Here in Santa Cruz, alternative health practices hold a special place in the community. From yoga to herbal medicine to acupuncture, the county’s holistic roots run deep. Today, you can find more than 200 local acupuncturists—plus a teaching institute devoted to the craft. But this represents a sea change from just a half-century ago.
In the early 1970s, the California Medical Board was on a mission to shut down all “unlicensed” healers—anyone practicing acupuncture, herbalism or even midwifery. Practitioners could be arrested for offering care that fell outside the boundaries of Western medicine.
It was during this turbulent time that Stanford-trained audiologist and lifelong herbalist Martha Benedict met Dr. Miriam Lee, one of the first Chinese-trained acupuncturists to bring the ancient healing art to America. Lee had opened a small clinic in Palo Alto, and Benedict—curious and committed—became one of her early students.
When Lee was arrested for practicing without a license, Benedict joined a grassroots movement to defend her. Together, this small but determined group of healers helped persuade California lawmakers to legalize acupuncture in the mid-1970s—an effort that paved the way for the thriving alternative medicine community we have today.
After relocating to Santa Cruz, Benedict began combining her background in science and herbalism with the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. She cooked up herbal blends for her patients, her friends and her family—formulas inspired by Chinese, Ayurvedic and Western herbal traditions. Word spread quickly, and Benedict’s kitchen soon became a small laboratory of herbal experimentation.
Her skill and passion led her to co-found the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco—one of the first accredited institutions in the U.S. to teach acupuncture and herbal medicine. For several years, she taught there before returning to Santa Cruz to focus on her own clinical practice.
In her garden, Martha grew the herbs she used—organically, of course—and refined her tinctures and tonics through years of practice. She collaborated with other acupuncturists, constantly adjusting her formulas to meet the shifting needs of the seasons and her clients’ health challenges.
By 1996, Benedict had officially founded Benedictine Healing Products, a line of internal extracts, salves and topical oils that soon gained a national following. The company’s formulas—crafted from herbs grown biodynamically and harvested by hand—became known for their potency, purity and originality.
When Benedict passed away in 2018, she left behind more than a business. She left a legacy of healing, activism and empowerment—especially for women in the wellness world.
“She was literally so beloved,” recalls Sue George, now co-owner and operations manager of Benedictine Herbs. “When I do events in Santa Cruz, people still become teary. That’s how much Martha meant to this community. She wasn’t just making herbal products—she was empowering women to heal themselves and each other.”
George, who was living in San Diego at the time of Benedict’s passing, was a longtime fan of her work. Afterward, Benedict’s partner reached out for help running the business. George stepped in—and soon became part of the leadership team.
For George, continuing the Benedictine mission isn’t just about the merch. It’s about preserving the integrity of traditional medicine in a world of quick fixes driven by social media.
“In Western society, we treat medicine as a post-illness solution,” she explains. “We go to the doctor to get fixed or to get a prescription. But herbalism is proactive. It’s about supporting the body before it breaks down.”
She’s quick to point out the challenges facing practitioners today. Acupuncture colleges are closing. Insurance rarely covers holistic treatments. And many acupuncturists can’t afford to stock quality herbs for their patients. “It’s a vicious cycle,” she says. “Our nonprofit mission is to help change that—to make traditional medicine part of our universal healthcare conversation.”
In the meantime, George carries on Benedict’s educational legacy, teaching people how to integrate herbs into daily life—starting small, starting simple.
“For anyone new to herbal medicine,” she says, “the best place to start is in your kitchen. Herbs are food. Grow a little rosemary or lavender—they thrive here. Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to your oatmeal. Drink herbal tea every day. It doesn’t have to be complicated.”
It’s this blend of simplicity and sophistication—ancient knowledge meeting modern accessibility—that keeps Benedictine Herbs thriving nearly 30 years after its founding.
From handcrafted tinctures to aromatic oils, every bottle carries the essence of the woman who started it all: a scientist, an activist, a healer, and a believer in the power of plants to mend not just the body, but also the soul.
As George puts it, “Martha combined Eastern, Western and Ayurvedic traditions in a way no one else did. She left a blueprint for healing that’s as relevant now as it was 50 years ago—and we’re just honored to keep that spirit alive.
Elizabeth Borelli is an author, yoga and breathwork teacher, plant-based nutrition expert. To learn more, visit ElizabethBorelli.com.
Appropriately titled as an amalgamation of the owning family’s two parents and four siblings’ first names, Jia Tellas has been serving up Cambodian-American cuisine to the Scotts Valley community since it opened 18 years ago. One of those siblings, Sophia Revino, has been assistant manager since 2020. She grew up in the restaurant, working from a young age before getting a bachelor of science degree in business management from San Jose State University.
Closed for two months when Covid hit, Jia Tellas reopened when Revino took leadership initiative and began doing all the little things, learning the business from a ground-up operational perspective. She describes the restaurant’s ambiance as traditional and cozy, with décor aspects of Cambodian culture complementing a red/orange color scheme and a jungle-vibed outdoor patio.
Recommended appetizers are fresh tofu or shrimp spring rolls with chopped peanut vinaigrette and the marinated chargrilled kebabs. Entrées that slay are red curry stew with chicken and veggies, the fan-favorite spicy basil chicken stir fry and a traditional full filet deep-fried white fish. The headlining dessert is classic mango sticky rice topped with “to die for” housemade coconut cream sauce and toasted sesame seeds. A full bar along with traditional Cambodian coffee and tea holds down the beverages.
Describe the family-focused philosophy at Jia Tellas.
SOPHIA REVINO: When my dad originally opened the restaurant almost 20 years ago, it was his vision to have me and my three siblings have a place to get us started in life as well as always have somewhere to return. And now, he also has four grandchildren who get to grow up in the business too. My siblings and I have definitely gained a lot of personal and professional experience here which has set us up well for our next endeavors, which is what my dad had in mind from the beginning.
How was your family inspired by Cambodian cuisine?
We are an Italian family with no previous professional culinary experience or Cambodian relatives, but we met Cambodian chefs over 20 years ago at a Cambodian restaurant in San Jose that we would frequent. We fell in love with not only the food, but also the people and the culture. We thought there was a place in Scotts Valley for a Cambodian restaurant and an opportunity to start a unique and family-centered business.
Call it a star-studded restaurant opening, and that was just the co-owners: Last week Michelin three-star chef Michael Mina and Golden State Warriors 11-time all-star Stephen Curry toasted the debut of their new Union Square restaurant Bourbon Steak and accompanying bar the Eighth Rule.
One of Steph’s nicknames is “Chef Curry,” after all.
There are other Warriors—and Dubs food news nuggets—on my mind this week, though, as the Santa Cruz Warriors host their season-opening Sea Dub Fan Fest 1–3pm Saturday, Oct. 25.
The free event features appearances by Head Coach Lainn Wilson, Golden State and Santa Cruz rookie two-way forward Alex Toohey and Golden State rookie guard Will Richard, Q&A sessions, meet and greets, autograph signings and photo ops with the 2022 Golden State NBA championship trophy.
The epicurean elements happen all season long with Warriors’ restaurant collaborators around the community (see below), and with the upcoming Taste of the Warriors.
On Wednesday, Nov. 19, season ticket holders mingle with players and coaching staff and tap complimentary sips and bites from a bunch of partners including Surfside, West Peak, Pono Hawaiian Grill, Laughing Monk Brewing, Modelo, Mad Yolks, Togo’s, Woodstock’s Pizza, Lagunitas, Penny’s Ice Creamery, Salty Otter, Essentia Body Therapy and more.
Ticket package and other info is available by calling the SCW office at 831-713-4400 or visiting the team website, santacruzbasketball.com.
