Admission includes food, wine, beer, a souvenir wineglass, and live music.
Here are some of my favorites from last weekend’s festival (although it’s hard to pick — everything I ate was delicious!):
• The Whole Enchilada: Squash blossom and zucchini tamale with avocado green salsa
• Solaire Restaurant and Bar (at the new Hotel Paradox): Two great dishes – Paradox Panzanella salad with frisée, castelvetrano olives, ricotta salata and tomato plus Niku maki with thinly sliced beef, scallions, sweet soy and ginger sauce
• Johnny’s Harborside: Salmon salad served atop a mini-BLT
• Café Cruz: Southwestern gazpacho with shrimp
• Café Rio: Local king salmon cakes with cabbage & carrot slaw, chili lime cream sauce & wasabi sesame seeds
• Niman Ranch: Pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon
• Coastal Chef Personal Chef Service: Rainbow Carrot and beet green salad with pistachios, golden raisins, and ginger vinaigrette
Other participating restaurants included The Crow’s Nest, Beast BBQ, Café Ella, Hula’s Island Grill & Tiki Room, The Penny Ice Creamery, Shadowbrook Restaurant, and Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine.
Participating wineries and breweries included Alfaro Family Vineyards and Winery, Burrell School Vineyards, Hunter Hill Vineyard & Winery, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Seabright Brewery, Sones Cellars, and Vino Tabi.
SCCBG has funded cancer research and local groups — including many that support people living with cancer — since 1995. The organization was started by a small group of friends who used to play tennis together once a week; they had each lost a relative or friend to cancer and wanted to do something to make a difference. The first event the group hosted was a Spring Forward Against Cancer Tennis Tournament and Celebration; these tournaments are still held each year. Proceeds from SCCBG’s events, including this year’s Gourmet Grazing, benefit these local cancer support and research organizations: Hospice of Santa Cruz County, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support and Services, The Katz Cancer Resource Center, UCSC Cancer Research, and WomenCARE.