Gastronomic Gumshoe Strategy #13: When visiting a standout restaurant or bar, ask its flavor makers where they like to go when they’re off.
That approach led me from Vim Dining & Desserts (2238 Mission St., Santa Cruz)—which, yes, enjoys things like sublime cornbread pudding chicken and Mississippi mud pie from Chef Jesikah Stolaroff, and a levitational drink program by Ryan Roseman—to After Hours, at the center of thriving 11th Hour Coffee downtown (1001 Center St., Suite 1, Santa Cruz).
There, amid a steady swarm of socializing, studying and caffeinating, barkeep Katy Grisham and her team have crafted a head-turning menu with limited hours (5-9pm Tuesday-Saturday) and near-limitless innovation.
Note the Midnight in Paris ($14) with Empress indigo gin, crème de violette and elderflower liqueur; the Strawberry Mixtape ($15) with strawberry-infused tequila, coconut rum, agave, lime juice, orange oil, and egg white; and the strong roster of tasty NA plays like The Ric Flair Drip ($8) with lemon vanilla syrup, passionfruit, and lemon, topped with soda water and Sprite.
“We’re an experimental bar, proud of making drinks from scratch and mixing flavors you wouldn’t always see going together,” Grisham says. “There’s a way to broaden people’s horizons.”
That could double as 11th Hour’s motto. The revelations here are perpetual, given its ever-evolving coffee program (now starring stylish cold foams and yummy syrups made by the bakery team) and resident Chubb’s Chicken Sandwiches (5-9pm Tuesday-Saturday like After Hours, with crave-grade fried chicken and GF options), to go with the wealth of striking local art and lively vibes.
In other words: 11th Hour’s mission—“to emphasize the relationship between company and community, providing a place to gather, share, and simply be”—is being realized across dynamic dimensions. 11thhourcoffee.com
FEM FLAVORFUL
If you are in the market for further evidence on which is the superior sex: Dream Inn Santa Cruz hosts “She Sets the Table,” an intimate oceanfront dinner celebrating women in food, 4pm Saturday, Oct. 24, on Cowell Beach. (Yes, on the beach.) Dream Inn Executive Chef Michelle Gomez, Queen of Hearts chef Angela Sweetser and Gran Gelato Caffè’s Luciana Costanza will combine forces on a seasonal, multi-course menu served at a long serpentine table in the sand, sharing the stories behind their dishes as the sun sets over Monterey Bay. The $265 ticket includes a welcome reception, dinner and wine pairings from legendary Beauregard Family Winery; seating is limited and advance purchase is required, dreaminnsantacruz.com.
QUICK ‘N’ ZINGY
Late last month, Starbucks closed some 200+ locations across 33 states and Washington, D.C., with 64 in California poured over and out, as Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams says his team has “identified locations where we do not believe we can consistently deliver the experience we want for customers”…Also late last month: a study from UC San Francisco added further evidence—to the existing mountain of it—that eating fewer ultra-processed foods helps reduce symptoms of depression…Speaking of, there are now protein Cheez-Its, and I don’t need to conduct a study to report if processed crackers are where you’re going for your protein, you’ve lost the plot…The Girl Scouts have a new cookie OTW with Sparkables, the nonprofit’s first one free of the top nine allergens, starting in January 2027…Snickers and Adidas are collaborating on a football cleat-candy bar collaboration for Halloween: the Adizero Electric II cleats do Snickers’ chocolate-brown color scheme with a green insole, a bedazzled “S,” and yellow text reading “Go Nuts” on the heel…Author Robert Brault: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
[1]This is also featured in the wine column, but much shorter. Should it be dropped from Wine? @br**@*****ys.com
[2]I don’t mind running it twice. Not everyone reads both columns.
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