HOLIDAYS COME EARLY
Riva and Rosie’s, Margaritaville and Mobo, Pono and Pete’s, The Point, The East End and The Crow’s Nest too. That’s a tasty chunk of the restaurants participating in Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, 25 all told, with many of them representing community favorites and each deploying special prix fixe menus at $45, $55 or $65, Oct. 22–29, at spots from Soquel to Swift Street. At La Posta Italian Cuisine (538 Seabright Ave, Santa Cruz), for example, that could be a choice of antipasti (like lobster arancini), secondi (seared sea scallops and shrimp, please) and dolci (olive oil cake with passionfruit sorbet for me). At both Venus Cocktails & Kitchen outposts (200 High Road, Santa Cruz and 131 Esplanade, Aptos) the $55 triple play might be salmon croquette then braised short rib and goat cheese panna cotta, santacruzrestaurantweek.com.
WE ALL SCREAM
A local small-batch scoop institution in Polar Bear Ice Cream celebrates its 50th anniversary this weekend, first at the Capitola Village Polar Bear store on Saturday, Oct. 25, and then at the Ice Cream on Fair store on Sunday, Oct. 26. The PBIC people will reinvigorate some legacy flavors, give out promotional cups, and sell commemorative hoodies. They’re also working on collecting history and stories of ice cream in Santa Cruz for both Marianne’s and Polar Bear, and welcome public input via their social media, @polarbearicecream.
COMMUTE SENTENCES
Here’s a Zen approach to traffic congestion: The Bittersweet Bistro (787 Rio Del Mar Blvd., Aptos) has debuted a “Highway Hour” 3–5:30pm Tuesday–Sunday with the taglines “A new way to happy hour—skip the traffic and unwind early!” and “Make your detour a destination.” The deals prove more than decent: $5 Modelos, $5 simple well drinks, $5 house wines and $5 “mini” martinis and mini margaritas, $15 pizzetas, and daily $15 featured entrees like tacos on Tuesdays, pasta on Wednesdays, sliders on Thursdays and fish fry on Fridays, bittersweetbistroaptos.com…Watsonville Public House (625 Main St., Watsonville) has closed, but the magic word is—fingers crossed—temporarily. As owner-brewer Robby Olson reported in an IG post, construction overruns and investor challenges mean it’s now shuttered for the foreseeable future BUT, he adds, “we don’t lose our friendships” and he and his team are on the lookout for fresh investors…Sea story author William Morley Punshon McFee, float us home: “If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow.”
With the recent rise of government agencies using authoritarian tactics at the behest of an administration that shows no restraint in using force, many Americans across the country are asking, “What can I do?”
On Oct. 24, one event will provide several answers for the Santa Cruz community.
The “People of the Americas Unite” rally and musical event begins at 6pm at the Vets Hall in Downtown Santa Cruz.
“Everyone is looking for a solution right now because we feel underwater,” says one of the event organizers, Daniel Paul Nelson. “The event is to offer some testimony to the resilience of the democratic spirit.”
The event will feature three keynote speakers, Camilla Chavez of the Dolores Huerta Action Fund, attorney Chase Iron Eyes of the Lakota People’s Law Project and attorney Danny Sheehan of the Romero and New Paradigm Institutes. Sheehan is also Nelson’s father. Each will speak about their expertise as social and legal activists as a way to inform the average citizen to know what to look out for—and fight—racist immigration policy enforcement.
“We want to offer a proactive solution that’s not negative,” explains Phoenix Rose of HeartTribe Presents, one of the event’s other organizers. “One that is unifying versus polarizing.”
Following the discussions, Brazilian artist Poranguí will play a special performance with Nelson joining for several songs. Prior to the main event, there will be a two-hour rally beginning at 4pm at the clock tower.
“The rally will be an opportunity for anyone and everyone to attend and express themselves,” Nelson says.
For Sheehan the time for action is now.
“We’re dealing with the classic analogy of the frog in the water and the heat’s just being turned up,” he says.
Sheehan graduated from Harvard Law School in 1970 and has been fighting on behalf of worker and human rights ever since. His career history boasts some of the largest cases in 20th-century America such as the Pentagon Papers, the Watergate break-in and the Iran-Contra scandal, among many more. In 1992 he and his life partner, Sara Nelson, were chosen to lead the Romero Institute, a nonprofit law and public policy center named after the activist Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero.
He says the administration’s use of fear tactics—from deploying the National Guard into cities to Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem’s various photo opps—are effective ways to make people stay home and disengage.
“It’s frightening to see it but you can’t allow yourself to be frightened by these people,” he argues.”The reason we’re having this event is to rally people to realize that what we’re doing isn’t working. I.C.E. is coming into the community with these big military vehicles and sweep people off the streets. Then everyone stands around and watches and takes videos but nothing happens after.”
As of this writing the federal government has been shut down for 20 days with no end in sight. The last time this happened—in December 2018 during the first Trump Administration—it lasted 35 days, the longest shutdown in 50 years. And this time, the administration is threatening to cut even more jobs and budgets as political retribution, say the organizers.
Organizers add that Armed and masked ICE agents patrol the streets in American cities across the country detaining and arresting people at their homes, work and even outside of their immigration status court hearings. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s data, over 2 million immigrants have been deported since January 20th. This includes 1.6 million people “self-deporting” in addition to the over 400,000 government-forced deportations. Analysts estimate that number will be over 600,000 by the end of the year.
Adding fuel to the fire Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which adds $75 billion to ICE’s budget making it not only the most heavily funded government agency in the country but also makes ICE outspending every other countries’ defense budgets with the exception of only 15. Many Americans are calling these increases and arrests racists, arguing they often only target Black and Brown Americans.
Just to up the ante, Trump and the Department of War are sending National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland, just off the heels of troop deployment to Washington D.C. in September Los Angeles in June. The White House claims it’s in response to rising chaos amid immigration and Anti-Ice protests while protesters argue the administration is creating unrest and trying to escalate tensions with the increase of ICE and military troops in the streets.
Like authoritarian governments have done before, the current increase in community enforcement along with unprecedented moves by the president and federal government make individual people wonder if it’s all hopeless. Which is precisely the point.
For Iron Eyes the Trump Administration’s current tactics are history repeating.
“We have to recognize we are all confronted by the same corporate, fascistic forces that excorporated Native Americans,” he says. “They stole our land, subjugated us and put us in a slow genocide. But now those same threats are coming for all Americans.”
As a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Iron Eyes has spent his career fighting for Native American rights. He is also the director and lead counsel for the Lakota People’s Law Project. Founded in 2004, the Lakota People’s Law Project started as a subsidiary of the Romero Institute but separated in December of last year. They were a lead organization fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 during the Obama Administration.
“We are rising to the moment,” he continues. “We feel there is a clear and present danger to the American Constitution. The rise of corporate rule and the tendencies towards fascism places us in a sense of heightened awareness that now–more than ever–we need to come together and create a sense of unity.”
Chavez believes change can be two-fold, from the top down and bottom up.
“People need to step out of their comfort zones at this time,” she says. “There are so many people reading this article who know what is happening is wrong but aren’t necessarily the ones out in the streets. Everybody needs to be doing something. If you are against this you need to be doing something.”
She says citizens can get involved on a number of levels from non-cooperation—withholding labor, buying power and other forms of participation—to establishing Rapid Response Networks. That way when the most vulnerable in the community are detained or arrested by I.C.E. or other government agents, there’s already a support group and plan ready to step into action.
For Sheehan, Rapid Response Networks are one part of a multi-tiered plan.
“People need to start meeting and providing much more aggressive support for those who are being taken,” he states. “If the Sheriff and his deputies don’t protect you against an unconstitutional, illegal, unidentified force of people coming in, then you should remove them and replace them with sheriffs and deputies who will protect you.”
However, the common thread between all the speakers at the People of the Americas Unite event is one of hope.
“We can never believe that we’re beyond redemption,” Iron Eyes says. “We must always continue to redeem ourselves and try to do the right thing. It’s our sole purpose as human beings and Americans.”
INFO: Friday, Oct. 24, 6–10pm at Veterans Memorial Building, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz.
Editor’s note: Error in spelling and marital status of Sara Nelson corrected on Oct. 24.
Behold Santa Cruz’s most magical and immersive analog haven. In a town rich with surf spots and hiking trails, Nine and Three Quarters stands alone as the premier portal to a world of steel, light, and community: a kingdom where the silver ball reigns supreme.
