance to our relationship.  The first four times or so I felt like I had become familiar with Chill Out’s appearance and good offerings but I wasn’t in it for the long run.  This is because I hadn’t found my go-to menu item quickly enough to build a craving for the seldom times when on I’m on a diet.  So I decided to put more effort in this weekend with an invitation to join a breakfast birthday celebration at Chill Out.

I discovered two menu options and one dining note on my fifth visit to Chill Out.  What does this mean?  When you order too close to # 0-5 Breakfast Burrito options on the menu board, you are going to get an egg filled burrito that is too dry and straight up boring.  I like a lot of sauce and a kick of spice in the form of at least salsa and (sorry purists) sour cream and/or guacamole on my breakfast burrito, particularly because there isn’t meat inside like el pastor or even bacon to spice it up.  So I made my way to Burrito option #20 and bingo!  So choose wisely and patiently.  Then I walked out back to meet the already present party of eight breakfast-eater friends chilling at a huge picnic table and saw that our cousins had ordered these large plates filled with eggs, hash browns, a side of spicy cream cheese topping, and other stuff.  This was the discovery of desirable menu item #2 (not to be confused with #2 on the menu) that happened to be a breakfast burrito without the tortilla (for the gluten-free types)!  I already mentioned the other cool part of Chill Out that I discovered on this visit and it has to do with the ability for ten of us to sit together at a back picnic table with additional chairs for a huge, inexpensive brunch of friends and family (Note: it can get chilly out back on those cold Santa Cruz mornings).  Oh, the fresh squeezed orange juice is money too but grab your coffee from next door at Verve Coffee Roasters (featured in another BITF Review) cause’ it is also money and award-winning!

860 41st Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

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Casalegno’s Market & Coffee Bar: When Santa Cruz Bound …

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

On your way down to Santa Cruz on the weekend avoid HWY 17 and take Old San Jose/Soquel Road down past Historic Casalegno’s Market and Coffee Bar (Exit 17 at Summit Road, veer right  back over-top of 17 and then go left at the stop sign).    Mostly mountain locals frequent Casalegno’s Market but it is worth a stop for great coffee, yummy local goods, and for a family owned business experience.  If Chris is working ask him to make you his coffee specialty.  It is superb Ugly Mug coffee.  Then enjoy your java out front at a table in the sunshine and hear some of the history of this Stagecoach stop from a local.  If you are lucky you will catch a BBQ lunch too.

Casalegno’s was a stop on the Stagecoach road to San Jose.

Local Products:

  • Kelly’s French Bakery – Baked Goods
  • Laurel Glen Fruit Farm Fresh Eggs – $6/dozen
  • Local Wine (very limited selection)
  • Good, cold Beer (Quad Paned Refrigerator from 1938 keeps the beer at 38F)
  • Local Organic Produce (small stand)

Casalegno’s Market & Coffee Bar

3 Laurel Glen Road – 95073

Mon.-Fri. 7-7:30am • Sat. & Sun. 8am-8pm

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My New Favorite Coffee Shop in Santa Cruz: Verve Coffee Roasting

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Two things about Verve Coffee Roasting in Santa Cruz:

  • Light Coffee Roast Only! A Verve Barista’s Analogy = Dark roasting coffee beans is like making a steak well-done.  When you overcook your steak or do more than light roast coffee beans you taste the roasting rather than the coffee flavors (or juicy, bloody steak flavors).  And just a side note about ordering a well-done steak, if you have read Anthony Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential” then you know, that your well-done steak is often an opportunity to utilize the worst cut of meat left on the kitchen chopping board and the this steak is sometimes thrown in the fryer before it’s served.  This is done because a well-done steak is not really “well-done.” So take it from me and enjoy some “well-done” coffee at Verve!
  • Bowl of Soul is a big cup of tea steeped in steamed soy milk and honey.  Verve has a nice selection of teas for your bowl of soul. There is also another fancy drink name for tea steeped in soy milk.  What is that again?  I just learned this week that the tea they typically make with the Bowl of Soul is chamomile.

John: Verve is great when you want a gourmet roast and want some high caffeine joe.

Zach: I appreciate really dark, heavy, as dank as you can get, coffee.  If you like lighter coffee that tastes really good, you’ll really like Verve.

Lesley: I have to admit, I drank a few really strong iced coffees at Verve a year or more ago and remember thinking I liked the vibe of the small, modern coffee shop.  But I didn’t think a lot about it until I read an article in Imbibe Magazine: Liquid Culture.  Imbibe Magazine featured Verve in their April issue about American Microroasters as one of “Ten Tiny Coffee Roasters That Are Making A Big Splash.” When I went back to Verve I noticed they were competing in the Western Regional Barista Competition and decided to try the coffee and tea.  I like the modern, clean atmosphere and the dedication to making a very good cup of coffee.

Located on 41st Avenue – just down from Chill Out.

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