In a year stuffed like a happy kid’s stocking with savory restaurant developments and sweet eatery news—see “Twelve Bites of Christmas,” page 16—arguably the most delicious debuted right after I filed that piece.
Home Away (4901 Soquel Drive, Soquel) honors the same formula of hyper-local sourcing and thoughtful preparations by Chef Brad Briske at its big sister and nearby neighbor Home (3101 N. Main St., Soquel), itself one of the very best restaurants in the area.
Instead of signature Home dishes like beef cheek with ricotta gnocchi, gorgonzola kale cream and wild mushroom demi, at Home Away there are sumptuous beef cheek empanadas in collaboration with Briske’s brother-in-law Diego Felix of Collectivo Felix (402 Ingalls St, Santa Cruz).
In place of oysters with caviar and sculpted habanero apple granita in the lush Home gardens, it’s mignonette and house-fermented hot sauce splashed on oysters shucked at the Away bar by Briske, a shell’s toss from where diners sit.
Home Away occupies the former VinoCruz and provides its own version of a dynamic wine bar experience, with infusions of local Tanuki Dry Farmhouse ciders from Robby Honda, whose wife, Hannah, happens to be Home’s GM.
Items to anticipate include hand-cranked prosciutto, aguachiles, crudos and other more casual takes on Home classics, like a chicken noodle soup inspired by next door’s flagship fried chicken.
“Similar, recognizable flavors,” Briske says. “This tastes like Home, but in a very different format.”
I’m pretty sure that pun was unintended. Either way, the new place is very intentionally accessible and excellent. In short, another sublime 2025 addition worth celebrating.
Away hours run 11am–7pm Wednesday-Sunday; more via homesoquel.com and @homeawaysoquel on Instagram.
TALLY HO HO HO
There are a lot of other holiday happenings going down in…downtown. The Downtown Santa Cruz Makers Market pops up every weekend of the season with 25+ local creators at the former Palace Arts space (1407 Pacific Ave.). Bad Elf Trivia gathers tonight, Dec. 10, at Abbott Square Market’s Front & Cooper with prizes for both winners and most awkward holiday attire, followed by Family Trivia at Abbott Dec. 13. Meanwhile, a “surprise elf” looks to hand out one of 400 Golden Envelopes at participating downtown businesses, with gift cards valued at $10-$100, hot chocolate vouchers and Downtown Dollars. scmmakersmarket.com
BONUS SIPS ’N’ BITS
Not to be left out of the downtown developments, Collective Santa Cruz will host two downtown holiday markets, 11am–5pm Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, in the former Logos Books & Records (1117 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz), featuring more than two dozen area artists, plus curated food vendors and fly small batch beer by Humble Sea, collectivesantacruz.com…Venus Spirits shakes up the third edition of its annual bartender competition 8pm Monday, Dec. 15, at the Westside Santa Cruz tasting room (200 High Road, Santa Cruz), free to attend, with great food and—yup—smart spirits, venusspirits.com…Road note: Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in Sacramento earns high honors for its beans and brews, but I want to award flowers for its unique dog policy: No non-service pooches are allowed inside, but staffers will wait with your bestie while you order joe (!)…Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County continues its 2025 Holiday Food & Fund Drive at thefoodbank.org…Frank Ostaseski, guiding teacher and founding director of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, coach us out: “We waste our energy and exhaust ourselves with the insistence that life be otherwise.”
