There are few feelings like those that come with reading an inbox subject line that reads, “Your column is F***ing Horrible.”
The emo it offers me—curiosity, suspense and mostly elation—might surprise you.
But to be fair, I didn’t always get stoked on hate mail (or in a past life as a newspaper editor, hate calls that my office manager could’ve screened more rigorously).
I learned to unpucker and listen. Feedback is a beautiful thing, because 1) You can take it or leave it; 2) It’s better to have than not; 3) Someone took the time to furnish it (and usually they would love a tussle, so it proves to be handy training in being open and deescalating).
I wish we could print the email in its entirety, but my guy “JoMo” (I’ll leave out his full name) slandered some restaurants and we don’t need to platform that.
But I can give you some highlights, erratic punctuation edited, capitalization preserved.
He comes in hot: “Please pull your GIANT head from your Culo and write about FOOD! Jesus, with ALL the NEW places out there I, and the rest of Santa Cruz, could care less about your personal life.”
He stays heated: “[T]his Town is definitely in need of excellent customer service, sure at a couple places it still exists but at the majority of establishments it’s a Lost Art! Olitas on the Wharf are now making homemade tortillas and Arslans Turkish Fast Food is a pretty good spot for doner wraps!”
And closes with authority: “Sorry but I actually work in a kitchen for real 2 gigs at 65 and Honesty has and will always be the best policy PERIOD! Socialist!!!!”
Amid the passion, he requested an update on Mane Kitchen & Cocktails (1222 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz).
My hope with Mane was that it would meet the substantial hype, and I set the stakes modestly (snacks and a drink at the bar), and the experience flew well higher because of the type of customer service JoMo aches for.
The oysters were hyper fresh and well dressed, the chicken liver pâté proved stylish on the plate and palate—next visit I’m thinking crispy duck leg and Hokkaido scallops—and the additional joy was co-owner/bar master Julianna Mireles entertaining with the sort of hospitality that can be taught but involves a lot of instinct and personal investment.
She hosts naturally, jokes freely, preps concoctions theatrically and simply makes one of the best Margaritas in the greater Monterey Bay. I repeat: Mireles’ passionfruit Margarita with Insolito blanco makes me thirsty just thinking about it.
More at manekc.com; email your top Margarita picks (or JoMo-style thoughts) to mo*****************@***il.com.
TURBO TASTES
Gran Gelato Caffè (525 Cedar St., Santa Cruz) is now open and offers a dozen rotating flavors of house-made Italian gelato honoring its name—including stunners like black cherry panna cotta, Nutella and orange marzipan, @gran_gelato_caffe on Instagram…Cabrillo College Culinary Arts and the Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains present “The Perfect Pair” noon-4pm Saturday, April 25, at the historic Sesnon House (6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos) for—yep—paired wines and thoughtfully crafted dishes, winesofthesantacruzmountains.com…
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced last week that commercial Dungeness crab seasons is over for conventional traps all the way north to Bodega Bay (in addition to Monterey Bay, which closed previously) to prevent whale entanglements, but May 7 through June 30, newly approved, whale-safe “pop-up” aka “on-demand” traps are allowed, oceana.org/WhaleSafeOceans…Last week for The Santa Cruz Vegan Chef Challenge, veganchefchallenge.org/SantaCruz…The latest hour-long “Edible on the Air” with Christine Barrington and me goes live 5pm Friday, April 24, on KSQD 90.7 FM…Anonymous quote for the road: “Stop trying to make everybody happy, you’re not tequila.”
