Andrea Mollenauer’s signature rosemary polenta cake with onion jam and prosciutto
Imagine one venue that has limitless potential for Santa Cruz community members: you can drink gourmet hot chocolate anytime, eat savory dumplings there on one night, fried chicken another night, and be enticed by many other popup brunch or dinner options. You can throw a private party, host an event for your business, and more. Well, Andrea Mollenauer has brought that vision to life at the Food Lounge, simultaneously serving a community of customers while providing a unique space for local food and beverage entrepreneurs to showcase their creations. And on Friday, May 15, she’s receiving a 2015 NEXTies award for this creativity, innovation, and drive.
“The level of excitement and giddiness I feel for the work I do everyday is hands down what gets me up in the morning and what keeps me at work late most long days,” says Mollenauer. “I do it for the look I see on people’s faces when they experience a dinner or event. I do it for the collaborations I see between chefs in my kitchen. I do it for the breakthroughs I see my young students having in the kitchen and in their lives around food and careers” (Mollenauer teaches the ROP culinary arts program for local high school students). “To have that be noticed in the community and recognized with this award blows me away. It makes me want to do more!”
Mollenauer is also owner of Lifestyle Culinary Arts, which is catering the NEXTies this year. The menu will include her signature rosemary polenta cake with onion jam and prosciutto.
“I catered last year and was asked months ago to cater again,” says Mollenauer. In late April, she found out she was being awarded a NEXTie. Mollenauer was given the chance to back out of the catering obligation. “They asked if I still wanted to cater and I said YES! What better opportunity than to be able to feed the people who are attending, who are interested in the community and celebrating the winners,” Mollenauer says. “I get to thank them with my food and my service, a true embodiment of my passion as a caterer and community-focused food entrepreneur.”
More on the Food Lounge: Located at 1001 Center St. in downtown Santa Cruz, Mollenauer operates the business with partners Cat Hernandez and Sally Kane. When asked to talk about the Food Lounge, Mollenauer’s face lights up; her enthusiasm is palpable: “I see so many conversations and collaborations being forged and resources being shared by chefs utilizing the incubator kitchen. They are helping out at each other’s dinner services, coming to dine at each other’s popups, because they know that’s where the good food is!” Many guests are excited to have a new, vibrant place to come repeatedly for different food on different nights. In early May, one couple even came to six different events in one week.
There are currently nine Food Lounge tenants: Mortal Dumpling, Ty’s Eatery, Kickin’ Chicken, Fogline Farm, Ocean2table, Mutari Hot Chocolate, Lionfish SupperClub, Cardamom Tuesday, and La Marea.
The Food Lounge’s official description? It’s an “innovative community-minded event venue, commercial incubator kitchen, and full-service food hub aimed at fueling, educating, and inspiring Santa Cruz.” Visit scfoodlounge.com to sign up for the email list and/or stay up to date at facebook.com/scfoodlounge.
The full 2015 NEXTies winners list:
Andrea Mollenauer
Martijn Stiphout (Ventana Surfboards co-founder)
Monica Karst (Santa Cruz Socialites)
Paul De Worken (Monterey Bay Murals)
Coffee Zombie Collective (musicians)
Courtney Lashkewitsch, 18 and under category (started her own business at age 18)
Buy tickets for $40 online.
The evening will include the world premiere of James Durbin’s new music video “Santa Cruz.”
As proclaimed on the 2015 NEXTies site, the contributions made by Santa Cruz’s talented, entrepreneurial, and civically minded community are a reason that Santa Cruz is a world-renowned locale. The NEXTies “recognize those who create, build and inspire.” One of the other 2015 winners, Monica Karst, is the founder of Santa Cruz Socialites. This group, as stated on santacruzsocialites.com, is about “Celebrating and promoting women across Santa Cruz County. Nourishing friendships, empowering each other and having FUN along the way.” One goal is to “spark bonds between women who are unlikely to know each other and plant the seed of community.” The Socialites were actually the first group to hold an event at the Food Lounge, back in late January before the Lounge was officially open.
The NEXTies were first awarded in 2010. Four years later, Santa Cruz Next asked Matthew Swinnerton of Event Santa Cruz to take over the NEXTies. As Swinnerton recently told writer Molly Lautamo for an article on the history of the NEXTies, he immediately knew he wanted to bring “…local youth into the conversation. He didn’t want the event to just be a place for those already established in their professions. He wanted to welcome the younger generation — those wonderfully idealistic youth who are still actively searching for their calling in life—to be a part of the event as both attendees and honorees.”
Swinnerton started the wonderful, collaborative series Event Santa Cruz in 2013 to help tell the stories of local businesses and the hard-working people that make these businesses run. I really enjoyed the two Event Santa Cruz evenings I attended (one in 2013 and one in 2014) and I’m excited to see his fresh take on the NEXTies. This vision is already present on social media. Recently Event Santa Cruz and The NEXTies asked a few individuals “What inspires you?” and posted these on Event Santa Cruz’s Facebook page.
A few answers:
“The curious” (Monica Karst)
“Innovation” (Courtney Lashkewitsch)
“Trees” (Cliff Hodges: Adventure Out founder, past NEXTies winner)
“My community” (Tyler Fox, Santa Cruz Waves founder, past NEXTies winner)
“Risk takers” (Analicia Cube of Take Back Santa Cruz!)
“Waking up and seeing the top of grass and not bottom of grass”(Richard Novak of NHS, Inc.)
See you at the NEXTies!
Follow me on Twitter @santacruzfoodie.
Details:
Friday May 15, 2015– 7 p.m. refreshments, 8 p.m. program
Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz
eventsantacruz.com/2015nexties/