The chefs at our top-tier restaurants love fall, the harvest season. For Restaurant Week they are bringing out the freshest crops and featuring special weeklong recipes with the area’s finest homegrown offerings.

Don’t read our cover story on an empty stomach. It will make you really hungry. Or do, but have a phone or computer handy to make reservations.

The only frustration is that you can hit just so many great eateries in a week, but the hope is that once you’ve tried some special, well-priced meals, you’ll want to go back for more the rest of the year.

“I love cooking with squash in the fall—it’s such a versatile ingredient, says Avanti Restaurant owner Tatiana Glass, who has a surfeit of specials for the week. “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.”

This is our season to reclaim not only our beaches and Boardwalk, but our restaurants, which go out of their way to make locals feel special in the off-season.

As Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery owner Peter Drobak told me, while giving a lecture on his 650 types of rum (!!!) on the Wharf, the only way for restaurants to survive in a tourist town like Santa Cruz during the long winter is to take really good care of the locals all year round. (Makai’s Pumpkin Curry Noodle Bowl is pictured on the cover.)

And Restaurant Week is the kickoff, with plenty of great reasons to get out of the house and dine out.

Then there’s Gabriella Cafe downtown: “We’re not particularly a tourist restaurant in the summer, so in the fall we tend to get a little busier,” says owner Paul Cocking. “UCSC, our biggest employer, comes back. People seem to come out more, want to be inside eating at a cozy restaurant like mine.”

I’m drooling reading the specials these chefs are promising to deliver this week, and it will be a challenge to pick which ones to visit. They all look great. Let us know your favorites and your reviews of what you ate and what you would like to see the chefs carry forward to the rest of the year. Drop a line to ed****@*****ys.com.

I always tell my out-of-town friends to visit us in the late fall. Not only is the weather the best and the beaches relatively empty, but with Restaurant Week you won’t find better food anywhere in the world.

Thanks for eating.

Brad Kava | Editor

PHOTO CONTEST

STAND TALL “No Kings” march started with Lady Liberty, created by Artists Respond Resist Together and highlighted with bubbles from demonstrators. The spirit of Santa Cruz was palpable. Photograph by Ali Eppy.

GOOD IDEA

Cabrillo College celebrates the 50th year of its stroke center. Founded in 1975, and the only program of its kind to be integrated with a community college, the Cabrillo College Stroke and Disability Learning Center has been a vital resource for adults in Santa Cruz County recovering from life-altering events, including injuries and strokes, that result in functional changes. The center provides individualized instruction, adaptive technology and peer support that helps students regain skills, independence and confidence through education.

“For 50 years, the Stroke and Disability Learning Center has embodied the heart of Cabrillo’s mission—transforming lives through learning,” said Sally Weiss, director of the Stroke and Disability Learning Center. “We’ve supported thousands of students on their journeys toward healing, growth and renewed purpose.”

GOOD WORK

The Santa Cruz City Council approved the Anadromous Salmonid Habitat Conservation Plan, a comprehensive strategy to support the recovery of two special-status fish species, coho salmon and steelhead trout, while providing long-term regulatory assurances for Santa Cruz’s water supply and flood control operations.

Building on more than 25 years of research, the plan represents a major investment in habitat restoration and includes significant modifications to the city’s water rights. These changes are designed to improve stream flows for fish and facilitate the implementation of water supply augmentation projects to maintain a reliable water supply for the community.

For more information: cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-departments/water/habitat-conservation-plan.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘Great. I love Hitler’
—Peter Giunta, former chair of the New York State Young Republicans in an online chat.