< Blame it on the Food » santa cruz
 

santa cruz

...now browsing by tag

 
Bars Beer Breakfast brunch Cocktails coffee cookies CSA CSA Box dessert Drinks Eating Out family recipe Farmers Market Foodie Gift Foodie Gifts Greens Home Cookin' home cooking Ice Cream Japanese Los Gatos Lunch Main Dish Mexican Oakland Out of Town Pasta Pizza recipe Recipes Salad San Francisco San Jose santa cruz SF SF Bay Area Day Trip Side Dish Silicon Valley Soup Tacos Vegan Vegetable Vegetarian Wine
 

41st Avenue Liquor Store: Santa Cruz

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Beer Snob?  41st Avenue Liquor is the place to buy beer in Santa Cruz.

41st Avenue Liquor has Belgian sour beers like rodenbach, a large variety of Ciders, IPA’s, German Beers, and large selection of microbrews.  In addition they have quite a good liquor selection including all types of whiskey, vodka, liquours, tequilas and so on.  The wine selection is not as large as BevMo but they do have a pretty good selection (the beer prices and liquor prices are usually a bit lower or similar to Bevmo).

Also, I like to randomly pick up unique drinking glasses and bar knickknacks here like the metal deer head shot glass and margarita glasses too.

2155 41st Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

(831) 475-5117

Posted in Drinks, Santa Cruz | No Comments »
Tags: , ,

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk • Top 3 Favorite Foods

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Can you tell we’re trying to hold onto summer … I thought I would mention our Top 3 Favorite Foods from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk so you don’t lose your chance to eat the goodness (hmmmm … badness).

Rides Open Only: 11am-7pm on Weekends now Weather Permitting

#1 – Cajun Corn Dog @ Surf City Grill … Homemade and delicious. They claim to have the best corn dogs and they may be right.

#2 – Tater Twist (Put hot sauce and some seasoning on it)

#3 – Chocolate Covered Bacon @ Marini’s Candies

Posted in Eating Out, Santa Cruz, Where the Locals Eat | 1 Response »
Tags: , , ,

Olive Oil & Balsamic Tasting ~ True Olive Connection • Santa Cruz

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

For Santa Cruz Food Blog Readers … Three relatively new “tastings” to try in Santa Cruz:

Wine always tastes better when you are out tasting it.  The same goes for olive oils, vinegars and pretty much everything else (sample nuts next door @ Nut Kreations too).  I guess the taste seems more pure when you are out tasting, without distractions from the other food and small talk at a dinner party (does it have anything to do with it being free, hm, maybe).  At that instant you taste something, when that taste is your one and only intent, you are alone with the flavors in your mouth, focusing solely on the potential flavor intensity.  It’s about an experience.  It is interactive and engaging, what you wish your entire educational experience could have been.

I love that there are so many new food experiences and unique food tasting opportunities popping up all over, like the tasting available at True Olive Connection and the new Santa Cruz Food Tours, both in Santa Cruz.  Many of these tasting opportunities seem to be located in tourist towns that have a lot of foot traffic.  Lucky for us (at least in this sense and many others of course), this describes Santa Cruz.

We’ve found that tasting a product before you buy it is a great way to open one up to new flavors that you may not have tried otherwise.  At the True Olive Connection in downtown Santa Cruz we sampled many fused olive oils and vinegars on their own as well as together in suggested combinations (such as Chipotle Olive Oil + Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil on fish, chicken or summer salads).

One of the vinegars that was very intriguing was the Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar because we figured it had some unique potential for drizzling on berries for a healthy dessert made with a great local product.  We also bought little bottles as Santa Cruz-specific presents for out-of-town friends.

In the end we purchased smaller bottles of Olive Oil and vinegars so that we could have a variety to sample later on salads, meats, and desserts.

106 Lincoln Street

Santa Cruz, CA

http://trueoliveconnection.com/

* Awesome marinade or sauce for meat – Chipotle Olive Oil + Tangerine Balsamic.