It’s a place that draws in dedicated regulars, like Cole Allen Bryant. I first saw him here on a weekday afternoon, and now I see him again at night, a newly minted 18-year-old celebrating his birthday week with the familiar symphony of flippers and bumpers. A talented and focused young man, Cole’s passion for the game is palpable. During my visit, his eyes lit up as he spotted a miniature, 3D-printed virtual pinball machine sitting on a desk. He eagerly asked owner Dean Roblee about the tiny marvel, a reflection of the layers of creativity that define this unique space.
The arcade’s power to convert is undeniable. Dean shared the story of his friend Quentin (“Quint”), who, like Dean, was a close friend and table tennis competitor of the late Will Bernardi. Quint wasn’t initially a pinball player; his connection to Will was through their intense table tennis battles. But after spending time at Nine and Three Quarters, the allure of the silver ball took hold, and he too became an avid player, bridging his competitive spirit from the ping-pong table to the pinball machine. This is the arcade’s quiet magic: it doesn’t just host a community; it creates one, one game at a time.
A Portal to Another Time
The sound hits first. Flippers snapping. Bumpers thumping. The chime of a jackpot. A T-Rex roaring from the corner. It’s a chaotic, exhilarating symphony. Step inside Nine and Three Quarters, and you’re through the looking glass.
The glow follows. Backglasses blaze with skulls, wizards, rock gods, and cartoon heroes. The light spills onto ramps and targets, where silver balls dance across fields of color.
The sign above the door simply reads Nine and Three Quarters. No mention of “arcade.” No mention of “pinball.” The entrance is intentionally discreet, with windows so dark they might belong on a getaway car. “Our tint is literally the same tint that they use in, like, San Quentin,” Dean notes with a laugh. “My buddy did both jobs.” The name is a nod to the Harry Potter series, where Platform Nine and Three-Quarters is the magical portal young wizards use to enter a world of magic. For those in on the reference, the meaning is clear; for the simply curious, it’s an invitation.
Dean sees it as a filter. People who open the door are often driven by one of two things: a love for Harry Potter or a quest for pinball, guided by the Pinball Map app. “The third type would be someone who has no idea what Harry Potter is, no idea about pinball,” he explains, “but they’re curious enough to be like, ‘What’s behind that door?’ and they’re willing to open that door and walk in.” In all three cases, the threshold has done its work. “Hey,” he says with a smile, “you made it. You found us.”
The Partner Who Said ‘I’m In’
Dean didn’t launch Nine and Three Quarters alone. His close friend Will Bernardi was the first person he shared the idea with after a late night of sketching out the concept, fueled by influences as varied as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. At 4 a.m., he sent Will a message. By the time Dean woke up, Will’s reply was waiting: “I’m in.”
That short text became the turning point. Will committed to the project out of “pure blind faith” in Dean and in the joy that free-play pinball could bring, having never played in a single league or tournament himself. Will’s mother, a longtime pinball fan, inspired his own passion for the game and even contributed several of her own machines to the arcade. In an August 15, 2024 interview with Santa Cruz Vibes Magazine, Will said, “My mum is a huge pinball fan and has a few up at her house in Scotts Valley that I fell in love with playing.”
Will and his family helped finance the project, providing machines and covering early costs, although Dean insisted, “We could not open until we had at least five machines.” “Those are his games,” Dean says, gesturing to the floor. “The whole thing is Will’s collection that he was willing to open up to let other people come and play.” Will’s belief in the idea gave the club momentum. “He saw the need,” Dean says. Will’s support was another kind of portal: the bridge that allowed the vision to cross from imagination into reality.
Their friendship was forged over intense head-to-head competition, often playing table tennis until dawn while listening to Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings. That creative and competitive energy even manifested in Dean’s sculptures, one of which he designed for a “head-to-head pop shots battle” inspired by their sessions.
Tragically, Will died suddenly not long after Nine and Three Quarters opened. His absence is deeply felt, yet his imprint remains everywhere. His trophies sit near the register, next to a small altar dedicated to him. Subtle tributes like stickers reading “Never Forget Will Bernardi” are placed throughout the space. For Dean, keeping the doors open is the ultimate tribute. Every tournament hosted, every jackpot hit, is a quiet honor to the friend who believed first.
Born for the Silver Ball
Dean was born November 26, 1988, the same day the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode “Splinter No More” aired. In it, Shredder uses occult science to open a dangerous portal, and Splinter faces a choice between staying human or returning to his rat form to save his sons. Fans might call it fate. Like Splinter choosing community over comfort, Dean is helping restore pinball from the shadows of bars and basements into the light of community spaces.
His own story began in a pizza parlor. He was just tall enough to see the glowing red eyes on a Terminator 2 machine. “That was it,” he says. “The lights, the weight of the ball, the skull on the backglass. I was hooked.” Years later, while recovering from a bowling injury, he searched for the games at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Downstairs, the games seemed gone, replaced by claw machines. “I almost had a breakdown,” he says. Relief came when he learned the machines had only been moved upstairs to Neptune’s Kingdom. Still, the experience highlighted a problem that became a core motivation for him. “For me, the magic of pinball is when the machines play perfectly,” Dean says. “I was frustrated with the state of the games I could find locally. I knew I had to create a space where every machine was treated with respect.”
Soon after, he discovered Pinball Map, a crowdsourced app that led him to Lynn’s Arcade in Seaside, where league nights stream live and games are tuned brutally hard. “Walking in there was like entering a dojo,” he says. It was there he saw the power of a dedicated pinball community, a lesson he brought back to Santa Cruz. In the back corner of the lounge above the arcade sits a 1995 “No Fear” machine, which holds a special significance. “I was sponsored by them when I was a kid for dirt biking,” he notes.
Magic in the Machines
Dean explains pinball like a craftsman. A steel ball weighs 81 grams. Flippers fire with 50 volts, then hold at 5 volts. He sees each machine as a canvas, an “interactive diorama” telling a story in steel and light. He once joked about opening a “pinball church,” a fitting description for a place built on converting newcomers into believers.
Magic and pinball have often crossed paths. For instance, one member’s 1999 machine uses Pepper’s Ghost, the 19th-century illusion. Classic titles include Theatre of Magic and Pinball Magic. A new machine based on the Winchester Mystery House was just announced by Barrels of Fun, featuring a ghostly theme and a complex rule set, with a limited run of 525 games that sold out almost instantly in pre-orders.
Dean listens to the Harry Potter audiobooks every fall. The name Nine and Three Quarters captures that feeling of crossing a threshold. It also reflects his core principles for the space, which he represents with a logo of three 1988 quarters: Curiosity, Creativity, and Community Collaboration.
Affordable Entry and an Open Studio
Unlike some private clubs, Nine and Three Quarters is open to anyone. Membership is optional. The price is straightforward: about $10 an hour or $20 for the day. For locals used to quarters vanishing quickly, it’s refreshingly affordable.
Everything inside is DIY. Dean and his “Made Fresh Crew” built the counters, fixtures, and signage. He hopes the space evolves into an “open studio for pinball,” where people can learn repair, see fabrication, and even design new machines. He has a personal five-year plan to build at least four of his own machines on-site. When asked what the first thing he’d teach someone, he doesn’t start with mechanics. “Learn how to observe,” he says, emphasizing the importance of patience and troubleshooting before picking up a tool. The second lesson? “Soldering. Most of the time, a lot of the breaks are just cold solder joints from decades past.”
A Sanctuary of Steel and Light
Santa Cruz has long needed new gathering places. The Catalyst feels worn. The Quarry is reopening slowly. Dean is filling a gap: a space for analog art in a digital world. It’s a haven for focused, skillful play but also a sanctuary. He’s seen people come in during hard times, seeking refuge from the world. “I’ve had a couple of people that have come in and are just like, ‘Can I just, like, play some pinball? I’m having a hard time.’ All day, dude,” Dean says, adding that he’ll keep the place open for them. It’s a place where someone can be “completely distraught, and people are like, ‘Dude, you’re all good. You’re amongst friends.’”
