Woody’s at Watsonville Airport (100 Aviation Way) has opened in the former Ella’s, with casual drinks and chef’s-choice snacks, with a lot more coming on board gradually.
We’re talking big-bodied beet and Cobb and Niçoise salads, well-sourced sand dab and steak signatures, and a burger to bury any connoisseur’s appetite.
“Say what you want, but you gotta have a good burger,” namesake chef-owner Tim Wood says.
One thing that might get lost about the formula that helped his team win USA Today readers’ vote as #1 airport restaurant in the country (for its Monterey Regional spot) is that it plays proven hits but also leans location-specific.
The Watsonville space’s charms (including a tarmac-adjacent patio and wood-fired pizza oven) will affect that, but the community—both eaters and local staff members—will be the main influence, which has proved potent at Woody’s other three locations.
As Woody’s kitchen consigliere and longtime local chef Chris Caul puts it: “We’re gonna turn into part of the community.”
LIFE GOALS
Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains has a fun promotion emerging to sync with the FIFA World Cup 2026. For a modest $25, The Sip & Explore: Santa Cruz Wines Adventure Pass works as a digital tasting passport June 6-July 15, granting the holder one free tasting at each of 30 participating wineries. That’s an insane bargain. “Being the only [wine] region adjacent to a host stadium [Levi’s in Santa Clara], we are excited to provide fans an opportunity to get out and experience all that the Santa Cruz Mountains has to offer!” announces Winegrowers Association Executive Director Keikilani McKay via email, winesofthesantacruzmountains.com/fifa.
KINCH ME
Chef David Kinch and star baker Avery Ruzicka have published plans to add a second Mentone restaurant (in addition to the spot at 174 Aptos Village Way in Aptos) plus a neighboring Manresa Bread outpost, in a forthcoming market hall for the new North 40 mixed-use development (Lark Avenue and Los Gatos Boulevard, Los Gatos). The sister spots will settle into a new hub called The Junction, along with a few other TBD restaurants and a cocktail lounge. When I saw Kinch at the OG Mentone last month—before a sequence of memorable breads, robust salads, handmade pastas, blistered pizzas and house gelato—he noted the Manresa Bread in the former West End Pub/West End Izakaya (334 Ingalls St., Suite D, Santa Cruz) is coming along nicely and could debut its bistro-bakery-bar concept as soon as late this month, manresabread.com.
INFO SNACK
Santa Cruz VegFest hits June 6 at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds (2601 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville), with 100+ exhibitors and a bumper crop of animal-free food, drink, products and more, vegfestsantacruz.org…Also this Saturday: Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship honors National Trails Day with a combo of volunteer action at 18 sites (9am-1pm) followed an “epic” celebration (2-5pm)—catered lunch, raffle prizes, a huge makers market—at Woodhouse Blending & Brewing (119 Madrone St., Santa Cruz), act.santacruztrails.org/national-trails-day…Across the bay, the sixth annual Carmel Culinary Week uncorks its “Art on the Plate” June 5-13, carmelcalifornia.com/carmel-by-the-sea-culinary-week…Author Anne Lamott: “The key is not to try harder, it’s to resist less.”