Posted in Eating Out, Santa Cruz | No Comments »
Tags: , , , ,

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

Posted in Eating Out, Santa Cruz | No Comments »
Tags: , , , ,

Mead: Honey Wine for the Honeymooners

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

There is apparently a tradition of giving newlyweds Mead as a wedding gift for them to drink on their honeymoon.  This is a Northern European tradition where newlyweds drink a daily cup of honey wine during the first month of their marriage (I guess the honeymoon was traditionally a month, nice!).  This daily cup of Mead would assure the couple the birth of sons while also symbolizing the sweetness of the first month of marriage (I mean, it better be sweet the first month!).

Mead is actually honey wine or drinkable honey made by fermenting honey and water.  It can be still, carbonated, or sparkling, and it may be dry, semi-sweet, or sweet and is between 8%-18% alcohol.   There are about 36 different mead varieties (my brother said, that’s it, are you sure).  Mead ranges from being made with honey and maple syrup to chili peppers and varieties can be found all over the world from Europe to Africa.

  • Metheglin – Mead that contains spices or herbs such as cloves, Cinnamon, nutmeg, hops, lavender
  • Melomel – Mead that contains fruit such as strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry

Combined with the fact that my father-in-law now raises bees and talks a lot about Mead and that we are attending many weddings this summer and need unique local gift ideas, I had to finally taste some local Mead.  Down in Soquel in Santa Cruz, CA there is a winery called Bargetto that makes Mead (in the spirit of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales).  Bargetto has Chaucer’s Mead (as well as other wines and other fruit wines).   Chaucer’s Mead (92 Points – Wine Enthusiast – $13-15 a bottle) comes with tea bag filled with spices on the side.  You can place the spice bag in the chilled Mead bottle and drink it with the spice addition.  It is a great dessert or sweet wine and a great local wedding gift for friends.  It can be served chilled or heated in the winter.  Stop by the Bargetto Winery tasting room in Soquel on Main Street to sample their Mead!

  • Mead made locally for our Santa Cruz Food Blog readers – Chaucer’s Mead at Bargetto Winery in Soquel, CA.
  • Mead made locally for our Silicon Valley Food Blog readers and San Jose Food Blog Readers – Rabbit’s Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale, CA.
  • Mead made locally in Maine for Kellies Belly Readers, Kellie suggests Honeymaker Mead, especially their lavender mead and blueberry mead.

Posted in Drinks, Santa Cruz | 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,

Princess Cake from Gayle’s Bakery in Santa Cruz

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

I’ve been meaning to write about the Princess Cake at Gayle’s in Capitola, down in Santa Cruz, for as long as we’ve had our Santa Cruz food blog.  This year, my family surprised me with the Princess Cake on my birthday and so I finally got a photograph of it with my new lens at 11:30pm at night before we dove into it.
  • Gayle’s Bakery in Santa Cruz is pretty large,and when I say large, I mean 10,000 square feet of Bakery, Rosticceria, and Italian Deli.  So when you get there, line up and take a number while you decide what to eat-in (fairly large patio with seating area to eat lunch) or take-home.  The Princess cake is my absolute favorite birthday cake.  I know I’m not alone on this one because after attending baby showers and birthday parties in Santa Cruz, I found out that Gayle’s Princess Cake is many other folks favorite cake in Santa Cruz as well.  I am typically a chocolate lover, but this cake … it is truly scrumptious with a vanilla and almond paste kind of flavor with raspberry and cream inside and an unbelievable texture.
  • Gayle’s Princess Cake Three layers of vanilla genoise cake ~ layers of pastry cream, raspberry jam & whipped cream inside ~ pastel marzipan shell outside ~ sprinkled with powdered sugar ~ topped with a fresh rose.
The history of the Princess Cake is that it is a traditional Swedish Cake created in the 1930’s (or as they say in Sweden, Prinsesstårta OR Prinsess Tårta).  In Sweden they serve this cake for celebrations such as birthdays and graduations, just not on Christmas. You can buy it frozen as well and the brand below is suggested (check out Ikea to see if they have it in your area).
I’ve read that Schuberts Bakery in San Francisco also makes a good Swedish Princess cake if you aren’t close to Santa Cruz, CA.