It’s a “bridge between traditional sports and e-sports,” Dean says, uniting different worlds over a shared love for the game. While the scene is still male-dominated- Dean estimates women make up about 5% of players on a typical league night- it’s fundamentally welcoming. It’s fun. You root for friends even while competing. You hear the coil buzz, feel the cabinet nudge, and step into a story.
As Will told Santa Cruz Vibes Magazine, it all comes down to one simple truth: “Whether you bomb out in seconds or rack up an all-time high score, the mantra stays the same… ‘That’s pinball, Baby!’”
Find Out More
• Name: Nine and Three Quarters
• Location: Soquel, next to Treehouse dispensary
• Hours: Check socials for the latest schedule
• Pricing: $10 an hour or $20 all day
• Membership: Optional, with extra perks for regulars
• Follow: Find them on Instagram at @nineandthreequartersportal and follow Dean’s creative work at @thoughtsOnCreativeLiving
• Listen: Check out the podcast that Dean now co-hosts, Modern Man in Search of High Scores, on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
The New Mastersounds combines a kinetic, boogaloo funk aesthetic with superb jazz-level musical chops. The group came out of Leeds, England, around the dawn of the 21st century. Since then, they have turned out a dazzling run of albums that showcase their superb taste, sharp compositional skills and versatility. The four-piece (Eddie Roberts, Simon Allen, Pete Shand and Joe Tatton) has worked as a self-contained unit and with vocalists like Corinne Bailey Rae. With more than ten albums to their credit, NMS has been a leading light in the funk and fusion world. This tour is billed as “Ta-Ta for Now,” signaling an end to touring. BILL KOPP
Christmas has long encroached on Halloween, the red and green items appearing on store shelves before the spooky season has even begun. It’s always delightful seeing Halloween fight back. Silent Night, Deadly Night and other yuletide slasher flicks enjoyed cult followings, and then The Nightmare Before Christmas took scary Noel mainstream. Now they’re pulling The Nutcracker into the hostile takeover, which isn’t a stretch with its Rat King and surreal settings. The Santa Cruz City Ballet, at the International Academy of Dance, presents this scary take on the ultimate Christmas classic. READ our story about the “Spooky Nut” HERE Goes through Saturday. KEITH LOWELL JENSEN
INFO: 7pm, The Landing, 251B Kings Village Rd., Scotts Valley. $21. 334-4522.
FRIDAY 10/24
CELEBRATION
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS DRAG SHOW
Dia de los Muertos is a special time to celebrate and honor those who have passed to the afterlife. It is a time where new cultures and practices can be embraced. To specially honor the contributions of Latinx artists, both of the past and present, the MAH is hosting a Dia de los Muertos Drag Show. Through movement, dance, games and, of course, drag performances, those in the afterlife may be welcomed and the living may build community. Attendees who come to celebrate life and death with the MAH are encouraged to dress up, but it is not necessary. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 7:30pm, MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. $20-$25. 429-1964.
AVANT-POP
STEREOLAB
British guitarist-keyboardist Tim Gane and French singer and multi-instrumentalist Laetitia Sadier launched Stereolab in 1990. Combining krautrock’s “motorik” beats with creamy electronic keyboard textures, Stereolab crafts a sound that bridges the gap between indie-pop and avant-garde stylings. The duo has expanded the group to include an array of supporting players, but Gane and Sadier remain the core of Stereolab. Though finding only moderate commercial success, the group’s influence is substantial and widespread. Since their 1992 debut album, Peng!, the group has released more than 20 albums; 2025’s Instant Holograms on Metal Film is their latest. BK
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $40/adv, $45/door. 423-8209.
PERFORMANCE ART
SOMADICCS
As Halloween draws closer, it’s only natural for things to get a little bit weirder and a lot more dreamlike. Which is why this Friday’s Somadiccs performance at Satori Arts is the perfect evening for everyone who wants to dig a little deeper and get a little more artsy. The Somadiccs—Caitlin Johnston, Julie Oak, Kirk Glaser and Miranda Janeschild—are an improv troupe that performs “kinetic poetics.” They combine art, movement and words in a Lynchian way to create dreamlike and psyche-exploring autobiographical and fictional narratives. Expect the unexpected with this inquisitive performance that promises to be one of the more interesting shows of the month. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Satori Arts, 815 Almar Ave., Unit 9, Santa Cruz. Free. 314-503-8441.
SATURDAY 10/25
ROCK
NIGHT MOVES
When Minneapolis band Night Moves wrote their new album Double Life the name was very specific. On it, every song is about the tragedies the band dealt with in their personal lives since their last record six years ago. There was the death of family members, friends dealing with sobriety and incarceration, and their drummer “whose skin sloughed off during recording due to contact dermatitis.” Not to mention their van, which had its license plate stolen along with its catalytic converter not once, but thrice. What’s a band to do when trying to make front-page drive-in news? They’re joined by Sam Blasucci, one half of the California cosmic folk duo Mapache. MW
One can’t help but marvel at the impressive amount of noise Teen Mortgage manages to kick up despite having half as many members as most of their garage rock peers. This drum-pounding, guitar-attacking, reverb-abusing duo are bringing their blistering, ferocious sonic assault to venues around the country journeying forth from their home in Washington, DC, where so much great hard and hooky music comes from. With social media posts that seem intent on launching another Satanic panic, their show in Santa Cruz this week promises to be wicked good fun. KLJ
INFO: 8pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $27. 713-5492.
SUNDAY 10/26
POP
JACOB COLLIER
Recognized as one of the most gifted young composers of our time, Jacob Collier is the “musician’s musician.” His technical skill and passion for music theory have earned him numerous accolades and five Grammy wins. Collaborations with everyone from Coldplay to SZA reveal his seamless movement between worlds, connecting disparate sounds with grace and style. Collier’s performances showcase his talents blending jazz harmonies, electronic textures and impressive polyrhythms into something unique, technically brilliant and pop-oriented. Each show is a celebration of music’s boundless possibilities. SHELLY NOVO
INFO: 7pm, Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. $68-$105. 420-5240.
MONDAY 10/27
LITERARY
JULIAN BRAVE NOISECAT
With five years of on-the-ground reporting, Julian Brave NoiseCat’s stunning debut, We Survived the Night, is a hard-hitting portrait of contemporary Indigenous life through the lens of a father-son reckoning. NoiseCat uses beautiful, gritty prose and journalistic instincts to compose a heartfelt love letter to Oakland, and the Secwépemc Nation. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker and champion powwow dancer, traces his journey across the continent, correcting erasures while discovering himself through his father’s haunted past. In conversation with UC Santa Cruz Professor Caitlin Keliiaa, this evening promises soulful storytelling and an exploration of what it means to love through wounds and find home. SN
INFO: 7pm, London Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz. $38. 420-6177.
This week, Santa Cruzans have a standing invitation to pull up a chair at a dozen local restaurants and enjoy an affordable, delicious and socially invigorating experience. Not fast food wolfed down in the car, or a takeout order reheated in a microwave. We’re talking about a civilized meal. On real plates. With other human beings at the table.
Five years ago, many restaurants went through a big shakeup during the pandemic. They pivoted, making it easy for customers to get food on the fly, so they could hang on during those dark days. But to do more than survive—to actually thrive—local restaurants need more people walking in the door.
Though the pandemic is over, old habits have hung on. Foodies are dashing to their doors to accept deliveries, rather than leaving the house to partake in the full dining experience.
“Once you start putting things in boxes, people lose a little love for what they’re plating,” East End Gastropub owner Geoff Hargrave says. “I don’t want to in any way seem unappreciative of DoorDash—I need it—but it has definitely affected the ecosystem of restaurants, the psychology of the cook, because they were putting food on beautiful plates and doing sauces, and now it goes into a brown box and it’s going to be shaken around before it gets home.”
Hargrave believes that restaurants have an even bigger part to play in nurturing human souls. “We’re social animals,” he says. “I think it’s one of the last bastions of social gatherings.” Without restaurants, he believes, we would be very disconnected.
