When the members of Watsonville’s Pan Dulce were coming up, they really had no idea how many people—or what instruments even—they’d need. The group quickly evolved into a six-piece ensemble with two guitars, bass, drums, keys, and a trombone.
Alejandro Rayburn could have played guitar, but he really wanted to play trombone, primarily because of his love of ska, and how the horns added another dimension to the music. But he didn’t just want to stop there.
“Ska is great, but there are other ways to use [horns], like Trombone Shorty. He uses the horn in ways that aren’t common. There are a lot of musicians like Cat Empire, and Chicago, that are also using horns in very different ways,” Rayburn says.
The music the group currently plays carries only a hint of ska. On their website, they refer to it as “rock,” mostly because it’s the simplest way to describe their hard-to-classify sound. There are elements of punk, reggae, rock, pop, New Wave, and Latin music all mixed together.
“The thing is that we all write music, so we kind of share our styles. I feel like when we come together we borrow everyone’s writing style,” says lead singer/pianist/melodica player Gabriela Bravo
The group is nearly finished with its debut EP. The members say that the Latin influences are becoming more prominent on their new material, with just a little bit of Spanish finding its way to the music, though they still have a smorgasbord of diverse influences. Or as Rayburn says: “We’re trying to head in a Latin, rock en Español direction, but not necessarily ‘en Español,’ more in a Latin-American feel.”
After five years of working at 515 Kitchen & Cocktails, Bar Manager Ethan Samuels is excited for another savory Santa Cruz Restaurant Week. “I love how it brings in customers who might not normally eat here,” Samuels says. “We have a very dedicated following, but there are still people who have never taken the opportunity to try us out.” Samuels says that this year’s SCRW patrons are in for a delectable treat that didn’t have to travel far to be on their table. “We’ll be showcasing some aperitif cocktails and delicious local ingredients from Santa Cruz and California,” he hints, “along with beer and wine pairing with our entrees and some of our limited sipping spirits to pair with dessert.” 515 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. 425-5052, 515santacruz.com.(MW)
Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius isn’t just a destination restaurant for special occasions, says General Manager CJ Hartman—they’ve got a seven-day happy hour and a “light bites” tapas-style menu in the lounge. “Restaurant Week gives the local community the opportunity to dine at a local establishment at a great value,” says Hartman, adding that it also allows them to explore beyond their normal gustatory range. Having something for everyone is important to Hartman, which is why he says there will be a vegan, gluten-free, and vegetarian option in each course of the prix-fixe menu. For the meat lovers, though, he says steak is always a triumph—this year it’ll be prime sirloin with horseradish mashed potatoes and port demi-glace. And it’s not only the patrons who get excited for the week of dining delights, says Hartman, who also takes the opportunity to try new restaurants. “The only feedback is that guests wish it was two weeks long,” he says. Santa Cruz Dream Inn, 175 West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. 460-5012, jdvhotels.com/restaurants. (JS)
Assembly
Assembly co-founder Zach Davis has a lot of memories of Restaurant Week, but because it gets so packed every year, most of them are blurry. However, he recalls the time he was walking by one of the community tables and noticed a man and a woman from different parties looking at each other oddly. “I recognized one as a member of the faculty at a well-regarded Bay Area culinary school and the other as one of our beloved local wine makers. The next time I walked by they were deep in conversation, and I found out later that they had worked in a bakery together over a decade earlier, but had lost touch over the years.” Restaurant Week: bringing people together. 1108 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 824-6100, assembly.restaurant.(JS)
Back Nine Grill & Bar
In their third year participating in Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, the crew at Back Nine Grill & Bar is happy to be preparing this year’s menu, which includes such delicacies as a pork chop, a Russian risotto, and a niçoise salmon. Last year, general manager Michelle Costa was struck by the response from diners to one dish in particular. “Last year, we did some kind of fish with mango salsa, and it went over really well. This year, we’re doing a couple of our new items on the menu that we just put on there. We’re highlighting those.” 555 Hwy. 17, Santa Cruz. 423-5000, backninegrill.com.(AC)
Cafe Mare
Assembly
When chef Jean Pierre Iuliano creates a Restaurant Week menu, he doesn’t just bring 25 years of experience to the table, he brings the original flavorings and home-style memories from Calabria, “the toe of the boot of Italy.” He’s making recipes he grew up eating, and since Iuliano’s co-partner Andrea Mura is from Sardinia, between the two of them Cafe Mare’s menu is pure Italian goodness. Last year’s Restaurant Week fan favorite, says Iuliano, was the penne Taleggio e speck (penne pasta in cream sauce in sharp Taleggio cheese from northern Italy with pork thigh and green peas), which is back this year along with ravioli della nonna (walnut-filled ravioli with Gorgonzola sauce) and snapper Livornese (red snapper with capers, olives, onions, tomatoes and white wine). New on this year’s menu will be the carpaccio di tonno, fresh albacore tuna from which they extract the loins, coat with herbs, wrap and freeze for a fresh appetizer served with lemon, olive oil and capers. 740 Front St #100, Santa Cruz. 458-1212, cafemare.com. (AMH)
Chocolate
David Jackman, owner and chef at Chocolate, is perhaps one of the more experimental folks when it comes to designing a SCRW menu. One year, he designed an entire menu inspired by one of his teacher-chefs from Italy. Some customers thought it was too much of a departure from their standard menu, so he’s since reeled it in a bit. “That’s been some very useful feedback. For the most part, Santa Cruz Restaurant Week for us tends to be very seasonal in what we’re offering. We like to use Restaurant Week to use some of our autumn flavors,” says Jackman. A great example is on last year’s menu, for which Jackman made a barbecue sauce based on persimmons. This year he’ll be doing a repeat of something off of last year’s menu: their pasta rosette, but with butternut squash. “It’s really the cousin of pumpkin ravioli. Instead of using pumpkin, we use butternut squash. And we use a format for pasta rosette.” Over the years, one item that Jackman is most proud of is a dessert called Sacher torte. “It’s one of the most popular desserts in Europe, and it doesn’t really go much here. It’s based on a Viennese recipe and they sell it all over Italy. It’s a dark chocolate ganache with an apricot filling.” 1522 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 427-9900, chocolatesantacruz.com. (AC)
Cremer House
For the Cremer House, Santa Cruz Restaurant Week is always a good time to experiment with dishes. Last year they made a curry dish with roasted vegetables, which chef JP Doiron called “really good for ‘white boy making curry.’” They also did a scallop dish with curry sauce. “Scallops are delicious with just about anything. It happened to be a coincidence at the time. We had two curry recipes, and they represented us really well.” Doiron wasn’t head chef last year, but this year the menu is all his. Nothing on it will be from the regular menu. “You have to specifically order the Restaurant Week menu to get these items. That makes it a little more exclusive,” he says. Some highlights include a kale Caesar salad with crispy potato chips and Parmesan, and desserts coconut panna cotta and butterscotch pudding. 6256 Hwy. 9, Felton. 335-3976, cremerhouse.com. (AC)
Crow’s Nest
Gabriella Café
Jeff Westbrook has been the executive chef at Crow’s Nest for 18 years, and has seen firsthand what an impact Restaurant Week can have. “It’s about 75 percent of our sales in that week,” he says. “I remember the first year that we did it, I was surprised at the percentage.” In fact, Westbrook says that people seemed to enjoy SCRW so much that it inspired him to do a Thursday night multi-course prixe fixe menu that’s available weekly except during summer. “It’s nice to be able to do different things and experiment with new dishes that might make it to the main menu,” Westbrook says. “It’s a good testing ground.” One dish that’s been a hit on the prix-fixe menu and will be on this year’s SCRW menu is a salmon sashimi with wasabi apple relish, and seasonal favorites like local and organic pumpkins and squash will be featured throughout the dishes as well. 2218 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. 475-4560, crowsnest-santacruz.com. (AS)
