.Mark C. Anderson

Urban-style Watsonville food complex The Hangar has been a solid epicurean asset since it leapt to life with Beer Mule Bottle Shop + Pour...

Modest little Capitola Wine Bar and Merchants is one of those places that makes the small city vibrant. The wife-and-husband-run spot features a balance of small-batch California and worldly wines...hey dish food like smoked pancetta-pear flatbreads and secret recipe “adult” mac ’n’ cheese, plus draft local beer

EcoFarm, the oldest and wisest organic farming convention in the country (the world?), is coming up quick, happening Jan. 17-20 at Asilomar Conference Grounds. While it digs deep on big-picture policy and in-the-dirt practicum, it also involves...

It would be intriguing enough that Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are introducing a high-grade collectible vodka in partnership with UBlendIt of Scotts Valley. But...

An apple is more than an apple for Larkin Valley growers Freddy Menge and Ellen Baker of Epicenter Orchard. It’s a dance with history, an exclamation of flavor and a meeting place between farmer and eater.

Chef Jessica Yarr knows how to cook up a good time. Santa Cruzers familiar with her Chicken Foot popup downtown have known this for a while. Now the gentle people of Felton, where she came of age at her parents’ Bigfoot Discovery Museum and recently opened The Grove Cafe + Bakery, are learning that in full-flavored ways.

The details of an empanada can elevate what’s inside. That said, the interior ingredients from the premiere empa-empire of the area, Fonda Felix, are done with tastebud IQ

The biggest surprise at new local beer outfit Balefire Brewing Co. will be…how unsurprising it is. “There will be a lot of familiarity for people who knew it as East Cliff and Greater Purpose,” co-founder/ co-brewer Leslie Buchanan says, “and I hope they come back, because they like the beer, of course, but also because they find a sense of hospitality and community.”