Also affecting restaurateurs, on top of rising costs of labor and food, are various traffic challenges around town—most notably the closure at the Murray Street Bridge. “We are having our own existential crisis over in Seabright, and that is exactly what it is. It’s like Covid,” says Patrice Boyle, who opened La Posta restaurant in 2006. “But to focus on the positive—that’s always a better place to be—what has been sustaining and great and amazing to me is how responsive and how wonderful our customers have been. They have really, really been supportive.”
Talking with Restaurant Week participants, we learned a lot about what it takes to keep the lights on at locally owned restaurants. Below, both veterans and relative newcomers share their thoughts.
O.G. Eateries
Jill Ealy, Zelda’s on the Beach: “Our longevity comes down to a few things: our unbeatable location right on the beach, our dedicated staff, and our connection to the Capitola community. We’ve always made it a priority to take part in local events, support our neighbors, and stay consistent with great food, friendly service, and amazing cocktails overlooking the ocean. We’re proud to be part of so many locals’ memories and grateful to keep being a place people return to year after year.”
Paul Cocking, Gabriella’s: “I’ve had good cooks, I have a beautiful building, a good location and an owner who is usually in a good mood. I think a lot of restaurant owners tend to be grumpy, mostly because it’s very hard to make a living at a restaurant for owners and cooks. The servers always do well.”
Chelsea Holmes, Riva Fish House: “You go there and you know exactly what you’re going to get every time. It’s consistency and quality. And then you put it on top of one of the best locations in Santa Cruz, and you’re golden. … Now’s the perfect time because you don’t have to be bothered with all the tourists running around and walking in the road, parking in weird spots.”
Celia Vogel, Mobo Sushi: “My husband’s mom has owned Mobo Sushi and operated it since 1996. … Being around as long as we have, we’ve become a big part of people’s families. I think a lot of people come for celebrations, everything. We’ve had engagement parties, wedding parties, birthdays, first dates, and they always want to come back. … Our head chef, Kevin, has been amazing. We have a whole crew of people who have really been a big part of Mobo. … We have only been able to be successful due to our customers and our community supporting us for all these years and loving our food. Without our customers we wouldn’t be able to survive.”
David Jackman, Chocolat: “I would attribute our longevity to my love for both working in the restaurant kitchen and providing hospitality face-to-face with our customers. It’s their growing appreciation that keeps me going. My wife, Lori, still waits tables on Saturday nights. We have both noticed how much kinder and more appreciative our guests have become over the years.”
Jeff Westbrook, Crow’s Nest: “I truly believe what has contributed to The Crow’s Nest success through the many years is our commitment to quality. And, of course, hiring good people who show that they care about our customers.”
Francisco Cervantes, Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room: “I believe our longevity and continued success come down to three key things: consistency in our food and drinks, our commitment to warm and genuine customer service, and our strong ties to the community. One example of how we like to give back is through our Mahalo Mondays program—we donate a percentage of our sales each Monday to local nonprofits, something that’s deeply important to our team.”
The Next Generation
Tim Hunt, owner, Pono: “We started in 2010. We have been serving Santa Cruz. We closed in 2020, like many people did, and we came back in late 2022. But we maintained our location in Capitola and we are lucky to have survived. Thankfully we have a community that supports us and loves what we do, and what we do is give back. It’s a tough business. … It’s challenging in the sense that still, post 2020, we don’t fully have the amount of customers that once were. It used to be lines out the door and all the time it was just hustling and bustling. We don’t feel that has to do with us personally, it just has to do with the times. Because it’s happening to all my fellow restaurateurs that were also hustling and bustling. We’re seeing more people go to online services like DoorDash and UberEats than ever before, and it seems to be unfortunately pressing more toward that. The challenge for us is getting humans to come into the doors and sit down and dine with us. That’s the only thing I can say. And that’s in both locations. It’s a steady customer base but we have the challenge of, where are the bodies? They’re definitely ordering the food online but they’re not coming in like they used to.”
Ali Olivares, Laili Restaurant, identifies the three C’s: Craft, from scratch: “We prepare everything in-house: House-made pasta noodles, our sauces and chutneys to desserts like the pistachio baklava are all house and hand made.” Consistent hospitality: “An attentive team and a lush, enclosed patio that feels like a tucked-away courtyard.” Community roots: “Downtown Santa Cruz has been our home for years; we’re grateful for an incredible local following that keeps us striving for excellence.”
Sarah Bargetto, Venus Spirits: “I’m newly sworn in to the Venus empire [which came into being in 2014] … what I’ve seen in my time at Beachside is the dedication that Sean and Grace Venus have, their vision. They’re very involved and they like to make sure there’s a quality of service that we’re focusing on for our customers and also just a broad attention to detail over all of the things they do. … We’re really grateful to the community that we’re in. The building Beachside is in is the old Cafe Rio building that’s been a quintessential restaurant in the Rio Del Mar and Aptos area for so many years. And we have a lot of customers who come and dine in the space as Venus and reminisce about Cafe Rio.”
Tatiana Glass, Avanti: “Ristorante Avanti originally opened in 1987. I purchased it in 2018 and renamed it Avanti Restaurant. The farm-to-table philosophy remains at the heart of what we do—even stronger today than ever before. Staying true to my values and maintaining the farm-to-table focus has been key. But above all, it’s the team—having people who care deeply about what we do and who bring that passion to our guests every day.”
Joanne Guzman, Bruno’s Bar and Grill: “We’re going on our eighth year since we bought Bruno’s. Most of our guests are part of our family. … We have people who come all the way from Aptos to Bruno’s, which is surprising and exciting for us. They’re our regulars; they come all the time to the live music, for the food, for the staff. We’ve built a family that takes pride in what we do. From the kitchen to the bar to the front door, everyone plays a part in creating the experience that we provide. … I want them to have fun while they’re there. I want them to be happy while they’re there. And my husband is the same way. This is the kind of place we would want to work at. We want to share that with everybody.”
Erick Gonzalez, The Point Kitchen & Bar: “We celebrated six years in July. Two brothers run the kitchen who came from Mexico to live the American dream as co-owners with Josh, who was born and raised here. It’s been a lot of success. We’re proud and happy and excited for another year of Restaurant Week … We’ve increased sales year over year for every year, and we thank the community for that more than anything.”
For the next eight days—through Oct. 29—visit participating restaurants to sample special menus. Each one offers a fixed-price, three-course menu (appetizer, entree and dessert) for $45, $55 or $65. For complete menu details, visit santacruzrestaurantweek.com.
Avanti Restaurant
“I love cooking with squash in the fall—it’s such a versatile ingredient. We make fresh butternut squash ravioli and butternut squash soup, and we also find ways to incorporate it into other dishes throughout the menu. I also love the atmosphere this season brings. As the weather cools, the restaurant feels especially warm and inviting. We host more private events this time of year, which I really enjoy—from designing the menus to seeing our guests so happy during their celebrations,” says owner Tatiana Glass.
For Restaurant Week, Glass is bringing back some favorites that regulars will be happy to see again. “The stracciatella with beets and avocado is a huge favorite, and it’s back for Restaurant Week only. It’s such a refreshing dish, with bright, balanced flavors that our guests really love.” And as befits a restaurant named Avanti, there will be pasta on the menu: pappardelle, seafood linguine puttanesca, and butternut squash ravioli.
AVANTI
Bruno’s Bar and Grill
Joanne Guzman, co-owner of Bruno’s, waxes enthusiastic about the arrival of autumn. “It’s our favorite time of the year at Bruno’s. The air is crisp, the comfort food comes out, everything feels a little cozier. It’s the season for gathering with friends. People love coming to watch the football at Bruno’s, especially. In fall everyone comes back together. Not to mention the beautiful trees and all of that.”