El Jardín
For the second year of Restaurant Week at El Jardín, it’s all about their award-winning mole. Server/manager Kayla Delgado wants it front and center in this year’s menu—it’ll be the flavorful base for chicken breast served with rice and beans. New to the SCRW game last year, Delgado says they quickly learned that a full three-course meal of Mexican food can be a lot. So, although she says “Mexican food tastes good the next day,” and they offer to-go boxes, they are serving smaller appetizers this year as a palate opener. Additionally, Delgado has made a point to add more vegetarian options, like the veggie fajita bowl with romaine and spinach salad topped with grilled fajita vegetables, brown rice, black beans, sour cream, pico de gallo and Cotija cheese. 655 Capitola Road, Santa Cruz. 477-9384, eljardinrestaurant.net. (AH)
Gabriella Café
Solaire
Tucked away off of Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz, the cozy Gabriella Café is a romantic destination. Owner Paul Cocking is committed to using the freshest ingredients from local farms to create an adventurous menu of house-made pastas, vibrant salads and perfectly cooked meats. During Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, Cocking showcases Gabriella Café’s most popular offerings from their regular menu. The duck breast with quince-apple gastrique and tomato-braised California lamb shank are especially popular choices for guests visiting the restaurant for the first time, which he believes is due to the superior preparation of these seldom seen items. This year they are debuting a new dish—butternut squash raviolis with truffle honey, walnuts, sage and goat cheese. 910 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. 457-1677, gabriellacafe.com. (LS)
Hindquarter Bar & Grille
“I’m dancing as fast as I can” pretty much describes Restaurant Week at the Hindquarter Bar & Grille, say owners Laurie Stephens, Mark Urban and Chef Sam Yanez. This is their third year as owners, but they have all worked at Hindquarter since SCRW began. Stephens says, “We have kept the menu basically the same because it showcases three of our regular menu items, which we feel is what you want to do to bring people back in. They all sell fairly equally, and we get so many compliments on everything. Why change what works?”
Stephens adds that the RW menu can actually be a little easier on the kitchen because instead of 50 different items, there are only three, and the majority of dinners served during that week are the RW three-course option. “There is definitely more prep work for the kitchen, but it’s all worth it. We just ride the wave every year during Restaurant Week and it’s a blast!” 303 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 426-7770, thehindquarter.com. (JS)
Hoffman’s
Owner Ed Hoffman takes pride in putting out a solid SCRW menu. Every year, they try out some new ideas, while sticking within the style of cuisine Hoffman’s is known for. “We always like to show off what we can do, what we think our best things are. We’re always changing a little bit, working on our technique and what we also want to present the rest of the year too,” Hoffman says. Some of their favorite items in their regular menu even debuted on a Restaurant Week menu, two prime examples being the coconut prawns and the organic apple salad with Point Reyes blue cheese. The coconut prawns is on the menu year-round, whereas the apple salad is a recurring seasonal item. “We’re in apple season now, so we get those good fresh apples. They combine well with the Point Reyes blue cheese.” 1102 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 420-0135, hoffmanssantacruz.com. (AC)
Hollins House at Pasatiempo
Hoffman’s
The sweeping views of the Monterey Bay from the historic dining room of Hollins House at Pasatiempo are truly jaw-dropping. Manager Annie Daly says that many visitors take the opportunity to visit their stunning restaurant during Santa Cruz Restaurant Week because the grounds where the restaurant is located are so beautiful. So many, in fact, that the Friday night of Restaurant Week in 2015 was the busiest evening Hollins House has ever had. It was also Daly’s first week as restaurant manager. “It was hectic, but fun,” she says. “It’s nice, because the smaller menu is not as overwhelming for the kitchen so it’s easier for them to keep up.” Chef John Paul’s menu features innovative spins on classic American dishes with locally sourced ingredients from the Santa Cruz area. 20 Clubhouse Road, Santa Cruz. 459-9177, pasatiempo.com. (LS)
Hula’s Island Grill
“My favorite part about Restaurant Week is trying out the three separate meals,” says bartender Art Mueller. “I also love meeting all the new people and patrons.” For the last seven years, Mueller has created the delicious Tiki cocktails Hula’s is known for. When pressed for his favorite Restaurant Week menu, he says, “Probably the Lemongrass Ahi year. We did it with calamari as the starting appetizer, and macadamia nut ice cream for dessert.” This year, Mueller suggests trying a Zombie or a Painkiller to go with the exotic menu Hula’s has planned. 221 Cathcart St, Santa Cruz. 426-4852, hulastiki.com. (MW)
Ideal Bar & Grill
Twenty-four-year Ideal Bar & Grill veteran Jesus Garcia has seen his fair share of Restaurant Weeks. For the last seven years, he has worked as the head of the kitchen, serving up new and creative dishes to hungry customers. “My favorite part about working at Ideal are all my co-workers,” he says, “along with coming up with new specials for the menu.” This year, Garcia expects patrons will enjoy the restaurant’s kale and cranberry salad, ceviche and chicken Parmesan specials. For dessert, he suggests the chocolate lava cake. “I love Restaurant Week because of all the advertisement and new customers,” he says proudly. 106 Beach St., Santa Cruz. 423-5271, idealbarandgrill.com. (MW)
Johnny’s Harborside
“Typically it’s our busiest week in October,” says owner and general manager Dan Agostinis of SCRW. “We look forward to it. It’s nice to go outside the box and showcase our quality local farmers and providers.” Agostinis, who has been with the restaurant for 10 years, says the menu this year will be Coastal California cuisine that aims to “creatively turn raw ingredients into something the guest will enjoy.” He says the restaurant’s concept is more focused this year, “It’s all about local people, produce, proteins, and even wine and beer.” Agostinis hints at the SCRW menu by mentioning jalapeño poppers and even using the words “chocolate” and “flan” in the same sentence. “We’ve been kind of floating out the Restaurant Week items amongst ourselves, locals, and regulars, and they’ve been really well received,” he divulges. “People are already jonesing for them to be on the regular menu.” 493 Lake Ave., Santa Cruz. 479-3430, johnnysharborside.com.(AS)
Kianti’s Pizza & Pasta Bar
Hollin’s House at Pasatiempo
This is Kianti’s second year participating in SCRW, and co-owner Tracey Parks-Barber can’t wait to make it a yearly tradition. “We hope to continue into the future,” she says. “Last year was a great experience.” So great, in fact, that this year they decided to keep the same menu diners loved. “We thought it was extremely successful, so we wanted to continue that,” Parks-Barber says. Her SCRW recommendation? “It’s hard to choose one meal because they’re all favorites, but I’d say the Kianti’s insalate, the gourmet pasta and the Kianti’s cookie for dessert.” 1100 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 469-4400, kiantis.com. (MW)
Laili
In addition to the aromatic Silk Road flavors of its Middle Eastern cuisine, downtown restaurant Laili is known for its gorgeous outdoor patio. With verdant greenery climbing its high brick walls, dining al fresco in this hidden courtyards feels a world away from the Pacific Avenue buzz. Manager Ali Amin offers their most popular South Asian specialties on their SCRW menu in order to give new guests a snapshot of the best the restaurant has to offer. Regulars will be familiar with the menu, says Amin, but they’ll enjoy a little bit of a discount. For first-time visitors, Amin recommends the kadoo boranee appetizer—butternut squash flavored with garlic, turmeric, mint and qurut yogurt. “It’s a really special dish, a family recipe,” says Amin. “People really fall in love with it.” 101 Cooper St., Santa Cruz. 423-4545, lailirestaurant.com. (LS)
Linwood’s Bar & Grill at Chaminade
Michael’s On Main
