Tag Archives: East Side Eatery
Get tickets soon for A Taste of Santa Cruz on Oct. 18
Treats from Aldo’s Italian Bakery at the 2017 “A Taste of Santa Cruz” – Photo credit: ATOSC
The 14th annual “A Taste of Santa Cruz,” at the MAH from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, features about 20 participating restaurants and food vendors plus several wineries and one brewery. This year, organizers switched the celebration from November to October and moved the time earlier, to take advantage of warmer weather. The event benefits first-time home buyers. Tickets are $50 in advance or $55 at the door if it’s not sold out.
The cost includes a commemorative glass plus tastings from all vendors. Participants will have the opportunity to sample lots of food and drinks including a new raw oyster bar on the third floor (the refreshments are spread across all three floors, and there’s a wine bar at the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden where attendees can purchase extra glasses of wine). Buy tickets online, and visit atosc.com or call 831-464-2000 for more information.
Food vendors include Splash!, Five Star Catering, Aldo’s, Rosie McCann’s, Gordo Gustavo’s, Casa Nostra, East Side Eatery, The Jerk House, Hula’s Island Grill, Percy’s Pies, burger, Woodstock Pizza, H&H Fresh Fish Co., Shucked Raw Oyster Bar, Vinocruz, The Turkey Boat, Buttercup Cakes, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Marini’s Candies, and Back Nine Bar & Grill.
At the 2017 event, Splash! offered a tasty bite with house-smoked trout and tomato confit; Hula’s served up a delicious Hawaiian Ceviche (fresh whitefish cooked in citrus with coconut milk, chili, cilantro, and garlic), and Buttercup handed out their always-fantastic cupcakes.
Wineries include Alfaro Family Vineyard, Kissed by an Angel, Stockwell Cellars, Bargetto, Roudon Smith, 37th Parallel, DeVincenzi Cellars, McHenry Vineyard, and Loma Prieta. East Cliff Brewing Co. will be providing beer.
This year’s event is at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History for the second consecutive year, and Habit for Humanity Monterey Bay is a presenting partner for the second year in a row. There will be live and silent auctions. Live auction items include an eight-day unique Hawaii vacation that includes three different places to stay, a Jeep rental, restaurants, beach adventures and a massage. Silent auction items include wine tasting, and excellent tickets to the first 2019 pre-season game for the San Francisco 49ers.
All proceeds from the event benefit the grant assistance program of the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors Housing Foundation, which provides closing costs for first time, low-income home-buyers in Santa Cruz County. In 2017, the event sold out—for the first time ever!—and raised nearly $25,000. The Taste of Santa Cruz has raised almost $400,000 since its inception in 2004.
Location: MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz
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Feast for foodies & beer/wine lovers for cancer research
The 2017 Gourmet Grazing festival is October 7.
The 14th annual Gourmet Grazing on the Green—Saturday, Oct. 7 at Aptos Village Park—features more than 75 vendors including local restaurants, caterers, wineries, breweries, and spirits distilleries. Proceeds benefit the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group (SCCBG).
The event is from noon to 4 p.m. Buy $65 tickets at New Leaf Community Markets (downtown, Westside or Capitola locations) or online or pay $70 at the door if it’s not sold out. Adult admission includes food, drinks and a souvenir wineglass. Kids 10 and under are free; kids ages 10-20 are $35.