For Restaurant Week, she says, “We’re bringing back some old favorites. We do different specials every week, and people ask, ‘When are you going to do this again, or that again?’” Some of those crowd-pleasers: Bruno’s Wings, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Surf & Turf, and Cheese and Pepper Gnocchi. Guzman also promises some sweet endings: upside-down pineapple cake, pumpkin lava cake and a three-berry bread pudding, with raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
BRUNO’S Surf and Turf
Chocolat
David Jackman, longtime owner of Chocolat, says, “October feels like the grand finale of our harvest season at the farmers market. So the fall is special in Santa Cruz because we find most of our favorite summer vegetables still available. Meanwhile the special fall treats, like butternut squash, come available too.”
He used that bounty to craft the Restaurant Week menu. “The Pork Chile Verde Enchiladas are a first time for us,” Jackman says. “We have been getting tomatillos from Pinnacle Farms at our DT Farmers Market more than ever this year. I love this adaptation of my wife’s chile verde recipe. The Mocha Mudpie is also a first. The first time I had Mudpie as a kid, it was called ‘mocha almond fudge.’ I have been wanting to offer that Mudpie for several years, so it’s about time.”
He’s also using produce from Groundswell Farms for the Butternut Squash Rosettes. “Another returning fall special is the Piki Pakio (actual Italian spelling is Picchi Pacchio),” Jackman explains. “The eggplant we roast and chill for that dish is perfect—also from Groundswell Farms. Our GF mini bread loaf is a favorite all year round, and new customers will find it an addictive discovery.”
CHOCOLAT Canoli
Crow’s Nest
“As a chef, fall means to me an opportunity to work with ingredients that I haven’t seen since the previous winter and fall, so it renews my creative juices again,” says Jeff Westbrook of The Crow’s Nest. “The dishes we are offering at The Crow’s Nest are all new items for this year and are highlighting seasonal fall ingredients.”
Seasonal starters include the Autumn Wedge Salad, loaded with walnuts, dried cranberry and bacon in a maple Dijon vinaigrette. Main selections include hearty fare: Braised Beef Short Ribs with a white bean cassoulet, as well as Pork Tenderloin with pistachio romesco, a havarti-potato galette and roasted cauliflower. And each dessert incorporates winter produce: Pistachio and Beetroot Cake, Pumpkin Pot de Crème and Pear Tarte Tatin.
CROW’S NEST
East End Gastropub
Though fall can be tough for a restaurant’s bottom line, East End Gastropub owner and chef Geoff Hargrave says, “Personally I love fall, because the world quiets down a bit. … It’s the earth going into rest mode. You can kind of feel it, and you kinda get into it, too. Comforting foods feel better. I really like the vibe or the pace that fall puts out. That can translate into more of an intimacy when it comes to dinners. You’re eating a little earlier, eating heavier foods. It’s candlelight and fires.”
For Restaurant Week he has “several special things that are off menu.” Clams & Nduja features Manila clams sauteed with rendered andouille sausage, white wine, garlic and shallots, served with a piece of bread. Another starter is Leche de Tigre, a Peruvian-style ceviche with coconut milk and an aji sauce; it would pair well with Corvina Sea Bass, with marble potatoes and aji verde sauce, which Hargrave describes as “a creamier cilantro jalapeño sauce—not spicy, really bright, really aromatic.”
He’s particularly happy that the kitchen is able to pull off Wild Chanterelles. The mushrooms, foraged from Oregon because the season hasn’t started yet locally, are sautéed with guanciale, he says, and then “on top of Roman-style gnocchi with raw egg yolk. It’s very rich. I think the yolk makes it a little daring for Restaurant Week.” And for patrons who want something more familiar, the menu will include various pizza selections—partly to show off to new patrons something that’s always on the menu, and also to encourage groups to share dishes.
EAST END GASTROPUB
Gabriella Cafe
Mulling over what the fall season brings for his restaurant, Gabriella Cafe owner Paul Cocking says, “We’re not particularly a tourist restaurant in the summer, so in the fall we tend to get a little busier. UCSC, our biggest employer, comes back. People seem to come out more, want to be inside eating at a cozy restaurant like mine.”
Cocking also looks forward to the seasonal produce. “All the squash dishes are something to do a lot with, and salads and things. Kale and broccoli, we serve big piles of that, which tend to be abundant locally in the fall. And crispy Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts are popular this time of year. Rodoni Farms pioneered organic Brussels sprouts,” Cocking says. The restaurateur’s menu also features produce from other organic farmers—Pinnacle, Dirty Girl, Blue Heron, TwinGirls, Sea to Sky and Live Earth—in a wide range of choices for Restaurant Week: six starters, eight entrees and three desserts, including his favorite: Apple Cobbler with chantilly cream, drizzled honey and toasted almonds. “Apples are very abundant right now,” he says.
GABRIELLA CAFE
Hook and Line
Longtime local chef Santos Majano is getting ready for Hook and Line’s second Restaurant Week. “Last year was very successful; we got a lot of people coming in to try us out. It’s good exposure for some people who haven’t tried us yet,” he says about the annual fall ritual. “There’s a lot of new things out there, seasonal, pumpkins, braised greens, Brussels sprouts—things are changing at the farmers market. I think it’s a great time to have Restaurant Week around this time.
“People are out there looking for new items of the season,” Majano says. “With the holidays coming ’round, a lot of people are also visiting town and it’s a good time to gather the family and try new restaurants and the restaurants being able to offer them something new that they can’t get year round. I think, for us, we are always trying to do new things.”
Specifically for this Restaurant Week, he says the staff looks forward to the pumpkin with mole sauce. “We have actually never paired that together. Just the sound and the combination and the ingredients gets us excited,“ he says. “We can’t wait to get it going. It’s something we don’t run on our normal menu.” Another standout is Quail and Chanterelles. “Usually that dish is more traditional with chicken and chanterelles,” Majano says. “We’re trying to do something different.”
HOOK AND LINE Pumpkin Mole
Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room
“The fall season is one of my favorite times of the year,” says Francisco Cervantes, general manager of Hula’s. “The cooler weather and slower pace give us more opportunities to connect with our guests—to check in, share stories, and make sure everyone leaves feeling like part of the Hula’s ohana.”
Cervantes shares some of the items—a “mix of returning fan favorites and exciting new dishes”—that Hula’s will feature during Restaurant Week. For appetizers, Pork Stuffed Potstickers “are a Hula’s classic that our guests have been asking us to bring back” and Godzilla Tots are “crispy, craveable, and full of flavor—topped with sriracha aioli, caramelized onions, and nori flakes.”
Entrees include one longtime favorite—Barramundi Lemongrass Encrusted—and two newer creations. The Island Moa Fried Chicken Sandwich features “the perfect balance of heat, crunch, and island freshness” and Kalbi Short Ribs are “grilled to perfection for a melt-in-your-mouth experience. Served with rice and macaroni salad, it’s a hearty and comforting complement to the bold flavors of our appetizers.”
For dessert, Macadamia Nut Ice Cream Pie is “a true Hula’s staple and a must-have for birthdays and celebrations,” Cervantes says. Other choices are Key Lime Pie (“the perfect tart-and-creamy balance”) and Lilikoi Pie, a passion fruit dessert that “delivers the signature island tang and sweetness our guests adore.”
Laili Restaurant
“As restaurateurs, fall is our ingredient sweet spot: cooler evenings on our garden patio, the warmth of spices like cardamom and cumin, and produce that plays beautifully with the Silk Road flavors at the heart of Laili,” says Ali Olivares, Laili’s office manager. “The season lets us lean into comforting textures and aromatics while keeping dishes bright and balanced.”
In terms of seasonal highlights on Laili’s Restaurant Week menu, Olivares points to the branzino special. “It has been such a hit—a truly amazing dish. And our Cardamom Crème Brûlée brings a fall-forward, spice-kissed balance to the menu.” Other beloved favorites making a return: “Chicken Kabob, the shareable Mediterranean Plate, and our house-made Pistachio Baklava—all guest favorites our regulars ask for year-round.”
Certain qualities hold true across the range of dishes served at Laili. Olivares says diners can expect “California produce and proteins paired with refined Mediterranean and Afghan flavors—vibrant, aromatic, and satisfying without being heavy.”