The Linwood’s Bar & Grill staff believes that Restaurant Week has brought many first-time diners to the resort who then become repeat patrons. Their most popular SCRW tradition—and the dish that always sells out the fastest—is Sticky Toffee Pudding. The pudding was originally crafted for a notable guest who visited the resort year after year. It also ran periodically as a special on Linwood’s menu, and eventually it was added to Linwood’s seasonal dessert offerings, and a place on the SCRW prix fixe menu. It turns out that several of Linwood’s dishes have come about because clients want something crafted just for them, and the chefs pull out all the stops to create the perfect meal. If the dishes are well received, they sometimes make their way onto Linwood’s menus. One Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz. 475-5600, chaminade.com. (JS)
Margaritaville
Sarah Orr, owner and general manager of Margaritaville, tells the story of a party that arrived during Restaurant Week last year, which she nicknamed the “Try Every Restaurant Quartet.” “This group came in on Thursday night with binders and planners in tow, and told me it was their goal to visit every restaurant on the roster,” says Orr. “They detailed their lunch/dinner strategy and showed me how they had managed to devise a plan to visit every restaurant. Two weeks later, I ran into one of the guests who sadly informed me that they didn’t achieve their goal because they hadn’t realized that ‘Restaurant Week’ was only a week. I encouraged them to visit the restaurants regardless, but to them it wasn’t the same. Over the past year, I have gotten to know this group as they have made their way through our Tequila List, and have tried every dish on our menu. They told me last month that they are eagerly awaiting the 2016 roster so as to achieve their original goal.” 231 Esplanade, Capitola. 476-2263, margaritavillecapitola.com. (JS)
Michael’s on Main
Over the years, Michael’s owner and chef Michael Clark and his crew have learned how to navigate the hectic pace of SCRW. “We put on our seat belts and go!” he says. After his many years in the kitchen, as well as extensive travel, Clark knows well the importance of the umami factor, and designs all his menus using this concept. Clark’s play on the many cultures using umami is presented in his Restaurant Week first course of wild salmon gravlax, salt-cured, and served on a bed of arugula with champagne vinaigrette and dill crème fraîche. He says, “Customers don’t always realize why a dish tastes so fulfilling and satisfying; it’s an unconscious reaction.” He sums up the week by saying, “It not only brings a focus to our wonderful restaurants, but it takes place during our slower season. It’s a win-win for us all.”2591 Main St., Soquel. 479-0777, michaelsonmain.net. (JS)
Mozaic
Mozaic co-owner Jay Dib’s only complaint about Restaurant Week? It’s over too quickly. Mozaic would gladly serve a customer who shows up on the ninth day, after the stretch has officially ended, he says. Last year, the Mediterranean-themed restaurant had only been open a few weeks when it participated. “It gave us exposure. We were very happy with Restaurant Week,” he says of the experience, “and it was very consistent.” This time, chefs are bringing back the chicken souvlaki, which was a big hit in 2015. “The chicken was probably what put us on the map. The technique we use for the chicken keeps it juicy,” Dib says. “The seasoning is the key to the flavors.” 110 Church St., Santa Cruz. 454-8663, mozaicsantacruz.com.(JP)
Pearl of the Ocean
Owner Ayoma Wilen makes it a point to send people on their way feeling happy, nourished, and not like they just ate way too much (which is easy to do with a three-course meal.) Her almost 99 percent organic menu of Sri Lankan cuisine uses health-enhancing spices and shies away from heavy oils. But she also notices something else in her customers—how they interact.
“There’s one couple who has been coming here, a beautiful young couple. And even though they have been through a lot, they always switch off their phones, and they hold hands, and look into each other’s eyes, and they really just enjoy each other,” says Wilen. “Sometimes it takes so long just for them to order, but I can really feel their love, and it is beautiful.”
Wilen has invited this couple to kick off SCRW this year as her guests of honor, hoping that it will set the tone for what could be her most festive year yet: For the first time ever, Wilen plans to serve kottu roti. “You can’t find this food in Sri Lanka at a five-star hotel. This is the kind of food that you buy and go to see the sunset, because it’s only something you can find by the beach, and because it’s a show to put it together,” she says. 736 Water St., Santa Cruz. 475-2350, pearloftheocean.net. (MG)
The Point Chophouse
Mozaic
For chef Peter McAtee, last year’s SCRW was all about validation, and he says it was one of the most fulfilling experiences he’s had in the industry. “It was like cooking for my girlfriend but on a large scale,” says McAtee. “It was my first year as head chef and it was crazy busy, at least two to three times busier than normal,” he continues. “We sold food like it was going out of style, it made me want to continue being a head chef because it seemed like I was doing something right.” Given a creative green light to design the menu both last year and this year, McAtee’s cuisine is French-influenced and approachable, and he comes into this year feeling the confidence that comes along with finding one’s niche. 3326 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz. 476-2733, thepointchophouse.com.(AS)
Red Restaurant & Bar
When asked about favorite SCRW menus of the past, Red Room’s General Manager Taylor Fontana doesn’t take long to answer. “Actually, last year. [Head Chef] Galen Jordan and I created a ‘Taste of the World’ theme,” he says. “We covered every continent, labeled where each item was from and paired drinks with each continental dish.” But that doesn’t mean he isn’t looking toward the future. “This year we designed it to further highlight our regular menu, which was a lot of fun to do.” Chef Jordan says, “Every Restaurant Week I’ve taken part in has been wild. There are so many tickets and dishes! It’s a nice adrenaline rush for the week.” Building upon the Red’s home menu, Jordan hints that patrons can look forward to seabass street tacos and fried flank steak with a Mexican chimichurri sauce on top as two of the dishes. 200 Locust St., Santa Cruz. 425-1913, redrestaurantandbar.com. (MW)
Ristorante Italiano
Aileen Garcia has been with Ristorante Italiano on Soquel Avenue for six years now. The manager and part of the restaurant’s family owners, Garcia has fond memories of previous Restaurant Weeks. “I love seeing new faces,” she says with a smile. “We’ve been getting very prepared and making sure everyone is ready for when the rush comes. I’ve been watching people’s reactions to Restaurant Week online and I’m excited about all the positive reactions. ” This year, Ristorante Italiano chose not to stray from their already delicious menu. Instead they decided to add twists to customer favorites like mini cannolis, pumpkin gelato and deep-fried artichoke hearts. “Last year, the pumpkin cheesecake was a highlight for me,” remembers Garcia. “You can never go wrong with sweets and I love our desserts.” 555 Soquel Ave., #150, Santa Cruz. 458-2321, ristoranteitalianosc.com. (MW)
Rosie McCann’s
Rosie McCann’s is a fixture of the local pub scene, but for manager Michael Farewell, Santa Cruz Restaurant Week is a chance to expand its appeal beyond the bar crowd. “It brings in a lot of people,” Farewell says of SCRW. “I think it’s a great deal.” It’s also a chance to show off some aspects of the menu that don’t always get a lot of attention. For instance, how many people are going to a pub for dessert? Not nearly enough, says Farewell, considering what they offer—but he likes the fact that SCRW diners will discover it as part of the three-course menu. “Our desserts are fantastic,” says Farewell. 1220 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 426-9930, rosiemccanns.com. (SP)
Sanderlings at Seascape
Sanderlings’ Chef de Cuisine Mario Garcia says that over the years, they’ve learned what works and what doesn’t during Restaurant Week. And what works, he says, is keeping it simple. “We’ve decided not to create a menu with too many components, like the year we served salmon en papillote, and on the same menu offered banana splits. We got so far behind wrapping the salmon in parchment that the delay caused the ice cream to melt. Today’s trend is leading us back to simplicity. Keep it simple and delicious!” he says. “It’s not about what you sell, it’s the experience,” says manager Jeff Hanson. “It’s an opportunity to interface with more of your public and build your restaurant’s name.” 1 Seascape Resort Drive, Aptos, 662-7120, sanderlingsrestaurant.com. (JS)
Severino’s Bar & Grill
Ristorante Italiano
