In the immortal words of modern-day philosopher-poet SpongeBob Square Pants, “You don’t need a license to drive a sandwich.”
Mr. Pants is on my mind because he was on a big screen in the middle of Murray Street Friday night, helping lead the charge to bring people to Seabright and Santa Cruz Harbor while the Murray Street Bridge remains closed.
Next up: Legally Blonde (July 16), Minecraft Movie (July 23), Shrek (July 30), Hoppers (Aug. 6) and Goat (Aug. 13)
Now, three bonus tastes of double-barreled inspiration to help celebrate Seabright.
1. The crazy stacked sandwiches at Seabright Deli (415 Seabright Ave, Santa Cruz), where a surf-and-turf-type duo of The Grotto (blackened snapper, chimichurri tomatoes, jalapeño-lime slaw, tarragon-basil aioli, arugula on toasted Francese roll) and a Smokeshow (house smoked brisket, stracciatella cheese, roasted jalapeño aioli, sweet cherry pepper relish, arugula, also on Francese) provided supreme satisfaction.
2. A pair of slices at Engfer Pizza Works (537 Seabright Ave.)—a pesto and a cupping pepperoni, with memorable homemade sauces and nice thin presentation—which I was delighted to discover also provides a ping pong table to play on.
3. A “1+1” at Verve Coffee Roasters (104 Bronson St #19, Santa Cruz), a stylish combo of single espresso alongside a single shot macchiato, to supercharge my morning. exploreseabrightharbor.com
BIGGER SLICE
Bookie’s Pizza (inside Sante Adarius, 1315 Water St., Santa Cruz) boasts some of the fluffiest, tastiest and creatively decorated dough in the region, if not the state. So it’s a mouthwatering thing to consider those Detroit-style beauties will soon be even better. At least that’s one takeaway from news chef-pizzaiolo Todd Parker and team BP have signed an agreement to occupy one of three retail spots in the new Anton Pacific residential building (800 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz), set to debut next spring—with no gap in production between new and old digs (whew). A big pizza dough retarder will allow for even greater consistency and quality, more kitchen capacity will empower big group orders, and more square footage will make private parties possible, bookiespizza.com.
SHOOTS AND SPROUTS
I just donated a non-running vehicle to support the angels at Meals on Wheels, and it was easy as promised, 855-500-7433, cars.org…Public Tours of the Santa Cruz’s Resource Recovery Facility happen 10am every Friday through Aug. 14 (plus a single Saturday July 25), with the invitation to “Discover the journey your recycling and food scraps take—and see firsthand how your actions make a difference!” to the tune of 30 to 50 tons of material that Santa Cruzians place into their blue recycle bins every single day, cityofsantacruz.com/tours…
New York Times’ roundup of the year’s nutrition reporting by Caroline Hopkins Legaspi and Alice Callahan totaled 10 items and gets a 10/10 recommendation from this omnivore. My three favorites: “The science of intermittent fasting isn’t as sound as you may think”; “There is such a thing as too much protein”; and “You should probably try to get more fiber,” nytimes.com/spotlight/well-nutrition…
This year marks the 30th year of data collection for Reef Check Foundation’s coral monitoring program, reefcheck.org …Monterey Bay Master Gardeners share practical tips for choosing plants that thrive in our local conditions while supporting a healthier environment with the latest Earth-friendly gardening workshops, “Plant Selection,” 10am-noon July 26 at UCSC Arboretum, Horticulture 2 Meeting Hall, arboretum.ucsc.edu…Squidward: “You can’t fool me. I listen to public radio!”