LAILI Pistachio Baklava
La Posta
La Posta owner Patrice Boyle says she loves fall anyway, but particularly in Santa Cruz. “All of the sunsets are more beautiful, everything is more beautiful. The light is fantastic. Today is another amazing, amazing day,” she says. “I love seeing the change of seasons at the farmers market and the incoming produce. It’s really, really fun. There’s all sorts of things. The squashes…”
And for Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, Boyle says, “The chef is really pulling out the stops with the menu. Lobster arancini is kind of a new thing for us—it’s really good. Chicories with duck confit is really, really amazing. And the scallops—I love fregolo, it’s a Sardinian pasta.”
And rather than the regular sheet lasagna, La Posta is serving lasagnette—an individual serving that, like all of the restaurant’s pastas, is made in house. “You basically make the pasta and knead it and roll it out and cut it into little squares,” Boyle says. “It gets crispy on the edges; it’s super delish. The goodness oozes out the sides.”
Boyle muses a bit more about that lovely moment when summer gives way to fall. “I also love the late things,” she says. “Our chef saved up figs toward the end of the season—it’s hard to get a lot of figs—and he made a really dense, heavy jam with them, and finally at the end of the season, when there weren’t going to be any more figs, he made three tarts with them.” Though the tarts are gone now, the memory lingers—a reminder of old-fashioned traditions of canning and preserving—what she calls “the whole ‘putting by’ attitude … it’s quite old-fashioned. Those fig tarts were really special.”
Laughing Monk Brewery
As autumn takes hold in Scotts Valley, Laughing Monk Brewery general manager Matt Laughlin says he’s more than ready. “The weather’s just perfect for outdoor seating; you get a little bit of that sun and you have a nice breeze, and as everybody knows, we have a nice big outside patio, which is our main dining area,” Laughlin says. “I love doing a big Halloween party, which we have scheduled on the 25th—with a photo booth and face painting, and we’ve got a band. I love decorating the store for Halloween. And Thanksgiving we love to roll into; it’s a great day for everyone to get together and eat together and celebrate each other. And we have a couple of fall cocktails we’re doing with some cinnamon and nutmeg and hopefully some pumpkin down the line.”
Laughlin explains that Restaurant Week is a preview of dishes that Laughing Monk will roll out in early December. “We’re running part of our new entree section, which lets you pick your protein; you get a little vegetable medley on the side and then you get mashed potatoes or a baked potato choice, and you can also upgrade to a loaded baked potato if you’d like, or do a side salad instead of the veggies or something along those lines,” he says.
According to Laughlin, “If you come out with your family and there’s one meat eater, there’s one vegetarian, there’s a vegan, and there’s someone who doesn’t like anything ever, I’ve tried to design a menu to please everybody and give everyone a little taste of something that they’ll like.”
Makai Island Kitchen and Groggery
Chelsea Holmes, Makai’s executive chef, is getting in the mood for the fall season. “Definitely a lot of the warm flavors, bringing in pumpkin and yams, a little more curries, a little more spices that you can play around with,” Holmes says. “At Makai we currently have a pumpkin curry dish that we are putting some sweet potatoes in, and fried tofu. It’s coming out vegan. We have a coconut base for it, and we use a yellow curry base mixed in with the coconut milk. We’re literally using pumpkin puree in the curry base for the sauce. It’s so smooth, and the pumpkin totally mellows and calms the spice. It’s so good it’s ridiculous.”
Mobo Sushi
Celia Vogel, a Mobo Sushi co-owner with husband Ben Vogel, sees the upside in the shorter days of the fall season. With darkness falling earlier, she says, people gather earlier in the evenings. “It’s nice. I feel like you spend a little more time together. I enjoy how fall brings people together,” Vogel says.
People have been gathering at Mobo Sushi for close to three decades, but Vogel says this is the first time the eatery has participated in Restaurant Week. “Because we are kind of an older restaurant I feel like there’s probably a whole generation that may not know about us,” Vogel says. “I hope we can bring some people in who haven’t been here or who haven’t come in for a while. It’ll be nice.”
“We put a couple new items that we have on our menu, and I’m excited for people to try those. We put them out a little while ago, and people have been enjoying them quite a bit. We have such a big menu; things can get buried in there, especially when they’re new. So it’ll be nice to have some of those being up front so people can see them and give them a try, because I think they’re delicious,” she says. “The Hamachi Nama Crudo is new, the Mobo Salad is new, and the Spicy Sesame Edamame is new, and a couple of desserts are new, so it’s just exciting to have some new things happening.”
MOBO SUSHI
The Point Kitchen & Bar
Erick Gonzalez, general manager at The Point Kitchen & Bar, reveals what the staff likes most about the fall: “We can be creative. We have a bar and we get to make creative cocktails, and even do hot cocktails. Right now we’re doing Halloween cocktails that we rotate regularly. Foodwise, we’re doing pumpkin cheesecake, we’re doing a fall harvest salad. We get to play around with the menu more than other times of the year.”
For Restaurant Week, Gonzalez says, “We decided to go with three appetizers: the Crispy Brussels Sprouts, a BLT-type house salad And we are doing a cup of soup. We’ll have clam chowder and also a veggie option. For the clam chowder, it’s actually an award-winning chowder. We participated in the Chowder Cook-off in February of this year and under the professional category we took second place.”
Of the three main entrees—steak, salmon and chicken—Gonzalez says that red meat is “what we’re known for. We’re always rotating between filets, ribeyes, flatirons—so we decided to go with a New York steak. We’re adding a horseradish sauce on top of it. It’s going to be 10 ounces, so that’s a really big piece. I think other places are doing smaller ones.” And the chicken dish can be modified for vegetarians: It comes with artichoke hearts, capers, garlic, lemon, white wine sauce, Parmesan cheese and locally made gnocchi.
“Restaurant Week is always our best week of the year, and each year we’ve done better and better and we get better feedback. We’re excited and the team is ready,” Gonzalez says.
THE POINT 10oz New York Steak
Pono Hawaiian Grill
Tim Hunt, owner of Pono’s restaurants in Santa Cruz and Capitola, grew up in Hawaii, where there aren’t many seasonal weather changes. But here, he enjoys the season. “Things slow down, we’re able to focus on specials, community events, bringing the community together as a restaurant,” he says. “We kind of differ from other restaurants that just do food. We do entertainment as well so we’re constantly working on different community events that involve the surfing industry and of course the Hawaiian community. In the fall you’ll see more of that stuff happening.”
It’s also a time when the staff has the time to add a few new specials. One is the Flying Pig Sando, made with grilled spam, pineapple and aioli—“we make our own chili crunch oil. That one is a tasty, savory, umami, just a delicious burger, and we top it all off with a King’s Hawaiian sweet bun…it’s famous for a reason.”
Another show-stopper is the furikake fries: “Those are pretty simple, but we also make our own furikake topping, which we sell all over the place—Hawaii, the U.S., Amazon, Walmart, everything. We’re really starting to blossom with our product,” Hunt says.
Katsu Musubi, Kalua Pork Tots, Mama Kathy’s Teriyaki Chicken and other classics round out the menu, including two desserts. One is Haupia, which is coconut pudding. “Very simple but really delicious,” Hunt says. “If you go to any luau in Hawaii, they will have haupia. If they don’t, it’s not a real Hawaiian luau. Get out of there. You’ve gotta have haupia,” Hunt says, laughing.
PONO Flying Pig
Riva Fish House
It’s autumn on the Wharf, and Chelsea Holmes, executive chef at Riva, is celebrating not only Santa Cruz Restaurant Week but also 13 days of Halloween, with a special appetizer: Trick or Treaties. The dish features six fritters, one of which has a little extra kick. “Five pieces are chipotle cheddar. The sixth has chopped jalapeño inside. One lucky person will get the Trick,” Holmes says.