Participating food, drink & other vendors include:
Alfaro Family Vineyards
Armitage Wines
Bargetto
Bonny Doon
Burrell School Vineyards
Café Rio
Cantine Winepub
Comanche Cellars
Corralitos Brewing
Dustbowl Brewery
East Side Eatery
Efi’s Dutch-Indo Kitchen
Ella’s at the Airport
Fresh Prep Kitchen
Hollins House
Hula’s Island Grill
Integrity Wines
Kathryn Kennedy
Kings Mountain Vineyards
Krazy Farm Cider
Loma Prieta
Malone’s Grille
MJA Winery
Muccigrosso Vineyards
Muns Vineyards
New Bohemia Brewing Co
New Leaf Community Markets
Odonata Wines
Pelican Ranch
Real Good Fish
Roudon-Smith
Santa Cruz Fish Co
Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing
Seabright Brewery
Scheid Family Wines
Shadowbrook Restaurant
Solaire Restaurant & Bar
Something to Taste
Soquel Cider
Storrs
Surf City Sandwich
The Crow’s Nest Restaurant
The Turkey Boat
Venus Spirits
Via Vega
Villa del Monte Winery
Whole Enchilada
Wrights Station Vineyards
Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine
Ashby Confections
Cinnamon Bay
Cowgirl Creamery
Fran Battendieri Jewelry
Friend In Cheeses
Goose Organics
Hive And Hum
K Deznyz Jewelry
La Vie Wellness
Notso Hot Sauce
Pacific Coffee Roasting
Pure Valley Water
Redwood Hill Farm
Sandbar Solar
Santa Cruz Fish Co
Skyros Ceramics
Smart Chicken
Sunridge Farms
Tomales Bay Foods
Proceeds from SCCBG’s events benefit these local cancer support and research organizations: Hospice of Santa Cruz County, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Association, Katz Cancer Resource Center, researchers from UC Santa Cruz, the Teen Kitchen Project, and WomenCARE Cancer Advocacy.
For over 20 years, the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group has been dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with cancer in the Santa Cruz community, by raising money to support beneficiary organizations and fund new research that will provide possible cures and better solutions for treating cancer. They have raised more than $22 million since 1995.
For more information on the event, see sccbg.org. Parking is limited at Aptos Village Park. There is free shuttle service every 15 minutes from Cabrillo College, where people can park for free.
Aptos Village Park: 100 Aptos Creek Road, Aptos
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Homeless Garden Project food events in Santa Cruz
Tomato, Thai basil & mozzarella bites will be available at HGP’s Pop Up Store Sept. 1. Photo credit- HGP Facebook page
Homeless Garden Project has two Santa Cruz events coming up that sound positively delicious.
Friday, Sept. 1, 5:30-8 p.m.: Tomato & Friends HoeDown
Homeless Garden Project invites the community to its Pop Up Store for a “taste of the Farm.” Attendees can taste—fresh from the vine—goodies like tomatoes, tomatillos and padron peppers. There will also be special treats created by HGP’s Enterprise Manager, Angie Smith, including tomato, Thai basil & mozzarella bites and blistered padrons with avocado crema. Plus, enjoy live music by Anthony Reyes. In addition to being HGP’s Farm Manager, Reyes is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who plays traditional roots/ Americana inspired music while incorporating elements of classical, jazz, and blues. Read more on HGP’s Facebook page.
Location: 30 W Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz
Saturday, Sept. 16, 3:30-7 p.m.: Homeless Garden Project benefit dinner
HGP is holding an organic benefit dinner at its farm, the latest in its Sustain Farm Dinner series. Sustain is a seasonal gourmet dinner series featuring organic produce from the farm, wine pairings, and guest speakers discussing sustainable topics. This time the keynote speaker is Tom Steyer, founder & president of NextGen America. The admission fee, $150, benefits HGP. Read more and purchase tickets online.
A different chef will prepare each of the dinner’s four courses. Derek Rupp, Owner and Chef at East Side Eatery, will prepare flatbread pizza appetizers. Sara LaCasse, Chef Consultant for Earthbound Farms, is preparing Farm lettuces and herbs with pickled farm vegetables in ginger vinaigrette, while Passionfish owner/chef Ted Walter will create an entrée of chili-lime chicken served with grilled corn, Early Girl tomatoes and Cotija cheese. Aubergine pastry chef Yulanda Santos is providing dessert: zucchini cake with roasted strawberries and lavender-lemon cremeux.