Seacliff Inn general manager Debbie Parsons looks forward to SCRW. Each year she takes participation to a new level by sending her managers out to experience the creative dishes at our local restaurants—and, yes, she pays. A few of the dishes that have been big hits for Seacliff Inn’s Severino’s are roasted beet and fresh watermelon salad frisée and French feta in fresh herb vinaigrette. Another favorite with customers is wild Alaskan salmon stuffed with garlic prawn vegetable mousse on a bed of asparagus, with fingerling potatoes and sweet red bell pepper coulis, enhanced with a touch of lobster base. The dessert of choice, pumpkin crème brulée, appears again this year. Restaurant Week diners especially enjoy the generous portions served, which Severino’s is known for. 7500 Old Dominion Court, Aptos. 661-4672, severinosbarandgrill.com. (JS)
Soif
This year, like every year, Mark Denham, Soif’s head chef, will show up to the Wednesday farmers market to fill in the missing ingredients of his three-course SCRW menu. He plans to pick up eggs from either Fogline Farm or Mellody Ranch. He’ll see if Schletewitz Family Farms is selling its scrumptious sweet potatoes, and he’ll nab lettuce from either Happy Boy, Route 1 or Blue Heron farms. “It’s always a little bit of crap shoot, especially when we have to plan things out so far in advance,” he admits, but Soif’s farm-to-table approach always pays off. Once they get moving, the eight days make for an exciting, if trying, time for the entire team. “It’s a combination of high expectations and high volume. It creates a certain anxiety. It’s like the homecoming game and the homecoming dance all rolled into one,” Denham says. “It’s one of those things that everyone’s excited about, and then when it’s gone, everyone’s relieved.” 105 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz. 423-2020, soifwine.com. (JP)
Solaire at Hotel Paradox
Interim executive chef Pete Martinez is happy to be participating in SCRW again, after the restaurant opted out last year due to a transition in branding. “Restaurant Week is a very busy time for us. It’s good for business and gets locals back into the mix,” says Martinez, who has been with Solaire since the day they opened four years ago. He says that during previous SCRWs they were very busy and received good feedback, turning a lot of first-time customers into repeat business. A collaborative effort between him and his team, Martinez is excited about the menu this year, which will feature New American cuisine. He looks forward to going outside the norm and presenting common ingredients done in fresh, modern, and uncommon ways. “It’s a very ambitious menu,” says Martinez. “I’m trying to put my vision onto a plate.” 611 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. 600-4545, hotelparadox.com. (AS)
Splash!
Splash!
A few years ago, Caleb Hascom, then the head chef at 515, put a special deboned chicken on his Restaurant Week menu. It had to be stuffed with prosciutto, Gouda and spices before searing. All told, it took three hours to prep a batch, so he made a few dozen before the first night to last several days. They sold out right away. “It was so popular that I was making that for the rest of the week,” says Hascom, who’s now at the newly opened Splash on the Santa Cruz Wharf. “It wasn’t a bad thing. It’s nice to have people getting in the door and trying your restaurant. It’s always a fun time. It’s always busy. It’s always good to show people your restaurant and the philosophy of the food.” The philosophy for Splash: simple, fresh flavors sourced from local ingredients—with a twist. 49 Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz. 466-9766, splashonthewharf.com. (JP)
Stonehouse Bar & Grill
Chef Mark Laverty arrived on the scene at Stonehouse Bar & Grill just two months ago, but his more than 10 years of experience working as a chef in the Silicon Valley left him with a great appreciation for the culturally diverse flavors found there. He’s also experienced quite a few Restaurant Weeks, and sees them as a litmus test for customers’ palates. “For me, it’s always great to find out what people like. Sometimes you get to talk to them and find out, other times you look at your sales and find out what sold. If your fish sells well, or your short ribs, or pasta, then that’s what you’re doing,” says Laverty. He’s noticed, especially over the past two years, that customers seem to be shifting away from pasta dishes, and leaning more toward proteins, a nice sauce, vegetables, and minimal starch. “One thing that has gone really well is a pan-roasted halibut with roasted pepper couli and succotash, and it was stunning,” says Laverty.
This year’s SCRW menu is a great time to come out and welcome Laverty, who says he’ll be shying away from salads for a few more-exciting appetizers, one entrée that calls back to the comfort food of the South, and a dessert involving in-season pears and apples. 6001 La Madrona Drive, Santa Cruz. 440-1000. (MG)
Süda
“What’s nice on the restaurant side is that we’re able to do coursing,” states general manager Ayesha Bonnit, recalling one of her favorite aspects of past Restaurant Weeks. “It was very nice bringing in customers to have a three-course meal and seeing them share with friends.” Bonnit stresses what a great and relaxing dining experience a prix-fixe menu can provide, allowing the guests to enjoy each other’s company in a leisurely manner, and what great conversation can be born from this kind of atmosphere. She says when it comes to the menu, “We’re really excited about all the dishes, introducing items that people want but wouldn’t ordinarily order.” She excitedly offers a teaser about a sure-to-please seasonal dessert option that has never before been served at Süda. “In general, we’re focusing more on seasonal items that keep the menu interesting,” Bonnit adds, also mentioning that they have a specialty cocktail menu with more seasonal surprises that are meant to be paired with the RW menu. 3910 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz. 600-7068, eatsuda.com. (AS)
Tyrolean Inn
Süda
SCRW can be a stressful time at the Tyrolean Inn. But the plus side is that it introduces new people to this wonderful place. “Restaurant Week does create some business. Once it’s happening, it’s exciting. People come in, they ask questions about the place. This restaurant is a little bit of a destination location, so people like to ask questions. It’s always nice to see new people,” says floor manager Hanz LaFrance. They like to stick to basics when it comes to the Restaurant Week menu. “The chef chose things that are on the menu. He hasn’t ventured off it because we’ve been serving this menu for so long,” says LaFrance. “People like that menu … That’s why they come here, for the favorite foods. So that’s what we try and give them.” Hwy. 9, Ben Lomond. 336-5188, tyroleaninn.com. (AC)
Water Street Grill
Opening a new restaurant in a spot that was previously a different restaurant—maybe even a few different restaurants—can be tough. That’s a problem owner Jonathan Degeneres ran into when he opened Water Street Grill, which had been YOLO, last year. While Degeneres was actually committed to honoring what YOLO had done, he also had a lot of new elements he wanted Santa Cruz diners to discover. Much to his surprise, his special menu for Santa Cruz Restaurant Week turned out to be just what he needed to make them take notice. “This location has been tough. Last year’s [SCRW] really helped us a lot,” says Degeneres. “It got people excited.” He had tried to keep the menu fairly simple last year, but he’s making Water Street Grill’s SCRW follow-up bigger and better, including a whole lot of fresh organic greens—an appetizer of sautéed radishes with green beans, for instance. He’ll also have some items that are exclusive to SCRW, like the spinach ravioli entrée. 503 Water St., Santa Cruz. 332-6122, thewaterstreetgrill.com. (SP)
Your Place
Tyrolean Inn
Last year was the first time Your Place participated in SCRW, and they were overwhelmed by the huge response. This year, they expect to be fully prepared for the excitement of Restaurant Week at their popular farm-to-table spot known for friendly service. Co-owner/chef Art Russell’s menu will include lots of local produce. One entrée highlight is the redfish snapper. “It’s positive because it’s giving people a chance to come give us a try and talk to us and get to know us and our food,” says co-owner Rachel Wisotsky. “Really what we’re doing here is creating community. In our mind, it’s sort of like a present to the community to be able to offer such a good deal of such fine food. It’s our way of saying, ‘We love ya!’” 1719 Mission St., Santa Cruz. 426-3564, yourplacesc.com. (AC)
Zelda’s on the Beach
Zelda’s on the Beach is best known for its lobster and prime rib nights, breakfast, and idyllic location just off the sand of Capitola’s Main Beach. But it’s their dessert sales that see an uptick in the weeks following SCRW, says manager Pam Edmonds.