She’s also excited about one of the entrees for Restaurant Week: the Cajun Seafood Boil. “It’s got mussels, shrimp, crab, our housemade Cajun spice rub. We use a little bit of marinara, corn and red potatoes, and it’s all simmered together with garlic, wine and butter. It’s kind of like our cioppino, but 10 levels above it. It’s the corn—I could eat a whole case of corn simmered in this sauce,” Holmes says. And for palates that favor a sweet touch, the soy ginger sauce “is so insanely good,” she says. “We literally take Anaheim peppers and roast them, peel the skins off and purée them with some sautéed ginger and some green onions, some sesame oil and soy sauce and a little bit of brown sugar. The flavor profile you get from it is fantastic.”
Venus Spirits Cocktails & Kitchen
Sarah Bargetto came on board as chef of the Venus Beachside location about half a year ago and this is her first Restaurant Week. She’s been collaborating with Carlos Perez, chef at Venus Westside, on a menu for the occasion. “Five of the dishes are my dishes, and Chef Carlos has two dishes that he’ll be providing for a first and second course. One of our dessert options—chocolate torte—has been on the menu for a while and is one of our best sellers at Venus.”
Fall “is a time for comfort food—I love creating those warm dishes. On the Restaurant Week menu, that pork belly has a lot of warm spices in there,” Bargetto says. “It tastes just like fall to me.”
Bargetto notes that many items on the Restaurant Week menu could become regular dishes. “Probably the beet carpaccio, hopefully the pork belly,” she says. “The short rib will be going on the Westside menu. I think we will be including the lobster risotto on the Beachside menu. The maitake mushroom dish is kind of an homage to our miso salmon dish—a lot of similar flavors there. So I think we’re pushing to be creative but also have some nods to what we already have and what we will be putting on the menu as well.”
Given the importance of spirits at Venus, it’s not surprising that there are cocktails designed to accompany the Restaurant Week menu (for an additional charge, of course). Three are new: Bourbon Smash, Mamma Mia Mule, and Fall Negroni. The latter, made with the newly released 2025 Fall Gin, sage, apples and fall spices, pairs with the Panna Cotta. “A great drink and dessert to end the meal,” Bargetto says.
VENUS BEACHSIDE Lobster Risotto
Zelda’s on the Beach
At this classic Capitola Village eatery, Jill Ealy is ready for autumn. “After the rush of summer and the busy tourist season, fall gives us a chance to slow down a bit and reconnect with our local community,” says the Zelda’s owner. “It’s when we see more of our regulars, play with seasonal ingredients, and bring a little warmth and comfort back to the restaurant. There’s something special about that cozy, coastal feeling in Capitola when the weather cools and the sunsets come earlier. It’s really one of the best times of year to dine by the beach without the crowds.”
For Restaurant Week, Ealy is featuring some popular dishes. “Our Cioppino and Flat Iron Steak are longtime favorites, as well as adding in our Halibut Risotto, which started as a special last year and quickly became one of the most-ordered items on the menu,” Ealy says. “For starters, our Crispy Calamari is always a must, and we’re finishing things off with our Coconut Cheesecake and Bread Pudding, both made from scratch in house.”
I’ll go for pure comfort and say bread pudding. I had it at a wine pairing event where I chose a dessert wine and made a bread pudding to pair with it.
Dana Wherity, 55, Tumbleweed Found, a unique consignment shop
SERAFINA
I made pumpkin spice French toast yesterday with sourdough bread and pumpkin. But what I really like is pumpkin chocolate chip bread. If I make it, I’ll just eat it with a fork straight out of the pan for breakfast. I’ll leave the fork in there, in the fridge, and I’ll keep going back for one more bite. And pumpkin doughnuts are delicious!
Serafina Nicole Lúz, 45, Rising Wolf Collective
DYLAN
I always enjoy a classic pumpkin pie, but I also enjoy pumpkin spiced drinks, you see them all over. I appreciate pumpkin spiced apple cider too, I think that’s one of my favorites.
Dylan Edward Woodman Hobbs, 18, Soul Searching
ADELLE
I really like a pumpkin spice latte.
Adelle Peterson, 19, Art Major
KAI
I really like baking and I was thinking recently about pumpkin spice cheesecake bars. I really want to get down with that, because it would be the perfect balance of the cheesecake notes blending with the pumpkin spice, and then of course the spices in the graham cracker crust—clove, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
Kai Peterson, 16, Culinary/Anthropology Major
JACOB
Pumpkin spiced muffins are amazing and I’ve had pumpkin spiced brownies, they’re really good. I think pumpkin spice is the best in pastry form.
Jacob Corcoran, 19, Toque Blanche kitchenware store
Lately, the media airspace is full of burrowing ear worms featuring the quotes of edgy controversial comedians—the Rogans, the Marons and the Vons. If you’re looking for a more upbeat, less controversial and funnier listening experience, meet comedian Kellen Erskine.
Erskine has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Conan, America’s Got Talent and numerous other national broadcasts, and will be honing his new hour at the intimate Actors’ Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
And get this, the show is all ages (16+). According to Erskine, who has multiple “clean comedy” specials on DryBar, “My short description of a clean comedy show is this. First of all, I hate the stigma that accompanies the phrase ‘clean comedy,’” Erskine says from the road.
“Clean comedy” is often, quite rightly, dismissed (mostly by other comics) as hack and lame. So, Erskine rarely uses it to describe his comedy. “I don’t do children’s birthday parties. For me personally, it just means not heading into the bedroom with my material, nor dropping any F-bombs—I generally avoid language that’d make my grandma blush (the one on my dad’s side),” Erskine laughs.
Face it. What you think is funny is another person’s cringe. And that is OK. Luckily, the world of comedy is still diverse enough that there are yuks available for everyone.
Clean comedy even has an electronic home at DryBar Comedy. Erskine’s two comedy specials, Negative Comments and Composed, have hundreds of millions of views.
Take the time to listen/watch DryBar’s “Bad Grocery Advice,” by Erskine. It’s three minutes and 54 seconds, packed with precise, well-crafted jokes about things like shopping carts and bike locks. There are setups, punchlines, callbacks—a regular cornucopia of a traditional strain of comedy that sometimes gets obscured by the louder, more boisterous comics.
To say clean comedy is of another era is to discount the major impact of Nate Bargatze. “The Tennessee Kid” had the highest-grossing comedy tour in 2024. He earned $82.2 million from 148 shows, and is self-admittedly a “non-offensive comedian.”
So basically, “clean.” Erskine wears that badge as well.
Onstage, Erskine cuts quite a figure. He’s a throwback to a more casual, and less nervous, Bob Newhart. You can almost see Erskine popping down to the Village Vanguard, in Greenwich Village, in the 1950s, and doing comedy that gets greeted with a ruckus of finger-snapping.
Like all true artists, those who dedicate their lives to their particular craft, Erskine has grown over the years. With the deadline of a new one-hour coming up, Erskine is pushing his personal boundaries onstage. “It’s not so much that I’m going off on weird topics,” Erskine begins, “I’m just being more honest with myself.”
Erskine admits he used to mock comedians that only talked about themselves. He felt it was a lack of creativity and that real comics create something from nothing. “I thought that was what real art was. But it’s silly because I look back at what I was writing at the time, and it’s not like I was on a higher pedestal. And so I feel like I’ve sort of taken the hero’s journey. I’ve returned more competent in both worlds,” Erskine says.
This new adventure of revealing more of himself onstage doesn’t come easy. “I’m trying it out onstage and my batting average is less. There is a Venn diagram of what I think is funny and what the audience thinks is funny,” Erskine says.
It’s like a musician who puts out an album in a different genre. But when you trust the artist, new things are always welcome. You should want your artists to grow. “My daughter asked me a couple of years ago. She’s like, ‘Do you wanna be famous?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ I want to be .5% famous. I just need a few hundred people, in every major city, to know who I am. That’s not asking a lot. You know, eight million people live in Manhattan,” Erskine concludes.
Come support Erskine’s dream of being .5% famous, and in exchange, you get an evening of laughter.
Kellen Erskine performs at 7pm on Oct. 22 at the Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $25 on Eventbrite.
I.C.E. is coming into the community with these big military vehicles and sweep people off the streets. Then everyone stands around and watches and takes videos but nothing happens after.