In 2007, Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, founded Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based nonprofit bank that invests any profits back into the community. They are committed to sustainable farming practices through Pescadero’s TomKat Ranch, an 1800-acre cattle ranch that produces grass-fed and finished, pasture-raised beef. “Programs like the Homeless Garden Project are crucial to combating homelessness and ensuring all Californians have access to educational opportunities, job training and stable housing,” says Steyer. “In California, we have a responsibility to care for our most vulnerable communities, and that’s why we must continue to fight for progressive policy solutions.”
Location: HGP Farm, Shaffer Road at Delaware Avenue, Santa Cruz
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Pleasure Point Street Fair: family-friendly benefit with great food and drinks
Next Saturday is the fourth annual Pleasure Point Street Fair in Santa Cruz, with a variety of local food and drinks for sale. The event, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Portola Drive between 38th and 41st Avenues, has free admission.
The fair includes two stages with eight bands, a kids’ area, and nearly 100 vendors selling arts, crafts, and food.
Food and drinks include:
— Ate3One Food Truck: Philly Cheese Steak, Vegetarian Cheese Steak, Poke Nachos, New Bohemia Brewing Co’s Pulled Pork, Naughty Fries
— Pono Hawaiian Grill Food Truck: Poke Bowls with seaweed salad and rice, poke plate, 2 different fish, pork bowls: Kahlua pork, kimchi and rice, spam musubi, charsiu pork manapua, poke salad (3 different poke with seaweed salad, carrots and purple cabbage)
— Zameen’s Mediterranean Food Truck: gyro, red chili chicken wrap, pulled pork sandwich, roasted sweet potato wrap, strawberry and goat cheese salad, sweet potato fries.
— New Leaf Community Markets: Fresh Salads, Sandwiches and rice bowls
— Lucy’s Hot Dogs: Hot dogs and sausages
— Real Good Fish: Salmon/Avocado Poke, Smoked Salmon, Salmon Collars & Fins
— Santa Cruz Fish Company: Fish Tacos
— Conscious Creations: Acai Bowls, Coconut Water, Yerba Mate, Rice Bowls, Combo Plate, Wraps and Tacos
— Pleasure Point Business Association: Burgers and Veggie Burgers
— Expanded Beer and Wine Garden: New Bohemia Brewing Co’s lagers and New Leaf’s private label Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
— Misc: kettle popcorn, shave ice, organic cotton candy, vegan gelato, ice cream, donuts, dip n’ dots
The kids’ zone will includes crafts with Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery and Woodworm Party Store plus face painting.
Live music at the fair will include Americana, rock, blues, surf and reggae performers such as Coffee Zombie Collective and UTurn. Other highlights include a skateboard contest organized by the Santa Cruz Boardroom.
The nonprofit beneficiary of this year’s fair is the Jay Moriarty Foundation (last year’s was Surfrider; the year before that was the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group). The Moriarty Foundation will receive $2,500. In addition, “Jay Week” features a different activity each day to support the foundation.
Here are some food/drink highlights:
- Mon June 20—East Side Eatery is donating a portion of the evening’s sales
- Tues June 21—The Hideout is donating a portion of the day’s sales
- Wed June 22—Zameen Restaurant and New Bohemia Brewing Co. are both donating a portion of sales (the latter via Pints with a Purpose)
- Thurs June 23—Chill Out Cafe is donating a portion of the day’s sales
The Jay Moriarity Foundation was created “in the spirit of legendary waterman Jay Moriarity to support local programs that improve the quality of life for our community and environment, and educate and assist our youth.”
Details: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday, June 25
Location: Portola Drive between 38th & 41st Avenues
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Lots of food & drinks at Saturday’s family-friendly Pleasure Point Street Fair in Santa Cruz
The 2015 Pleasure Point Street Fair is Saturday, June 27
This Saturday is the third annual Pleasure Point Street Fair in Santa Cruz, with a variety of local food and drinks for sale. The event, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Portola Drive between 38th and 41st Avenues, has free admission.
