It’s hard to range astray at storybook Gabriella Café (910 Cedar St, Santa Cruz) on any given day, given the reliability of, say, their signature Caesar with Live Earth little gems, the Calabrese sausage-roast garlic pizza, the crispy cauliflower with currants, pine nuts and chili oil, or the housemade pappardelle Bolognese.
It’s that much harder to go wrong amid Santa Cruz Burger Week, which continues through March 8. Chef Gema Cruz deploys three options on the people, including a juicy lamb burger with mint aioli, a wild salmon burger and the grassfed beef burger I landed on.
Complemented by Swank Farms tomato, butter lettuce and silky house aioli, the grassfed burger—cooked spot on medium rare—is a study in luxurious simplicity.
It’s also a great parlay with the Downtown Santa Cruz Market (12:30-5pm Wednesdays), which now essentially sets up on Gabriella’s doorstep, and more specifically Companion Bakery’s dark chocolate vegan brownie.
Where: Gabriella Café
Address: 910 Cedar St., Santa Cruz
Website: gabriellacafe.com
Now merely 33 more Burger Week restaurants to visit.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
Different wine pioneers are hanging up their hydrometers. Going micro to macro, Margins Winemaker Megan Bell set the end of April to conclude her inspiring 10-year symphony harmonizing underappreciated expressions—both varietals and vineyards—and prioritizing natural fermentations. Her Westside wine cubby (402 Ingalls St. Suite 18, Santa Cruz), easily the most adorable 120 square feet in local vino, will remain open until then, with a farewell party April 25. “I founded Margins with a goal to create a supportive and respectful wine work culture and increase organic vineyard acreage in CA along the way,” she writes on IG, while citing unsustainable financial stresses. “I lived that mission with every fiber of my being for the past decade,” marginswine.com…Further afield, Laura Ness reports forEdible Monterey Bay that Chalone Vineyard has shut down winemaking operations at its Pinnacles site and laid off its entire production staff, a move that stunned the Central Coast wine world and reflects broader turbulence in the industry. The historic brand itself will continue, however, with wines produced at other facilities owned by parent company Foley Family Wines. Ness also notes that the only Carmel-by-the-Sea tasting room with an ocean view, belonging to Talbott Vineyards, is also closing. Dang.
DAY TRIPPING
La Bahia Hotel & Spa ( 215 Beach St., Santa Cruz) is approaching spring with a month-long docket of events designed for locals. The draws include The Monday Slice ($20 signature pizzas); Wine Down Wednesdays (half price bottles under $80); 4-6pm Sunday Golden Hour offerings of $6 draft beer and house wine; freshly launched spa day passes; Santa Cruz Burger Week-inspired Cali smash cheeseburgers with caramelized onion, American cheese, mushrooms, and crispy pork belly on brioche; St. Patrick’s Day “Shamrock Silk” martinis at the gorgeous lobby bar Pearl; “Live on the Roof Deck” 5–9pm spinners pairing sunset ocean views with rotating DJs, including James Durbin (March 19) and DJ Jaguar (March 26); and a High Tide wine dinner with Bernardus Winery on March 26, labahiahotel.com.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
Last month, galvanizing author, nutritionist and advocate Marion Nestle discussed “Sustainable Food in the Trump Era” at the Cowell Ranch Hay Barn; now UC Santa Cruz have posted it to YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=W1Ik6ffvI9I…Also now live on YouTube: 2026 EcoFarm Keynote Session recordings, eco-farm.org/keynotes…The second installment of “Edible on the Air” is now live at KSQD, with this episode featuring guest spots from Chef Brad Briske (Home, Home Away) and Sayre Piotrkowski (Bay Area Brewers Guild), plus a Woodhouse Brewing & Blending taste test, KSQD.org…Author Douglas Adams: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