“Almost every one of our desserts are made in house,” says Edmonds. Not only are they made in-house (available at the coffee bar), but they’re made by a budding baker at Zelda’s who is concurrently enrolled in the culinary program at Cabrillo College. Highlights include a carrot cake and a cheesecake, which will likely be the star of this year’s RW menu at Zelda’s. 203 Esplanade, Capitola. 475-4900, zeldasonthebeach.com. (MG)
Info: During Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, participating restaurants will offer a fixed-price, three-course menu for $25 or $35, not including beverages, tax or gratuity. This year’s SCRW runs from Oct. 12-19. Menus can be found at santacruzrestaurantweek.com.
Filling garbage bags with trash, volunteers hover over the sand with extendable grabbers and scrub graffiti off of the sandstone cliffs at Panther Beach. Joined by two state parks employees, they amass piles of leftover garbage—glass bottles, plastic food wrappers, styrofoam cups, and cigarette butts. The rising tide rolls in slowly, an ominous reminder that trash left behind on the beach gets washed out to sea.
The volunteer cleanup on Oct. 1, California State Parks’ first at that spot, was the department’s latest effort to increase stewardship of Panther Beach, originally part of the historic Coast Dairies property. The 7,000 acres of stunning, once privately owned coastal land surrounded the town of Davenport. The Institute for Public Trust, which bought the property in 1998, donated most of the large inland portion of Coast Dairies land to the Bureau of Land Management in 2014, and some government officials from Santa Cruz County all the way up to the Obama administration have been working on a possible plan to make the land a national monument—a move that concerns many neighbors. The institute donated the beaches to the California State Parks in 2006.
Even though parks maintenance crews clean Panther Beach along with other state-owned beaches in North County on a regular basis, the trash keeps piling up.
Parks employees recently installed six trash cans at Panther Beach to hopefully help beachgoers to properly dispose of their garbage, but the beach needs a large-scale regular cleanup badly, says Jeremy Lin, program coordinator at Rancho Del Oso-Big Basin Redwoods State Park, who helped organize the Oct. 1 cleanup at Panther Beach and has scheduled another for January.
“Though we do have law enforcement regularly patrolling Panther Beach now, it’s still totally trashed,” says Lin. “The steep topography of it discourages some people from hauling their trash out, because it’s a heavy slope, and the seclusion provided by the cliffs gives people the idea that they’re in a private spot, and so they don’t make the kinds of decisions they might make if they were more exposed.”
Save Our Shores, a nonprofit that has worked to preserve the marine environment in Santa Cruz for more than 30 years, runs frequent beach cleanups throughout the county. According to Ryan Kallabis, spokesperson for Save Our Shores, volunteers and team members have picked up 7,072 pounds of trash this year alone at North County beaches, mostly near Davenport Beach, preventing all that litter from entering the ocean. The parks department is helping to ramp up the fight to keep Panther Beach and other North County beaches clean and safe by inviting volunteers to its ongoing cleanups.
Coastal Retreat
As some politicians and outdoor enthusiasts push to have the remaining Coast Dairies property converted to a national monument, many Davenport residents worry that any increase in traffic to these sensitive habitats could pose a hazard to small ecosystems.
The state has a far-reaching California Coastal National Monument along its beaches. But Noel Bock, leader of the Davenport/North Coast Association, says it’s important to note that the Coast Dairies beaches would not be included in that national monument or the local one, because they are already owned by the state parks department. That means, she fears, that the droves of people who might come to visit the proposed Coast Dairies National Monument will spill over onto beaches, which won’t receive an increase in funding or protection.
“People are going to assume that the beaches are part of this national monument,” says Bock. “They’re going to assume that there will be increases in things like patrols, trash cleanups, safe access, and even toilets at these beaches. That’s not the case.”
Chris Spohrer, acting superintendent of the Santa Cruz District of California State Parks, says the trash is already a problem because the North Coast beaches get so many visitors. But Spohrer, who is spearheading an effort to introduce more cleanups to Panther Beach, doesn’t believe the proposed National Monument would bring in a new influx of tourists and pollution.
The number of visitors streaming into some of the more hidden Santa Cruz County beaches has skyrocketed in the last few years, and he says the beachgoers have been hearing about the coastal hangouts through social media. It’s been difficult, Spohrer adds, for officials to respond quickly enough with new staffing levels and facilities.
“It’s such a special place that’s getting so much abuse from people that aren’t appreciating it like they should,” says Spohrer, who has also launched efforts imploring beachgoers to take stewardship and look after the places they visit. “It’s time that we stretch ourselves and reach out to the community to see how we can steward the beach more actively.”
Spohrer, unlike previous superintendents, comes from an ecology background and has a unique perspective. “He’s taking a broader look at the State Parks to assess what needs to change,” Lin explains.
Ryan Diller, a forestry aid in the State Parks, says a lot of departments work together in order to make a Saturday clean-up happen, like labor and providing trucks for hauling out trash. Law enforcement helps by sand-blasting graffiti.
“Even though the State Parks acquired the Coast Dairies land 10 years ago, we haven’t necessarily had the funding to support an increase in management,” Diller says. “Chris has been really good at finding ways to fund things that in the past have never had funding. We want to the public to know that we are listening, and we are working for them.”
Ongoing cleanups through the State Parks will happen quarterly at Panther Beach and are open to the public. The next clean-up is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Jan. 7. Additionally, Save our Shores hosts a beach cleanup at Davenport Beach on the first Sunday of each month. Meet in the parking lot at 9 a.m. to join in the efforts. Save our Shores also hosts beach clean-ups at all North County beaches throughout the year. Check their calendar at saveourshores.org for details.
After each work week draws to a close, sounds from around the globe play on the airwaves across Santa Cruz County. Singer-guitarist and DJ Kipli hosts “Music in the Mail” on Free Radio Santa Cruz (101.3 FM), the pirate station now celebrating 21 years on the air.
“I present music you won’t hear on mainstream radio—the most unpredictable and amazing music from all over the world—with mini-documentary interviews,” says Kipli, who gets much of her show material from what listeners mail in to her.
Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC), which can also be heard on freakradio.org, has broadcast in defiance of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations since the spring of 1995.
“FRSC represents the ideal of ‘living together as a community’ where each of us contributes by offering information, resources and dialogue,” says Kipli.
The commercial-free “pirate” station has given a voice to independent local and international news and views, and was the first station in the Santa Cruz area to offer “Democracy Now,” which currently airs at 8 a.m. and again at noon every weekday. Free Radio also airs programs like “World Socialist News,” “EcoNews,” and “Resistance Radio,” in addition to plenty of music.
“We do not need more ‘professionals’ who broadcast the same kind of programs in the same kind of format,” Kipli says of FRSC’s approach. “We need the tales and views of the neighbor, the farmer, the homeless, the student about how local politics are affecting us. We need the avant-garde artist who exposes us to the experience of improvised electronic music. We need the interviews of our underground heroes.”
FRSC will celebrate its anniversary with a party and benefit concert at 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 at the Crepe Place. Coffee Zombie Collective will headline the event with opening music from local band Disiac and also DJ Kipli. (Full disclosure: I also host a weekly show on FRSC, discussing politics and spirituality every Wednesday night.)
In its two-plus decades, FRSC has broadcast without an FCC license from a variety of Santa Cruz locations, changing its secret headquarters every so often. In 2004, six FCC agents and a dozen federal marshals with semi-automatic weapons raided the station’s downtown studio, confiscating the antennae, transmitter and other equipment.
GT reported at the time that the station was on air broadcasting an interview with historian Howard Zinn when the morning raid happened, and that activists taunted the agents as they walked out with nearly $5,000 worth of equipment. Before the agents left, someone slashed the agents’ tires, and their vehicles had to be towed away. Many politicians, including Congressman Sam Farr, either questioned or condemned the raid, and the station quickly went back on the air.
Over the years, the Santa Cruz City Council has repeatedly supported the underground station, including in 2010, when then-mayor Mike Rotkin declared, “Free Radio Santa Cruz offers alternatives to corporate-controlled media, encourages critical thinking and is dedicated to nonviolence, ending oppression and expanding respect through open speech media.”
FRSC team member Merlin began hosting the “Idle Hands” rock ’n’ roll radio show in the ’90s, and later hosted the same program on Community TV for 16 years before recently returning to the pirate radio airwaves. He calls Free Radio “one of the things that make this place special.”
“Free Radio is a political tool where your voice matters,” says Merlin in his distinct deep, raspy tone that sounds made for radio. “You don’t have to be a rich person to be a DJ. Your voice is so much louder.”
Free Radio Santa Cruz, which used to be at 101.1 FM, is currently seeking a small, permanent broadcasting studio, as well as a site for the transmitter and antennae. The station is also looking for new DJs to join the collective of about 20 dedicated programmers. The station has been located in about half a dozen studios over the past 21 years. “No one ever got arrested for hosting the transmitter,” says Merlin. “It’s civil disobedience and it’s not hurting anyone.”
Funding for rent and broadcasting equipment come from DJ dues, listener donations and benefit events which have included concerts over the last two decades by the likes of Sin in Space, Utah Phillips, Henry Kaiser, Devil Makes Three, and, as of next week, Coffee Zombie Collective.
“Free Radio Santa Cruz is special because it’s a labor of love for everyone that’s doing it,” says Nate Lieby, who plays ukulele and drums in the vivacious cover band. “It’s got that real DIY nature and a cool, underground, homespun vibe.”
FRSC, Kipli says, aims to expand people’s horizons.
“We need quality news and alternative programming for our Latino brothers and sisters,” Kipli muses. “We need media sources that enrich our minds, not flatten our brain waves.”
John Malkin has hosted “The Great Leap Forward” (Wednesdays from 7-9 p.m.) on FRSC since 1997. Listen from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays. CDs of new original music can be mailed to FRSC P.O. Box 7811, Santa Cruz, CA, 95061. The Free Radio Santa Cruz Benefit Show will be at 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14 at the Crepe Place. Tickets are $10 with larger donations also accepted.
In front of a crowd of 150 people at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History on Thursday, University of Oxford professor Bridget Anderson recalled an encounter she had with an U.S. immigration officer just a few days earlier.
In the customs line en route to Santa Cruz, the officer, a Latino man, asked her why she was visiting the U.S.
She told the man about her Santa Cruz talk on citizenship, and the ideas she would present: that citizenship creates a divisive “us and them” mentality, in which even people with legal status can be marginalized.
“And he was like, ‘You’re so right.’ He said, ‘I was born here. I’ve lived here all my life, and there are people now who, even though I’m legally a citizen, they don’t consider me a citizen. Because when push comes to shove, it’s your name and the color of your skin,’” Anderson said. “And I was like, wow. this is an immigration officer saying this? That’s really something.”
Anderson’s talk, titled “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Citizenship and the Politics of Exclusion,” was the first in a year-long speaker series on non-citizenship hosted by UCSC’s Chicano Latino Research Center and the Institute for Humanities Research.
The series, which is free to the public, includes a documentary screening on the legacy of the slave trade in Sierra Leone, and a Q&A with the film’s producers at Del Mar Theatre at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27.
Between 2003 and 2010, Anderson said, an estimated 20,000 U.S. citizens were illegally detained or deported. Many of them were black, illiterate and mentally ill—and likely to sign a false confession, she says.
Communities are interdependent and everyone has contributions to make, she said—which may not necessarily mean working a 9-to-5 job and paying taxes. She hopes people can start thinking beyond national borders.
“Let’s think about Niger. Niger [is] the poorest country in the world, but Niger has plenty of resources. It’s Niger’s uranium that keeps the lights on in France,” she said. “The Niger people are not lazy people. Why are they so poor? They’re poor because of a history of colonialism and because of unjust international trade arrangements. That’s why they’re poor. Effectively, to put it at its most crude, their poverty and our wealth are intimately interrelated, and I think we have to keep that at the front of our minds when we’re thinking about migration. This is not simply about foreign policy. It’s also about economic policy.”
For more information on the series, visit clrc.ucsc.edu.
When Pete Seeger died in January of 2014, Dom Flemons, folk music enthusiast and founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was interested to see who would fill the void. When no one did, he stepped up.
“I know a lot of the history of the music, and I perform it, as well,” he says. “It would be ambitious for me to say I’m along the line of Pete … but I’m throwing my hat in the ring and seeing how that could develop and continue to grow.”
An ambassador for American roots music, Flemons doesn’t just play it, he lives it. From the way he dresses—checkered shirts, suspenders, wire rimmed glasses and a throwback hat are his go-to look—to his playing style, his passion for sharing stories and his focus on educating people about the importance of folk music, the 34-year-old is doing the work to which Seeger devoted his life.
“Pete became the guy who said, ‘Hey, everybody, let’s sing these old songs and make sure people remember them,’” says Flemons.
OK, dressing in old-timey clothes and playing roots music is kind of trendy these days, but Flemons wants people to look deeper into the meaning and significance of the music. His own stripped-down and raw sound spans folk traditions from a variety of cultures as he finger picks and strums age-old tunes on both guitar and banjo. He understands that people just want to have fun playing older styles, but he’d like them to know the history, as well.
“There’s a deeper story,” he says. “If you take a little bit of time, you can find it.”
Flemons is particularly interested in the music that tells the stories “between the cracks of the history books.” He focuses on the music that’s come out of the African-American experience, but points out that everyone can find musical roots. He recently launched American Songster Radio, a podcast to talk about music and “discuss the deeper issues.”
“I’m not just interested in hearing about who was the best person,” he says, “I’m interested in hearing about who was the second best and third best, so that I can understand a bigger context of why it was. There’s so much history that hasn’t been talked about.”