Posted in Santa Cruz, Store Bought | 5 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,

For Sure, Breakfast @ Silver Spur: Santa Cruz

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Their coffee is even good. You got it, not your typical diner. Seriously, my only problem with Silver Spur is, as their sign states, “Breakfast and Lunch 6am-3pm – Closed Sundays!” It is just open for breakfast and lunch and not on Sundays!  Why can’t there be a high quality restaurant with great comfort food like Silver Spur that is open for dinner too in Santa Cruz.  I mean, some evenings call for a blue plate special reminiscent of any American’s childhood favorite comfort foods (Meatloaf, Pork Chops, Mac & Cheese with a quality twist).  Yes, this is one the best, top breakfast spots in Santa Cruz and frankly, in the Bay Area.  The food is of a high quality with unique touches and an atmosphere that reminds me of great western breakfast spots from New Mexico to Montana.  The western feel and often tex-mex inspired dishes (South of the Border Scramble, Corned Beef Hash, Huevos Rancheros) are delicious, particularly with the accompaniment of their homemade salsa. Silver Spur always has specials written up on the board often featuring their yummy orange poppy-seed pancakes as a special and of course their daily muffin selection.  When you don’t think you want to the daily muffin special with your meal, get the cinnamon roll (pictured above).  Another perk, while you wait for your table (as you know, all awesome breakfast spots have a wait) you can drink the great coffee outside in the sun and read the paper.  My favorite dish is the South of the Border Scramble (has nice large pieces of avocado) and John’s is the Corned Beef Hash.  Alright, uber-critical types, find something wrong with Silver Spur besides the wait and the weight, you’ll add to your thighs.

Posted in Eating Out, Santa Cruz | No Comments »
Tags: , , , ,

The Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz … in the News!

Monday, January 31st, 2011

After frequenting great, creative ice cream shops across the country such as Jeni’s in Columbus, OH, Sweet Action in Denver, and Humphrey Slocombe in SF we are so glad to have The Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz and we look forward to evolving with them.

The Penny Ice Creamery is a great addition to the very limited Santa Cruz-specific ice cream scene.  Yes, we have Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery, and numerous frozen yogurt shops (I feel embarrassed for even mentioning those at all in the same article) in SC but there is really only one other ice cream shop that is worth writing home about (there is another in downtown SC that I haven’t tried yet).  This of course is the fifty-year old landmark ice cream shop near the boardwalk known as Marianne’s (Macapuno: Creamy baby coconut ice cream is a great flavor).  The Penny is a nice contrast to the famous standard Marianne’s and is completely an artisan shop, home-made and seasonal from scratch.  They currently use about 2,000 organic eggs a week and organic milk in contrast to most ice cream base which is actually almost always purchased from an outside source (there may only be one other ice creamery in CA that makes their own base as well – Sweet rose in Brentwood – don’t quote me on that).  Their flavors are more and more intriguing to me each time I stop in the shop (5 Spice with Fried Peanuts, Banana Toffee, Kiwi Sorbet).  Flavors often incorporate other great local goods such as coffee from Verve and Santa Cruz Mountain Stout.  Online and on facebook you can check out their daily menu of flavors (a flavor is around no longer than six days but usually lasts 4 days) which means they can offer creative and new concoctions all the time and then once you find one you love … let’s hope they bring it back.  They even make their own cones!  I am looking forward to some creative sundaes in the future (such as the seasonal classic Spice Tower from Graeter’s Ice Cream).

The chef and co-owner, Kendra, has been a pastry chef for ten years and worked as a Pastry Chef at Manresa in Los Gatos and Bar Tartine in SF before opening Penny Ice Creamery last year.

In addition, The Penny owners were recently in the news for being personally invited to the White House for making a video entitled “How Recovery Act boosted small biz, an ice cream case study”:

Posted in Eating Out, Santa Cruz | No Comments »
Tags: , , , , ,

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »