Fun fact: Santa Cruz is a perfectly enjoyable place most any time of year, but when summer hits, something clicks.
That’s front of mind and top of tastebuds as hours widen at prime seasonal spots, which inspires this flow-of-consciousness hopscotch among them.
Starting point: the very end of Santa Cruz Wharf, the longest wooden pier in the country. With the ribbon-cutting for the rebuilt end of the 2,745-foot stretch—complete with a sea lion viewing window—that happened at the end of last month. (We are so back.)
Which invites a combo: Some of the best ocean views, for miles, upstairs at historic Stagnaro’s Bros. Seafood (stagnarobrothers.com) + some of the best (and most generous) calamari in town + a cup of signature chowder to go.
Last trip I took the chowder down the wharf to enjoy alongside a Socks & Sandals IPA at Humble Sea Brewing Co.’s nearby beer garden. There BYOF is encouraged, but now that Shockwave Food Truck (expanding from Thursday-Saturday to Tuesday-Wednesday starting June 1) is a regular presence, packing anything in makes less sense.
Shockwave’s Miso Cuban—piling miso-marinated pork, melted Swiss, smoked ham, mustard-barbecue sauce, sweet pickled onions and bread-and-butter pickles on grilled sourdough—is such a shocker it’s hard to imagine visiting and not ordering it.
That’s Shockwave, the food truck, not to be confused with Shockwave the ride on Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where deep summer vibes reverberate with its Free Live Music series.
Thursdays, June 18–Aug. 6, the Colonnade Stage welcomes groups like Fire Peach, Papiba & Friends, and Anthony Arya. (Plus there’s a bunch of free movie screenings on the sand, magic and juggling shows, DJ sets and more, beachboardwalk.com.)
This weekend Redwood Mountain Faire (redwoodmountainfaire.com)—three stages, local food, beer, cider and wine, Jesse Daniel headlining—chugs into Roaring Camp in Felton (May 30–31), but summer is all about additional live music series ongoing all over town.
Wednesday evenings unlock the Twilight Concert Series at the Esplanade bandstand with ocean views in storybook Capitola Village June 3-Aug. 19 (cityofcapitola.gov).
Thursday Night Music in the Courtyard transforms the creekside patio at Bargetto Winery into a wine-country concert venue with no cover charge (bargetto.com). Also Thursday: The Crow’s Nest Summer Beach Party with still more live acts and plenty of grilled goodies, running through Sept. 3 (crowsnest-santacruz.com).
The Midtown Friday Summer Block Party goes off every Friday evening May 29–Aug. 28 at Midtown Square (1111 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, eventsantacruz.com), with more than 30 bands all told plus local food vendors, artists, makers and salsa dancing nights. And Food Truck Friday returns to Skypark in Scotts Valley (foodtrucksagogo.com) with a laid-back monthly mix of food trucks, desserts, live music, a beer-and-wine garden, and family-centric touches from June through October.
And…it’s all free.
BITE BYTES
The latest installment of the “Edible on the Air” show with cohost Christine Barrington and me hits KSQD listeners 5pm Friday, May 29, with its first remote recording and a special appearance/taste test from The View at Chaminade Executive Chef Avram Samuels, ksqd.org…Silver Spur #1 is moving locations, taking over Jeffrey’s Restaurant (2050 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz), with the same formula of from-scratch daily pancake specials, country-fried steak and eggs, egg bread French toast, and three-egg omelets, only with more space and seating to slang it in, silverspurrestaurants.com…World Central Kitchen continues to serve hundreds of thousands of meals daily in Gaza but is being forced to scale back operations because soaring food and fuel costs have made its current level of aid unsustainable, all while bracing for a record fire season back here in the U.S., wck.org…Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”