Flemons is no longer with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group that generated widespread awareness of black string band traditions. His solo career allows him to get the sound he wants and explore whatever direction his folk journey takes him on. He’s taken to describing what he does as “American Songster,” asserting that the word songster—which simply means someone who sings and plays songs in a variety of styles—is “so old that it’s new again.” For Flemons, it describes what he does without being too genre specific.
Flemons recently collaborated with English singer-songwriter Martin Simpson, who he calls a kindred spirit, to explore British and American folkways and how they intersect. His current project is an exploration of the history of black cowboys and their contributions to folk music for Smithsonian Folkways. He explains that black cowboys are behind several well-known cowboy songs, including “Home On the Range,” a tune that John Lomax recorded from a black cook working out on the range.
“The bigger story of why the black cowboys were how they were is really something that’s fascinating,” Flemons says. “At a time when we have so much social upheaval in the United States, these stories need to be told more than ever.”
Sharing the knowledge and stories found within folk traditions is something Flemons is passionate about. He considers his role to connect people with the music and inspire them to learn more.
“I’m just trying to be a conduit for all that sort of stuff,” he says. “Just like Pete or Jim Kweskin, or folks like that, they were the conduit for people like me to understand the music of Mississippi John Hurt or Dock Boggs. There has to be a living conduit whose enthusiasm creates enthusiasm in other people.”
Update 10/18/2016 : Headline corrected to reflect that Dom Flemons will play at Don Quixote’s.
Dom Flemons will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15/adv, $18/door. 335-2800.
While I was traveling this summer, it seemed like every other woman passenger was reading the Paula Hawkins best-selling thriller The Girl on the Train. I was not one of them, so I don’t know how faithfully the movie adaptation sticks to the book. But I can tell from the screen version all of the ingredients that made the story such a compelling read: an unreliable narrator/protagonist with a fragile grasp of the facts; a plot that revolves around three women, tangled together in unexpected ways, and the men in their lives; and one tough cookie of a policewoman trying to piece it all together.
The movie The Girl on the Train, was directed by Tate Taylor, whose last screen version of a novel was The Help. Hawkins’ book was adapted by scriptwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, who emphasizes the femme-o-centric aspects of the story by introducing its three pivotal female characters right up front—long before we know who they are, or how they are connected. Figuring out those connections (especially when a murder may—or may not—have been committed) keeps the viewer guessing and intrigued, right up to the end.
At the story’s center is the eponymous Rachel (Emily Blunt), who rides the commuter train through the suburbs into the city every day. She’s obsessed with an attractive young couple she sees in their house as she rides by twice a day. She imagines the beautiful blonde and her sexy husband have the perfect life. “She’s what I lost,” muses Rachel from her train car. “She’s everything I want to be.”
In her own real life, Rachel is a divorcée whose husband, Tom (Justin Theroux) left her because of her drinking problem. Depressed when she was unable to bear a child, Rachel started turning to the bottle, and she still has alcohol-fueled blackout periods when she can’t remember what she’s done—like incessantly texting Tom, to the point that his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) considers it harassment.
But one day, from the train, Rachel sees something not quite right in her fantasy couple’s perfect paradise. What she sees isn’t a crime, although soon enough, it appears that a crime may have taken place. Rachel herself begins to have disturbing visions she can’t quite recall of a chase through a tunnel in the park, after she wakes up scraped and bruised, with blood on her hands. After she’s questioned by Police Detective Riley (Allison Janney, at her acerbic, insinuating best), Rachel joins AA to try to regain her memory.
Although Rachel doesn’t actually know the couple she spies on from the train, the filmmakers quickly introduce us to footloose Megan (Haley Bennett) and short-fused Scott (Luke Evans). They have issues around his desire to have kids, and her reluctance, for which Megan visits a soft-spoken shrink, Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez). Rachel also sees Dr. Abdic, to help her recover her memories, and she feels compelled to meet Scott and provide evidence as the case builds—although her inability to separate fantasy from reality only confuses things.
The filmmakers are very smart about how much information they leak to the audience, and when. It’s often up to viewers to consider the relative truth and context of what we think we see onscreen—just as Rachel struggles to understand what has and has not happened. Blunt is terrific in the complicated role of Rachel, as flawed, vulnerable, and misguided as she often is. Bennett and Ferguson are equally strong, while the filmmakers astutely manipulate our feelings about each of the men from one frame to the next.
With slowly surfacing memories, possible hallucinations, and parallel stories to sort out, screenwriter Wilson has her hands full organizing the material. She does this with varying degrees of success: her impressionistic storytelling mostly adds up, despite resorting to seemingly random title cards (“Three weeks earlier.” “Five days ago.”) that keep interrupting the action, especially in the final act. Still, she and Taylor generate plenty of suspense in this efficient thriller.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
*** (out of four)
With Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Luke Evans, and Allison Janney. Written by Erin Cressida Wilson. From the Novel by Paula Hawkins. Directed by Tate Taylor. A DreamWorks release. Rated R. 112 minutes.
When you’re trying to establish an annual festival in Santa Cruz, you have to take a hard look from year to year at what works and what doesn’t. Like how local comic and promoter DNA, who put together this week’s third annual Santa Cruz Comedy Festival, spent a lot of time mulling over the strengths and weaknesses of last year’s festival, thinking: what could be funnier? What venues worked best? What can I do to avoid being murdered by surfers?
In other words, there will not be a repeat of last year’s event in which he had comedians set up for two hours in front of Steamer Lane, providing snarky commentary on the action.
“We’re not going to heckle the surfers again,” DNA says. “We almost got our asses beat.”
Still, he says it with a bit of glee. This is why he and a network of more than 100 volunteers are presenting 75 comics at 10 venues over four nights, Oct. 13-16. He wants to try things that haven’t yet been done, and push everyone—especially himself—a bit out of their safety zones.
And there will definitely still be snarky commentary at this year’s festival, but it’ll be aimed at what’s probably a better target on Saturday night, when four comics will be at the Del Mar riffing Mystery Science Theater 3000-style on the midnight movie, which will be Roger Corman’s 1959 beatnik B-horror flick A Bucket of Blood.
For those not familiar with the “live riffing” phenomenon, it came about after the MST3000 crew had finished 10 seasons of mocking bad movies from start to finish on the show. In the mid-2000s, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett with RiffTrax Live!, and Joel Hodgson with Cinematic Titanic evolved their original format into providing real-time commentary over movies at live events. The SCCF’s version will feature four Bay Area comics, including Kaseem Bentley and trans comedian Natasha Muse.
“Everyone does that with their friends, but when you see four professionals doing it, it’s mind-blowing,” says DNA. “That’s when I love comedy—when it gets to the edgy, wild side.”
There are comedians from all levels of fame at the festival, which opens with a “New Faces” showcase at Blue Lagoon on Thursday that reflects how the SCCF draws on and promotes the local underground comedy scene.
“I’m really excited about the new crop of comedians,” he says. “Sometimes we have droughts, but there’s a huge new crew.” A show at 8 p.m. on Thursday at the Kuumbwa features comedy singer-songwriter Mishka Shubaly (“The Only One Drinking Tonight,” “Your Plus One at My Funeral”) and Portlandia’s Kristine Levine.
On Saturday at 8 p.m., Pure Pleasure is once again hosting an “All Ladies Line Up” (which sold out last year), this time featuring Marcella Arguello, who’s made a name for herself on Comedy Central’s @midnight, Natasha Muse, Virginia Jones and Nicole Calasich. Also on Saturday, at the Kuumbwa, is the festival’s “All Stars” headliner show (also a sell-out every year), that features comedians who have all been on television, been voted best comic in their city, or have met some other high-profile criteria.
Saturday night also features free shows at Streetlight Records, Metavinyl, the Poet and the Patriot, 99 Bottles and Rosie McCann’s. “I think comedy should be non-elitist,” says DNA. “That’s why at least half of the shows in the festival are free.”
The SCCF’s big finale on Sunday is a TV taping at the Rio for a comedy special from Santa Cruz native Ian Harris. This will be Harris’ second special, but his first filmed in Santa Cruz—the other was filmed in Los Angeles, where he has lived now for more than a decade—and he’s hoping to bring out a massive show of hometown support for it.
Like DNA and the SCCF, Harris is also fine-tuning his approach. Known for smart, sharp comedy that challenges popular beliefs ranging from religion to left-wing conspiracy theories, Harris found that his last special, Critical and Thinking, was considered a bit too “edgy” for some.
“What I call ‘edgy’ are thoughts and ideas,” says Harris. “I had one dick joke in 71 minutes—and that joke was about alternative medicine. I don’t do much of that, period.”
But after finding that “a lot of people were afraid to touch it,” he acknowledges that going so hard after sacred cows limited the appeal of Critical and Thinking, even though he considers it his best work in two decades of comedy.
“It can get a little bit dicey,” he says. “I think that hurt me a little bit more. This one is more mainstream, but it’s still skepticism-based.”
In considering how to balance those two approaches, he realized that as a result of focusing his comedy mission over two decades, he had abandoned some elements that he actually enjoyed, and had won acclaim for, like his impressions. So he’s closing the show with a barrage of impressions—everyone from Robert De Niro to Gary Busey to Terrence Howard to more than a dozen more. And he even found a way to make it fit into his brand of comedy rather than just seeming tacked on to the set: he wraps it in a premise that satirizes climate-change denial.
For Harris, it’s a big deal that he’s able to do this in Santa Cruz—it’s not only the first special by a native comedian taped here, but as far as anyone can remember, the first special to be taped here that will actually air. Harris is donating all the proceeds from the show to charity.
“I’m really stoked that I’m able to do it in Santa Cruz,” he says. “I love that I’m from here. I love this place. I want to represent Santa Cruz well.”
The Santa Cruz Comedy Festival runs Thursday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 16. More info is at standupsantacruz.com.
Every now and then, even in a top restaurant, a single dish stands out. Seriously stands out. The restaurant is La Posta, the dish was a plate of gnocchi. Chef Katherine Stern keeps an eye on the seasons, noting the exact moment that this or that latest harvest is particularly ripe. Tomatoes are having their moment just about now, which is why a handful of those tiny sweet orange cherry tomatoes adorned the plate of gnocchi Angie and I shared last week.
Let me back up a bit and set the table. I opted for a quartino of the excellent house Montepulciano, and Angie went rogue with a glass of opulent Sicilian “pink” wine the color of liquid rubies. From I Custodi “Alnuis” came this Etna Rosato 2015 that tasted like salted plums ($8). Addictive. Next, our two opening dishes.
Late summer honeydew melon layered with lavish maroon leaves of bitter Treviso radicchio looked like a Frank Gehry miniature. A tangle of shaved fennel topped this salad, with added sex appeal coming from flecks of Calabrian chili and shreds of fresh mint ($10). The bitter leaves playing off the ripe sweet melon, all kicked up a bit by the chilis and mint—late summer inspiration in every bite.
Another starter of house-cured king salmon arrived on a slick of fermented chilis and cilantro ($12). All by itself, it was a sensuous combination of flavors—with the surprising visual of both underlying sauce and the salmon itself being the exact same shade of vermillion. My favorite part was the topping of fresh purslane, one of my favorite herbs, with its cushiony, crunchy mouthfeel. Green against orange.
For my entree I chose the evening’s special pasta—a dish of plump gnocchi that had been sauced with shreds of slow-cooked pork and those little orange tomatoes ($20). The pork and pomodori formed a sauce synergy that bathed each pasta. The star of the entire dinner, these gnocchi were full-bodied and comforting. The sauce was rich enough to act like a main course, yet subtle enough to flatter without overwhelming the pasta.
Another entree of plump fresh Petrale sole arrived in a delicate broth, with spinach, branches of roasted fennel and zest of lemon ($28). It was deeply satisfying and redolent of late summer. Throughout this terrific meal I realized that this is what the advertising cliché “market-driven menu” really means. I need to build a wormhole between the West Side and Seabright so I can dine here more often. La Posta, open Tuesday-Sunday from 5 p.m. 538 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz. 457-2782.
Open Hearth at Food Lounge
For 10 years Beth Freewomon’s innovative approach to cooking—The Open Hearth— has won her a following among inquiring diners looking for improved health along with flawless ingredients and intriguing flavors. A firm believer in the power of food as medicine, entrepreneur Freewomon has developed a long list of clients who subscribe to The Open Hearth’s customized packages of nutritionally-inflected meals. “My clients are busy professionals or families who want organic food that supports a heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory lifestyle,” says Freewomon, who created such outside-the-box items as Tempeh Reuben Entrée Salad, and Smoky Mac and Cheez with a Café Gratitude-inspired nut and seed Parmesan garnish. From 5-9 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, newcomers to Freewomon’s tasty philosophy can celebrate her 10-year milestone with a free “healthy food sampling,” a no-host bar with freshly prepared mixers from The Open Hearth, and acoustic music. At the Food Lounge, 1001 Center St., Ste. 1, in downtown Santa Cruz. Delicious fun that might change the way you take charge of your health. Find out more at iamtheopenhearth.com.
An unfortunate result of visiting Thailand is that “Thai food” in America usually doesn’t measure up to the ultra-fresh, vibrant cuisine eaten half a world away. My refuge in Santa Cruz is Real Thai Kitchen and the colorful meals created by owner Ratana Bowden. Bowden, who owned a restaurant in her native Bangkok, took over the decades-old Real Thai Kitchen four years ago this month, updating the dark, kitschy faux-Asian decor to a bright dining room decorated with modern art from a Thai artist in San Francisco and bringing her favorite recipes from her homeland. “I want my guests to have a good experience for not a lot of money,” says Bowden.
As I sip a floral Thai iced tea, Bowden explains that the captivating flavors in her native cuisine are achieved by balancing what she calls “the variety of taste”—sweet, sour, salty and spicy. In different proportions, these seemingly disparate flavors enhance each other and the fresh ingredients incorporated to create a harmonious finish.
She believes many Americans are hesitant to try Thai food because they’re afraid they can’t take the heat, but more than 80 percent of her menu isn’t spicy. Many of her most popular offerings, like pineapple fried rice, green curry and pad Thai, aren’t hot at all. That said, if you want to eat like a local and spice it up, all you have to do is ask.
One of my favorite Real Thai recipes is Trout in the Jungle, a panko-crusted filet deep-fried and topped with an aromatic mix of Thai and purple basil, cilantro, mint, green apple, scallion and raw cashews, then tossed with her spicy lime dressing—a simple Thai sauce with beautiful depth. I also adore the green papaya salad, a traditional snack found on almost every street corner in Thailand. Ripe papaya is very sweet, but when it’s still green, Thai people treat it like a vegetable. Shredded and tossed with green beans, peanuts and spicy lime dressing, it’s a refreshing low-cal snack. Intensely aromatic and textured, it’s dishes like these that take me back to the heady humidity and foreign sights, sounds and smells of faraway lands.