The fair includes two stages with nine bands, a kids’ area, and more than 75 vendors selling arts, crafts, local services, and food. Food selections include products from New Leaf Community Markets, East Side Eatery, Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine, The Point Chophouse, Lucy’s Hot Dogs, Surf City Sandwiches, and India Gourmet. A beer and wine garden will offer traditional European-style craft lagers and pale ales from Capitola’s New Bohemia Brewing Co. and several wine selections from Bonny Doon Vineyard.
The kids’ area will have face painting, crafts, and a photo book. Kids between 3-8 can also play at June Bugs Gym on Portola for $10/hour.
Bands at the fair include reggae, rock, and funk musicians. The headliners are Coffee Zombie Collective at the New Leaf Stage and El Cuadro Verde at the NuBo Stage, both performing at 3:30 p.m. I saw Coffee Zombie Collective perform last month as they received a 2015 NEXTtie award and they were fun and fantastic. Here is the full music schedule.
Other highlights include a skateboard contest organized by the Santa Cruz Boardroom, and a dunk-a-surfer dunk tank. Proceeds from this activity and from other parts of the event will be donated to Surfrider Foundation. The 2014 Pleasure Point Street Fair donated $2,000 to the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group. The Pleasure Point Business Association presents the event. David Adams, Association president, is excited about this year’s fair, which, he promises, will be “bigger and better.”
For more information, call 419-8433 or visit pleasurepointstreetfair.com.
Details: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday, June 27
Location: Portola Drive between 38th & 41st Avenues
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Great 2013 Gourmet Grazing festival raised money for Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group
Asian Tuna Tartare on rice crisp & slaw with candied ginger peanut dressing from The Chef’s Table. Photo courtesy of SCCBG
The annual Gourmet Grazing on the Green features a wonderful atmosphere, amazing food, and lots of delicious wine and beer. The 10th annual Gourmet Grazing, a sell-out, was held Saturday Sept 21, 2013 and raised important funds for the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group. Everyone had a great time, even with the rainy weather! Read my preview article.
If you missed it this year, I recommend planning ahead for 2014. Buy your tickets early, either online or at New Leaf Markets. Because only a limited number of tickets are sold, the festival doesn’t get overly crowded. It’s enjoyable for families (I brought my young daughter) and individuals of all ages.
Here are some highlights from the 2013 festival to whet your appetite for 2014!
Food
- Café Rio: Rio Prawn Spring Roll with mung bean noodles, sprouts, carrots, green onion, basil, and mint
- Johnny’s Harborside: Gazpacho Seafood Cocktail with Calamari, Scallops and Shrimp and garnished with Baby Romaine and a Watermelon Radish
I must confess I had seconds of both of the above; they were that good!
- The Whole Enchilada / Haute Enchilada: Delicious and refreshing Peruvian Ceviche with shrimp, Peruvian corn, onion, clam juice, sweet potato, mango, cilantro, habanero chile, and fresh lime juice.
- East Side Eatery (Pleasure Pizza’s newest spot): Chicken Pozole which was hearty and satisfying, especially given the weather. It had a fun “add your own toppings” spin including green onions, queso fresco, and jalapenos. Apparently the version at the restaurant itself also includes avocados, so I’m sure it’s even better there!
- Fresh Prep Kitchens: Mushroom and Asparagus Quinoa Risotto
- The Chef’s Table: Asian Tuna Tartare on rice crisp & slaw with candied ginger peanut dressing (see photo)
- Severino’s: Lobster Ravioli in a cherry-white wine-cream sauce
- MacKenzie Bar & Grill at Pasatiempo: Pulled pork slider with coleslaw (very addicting!)
- Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine: Lamb & Beef Gyro Wrap with heirloom tomatoes, lettuce & tzatziki sauce, served with Beet Salad
- Solaire at Hotel Paradox: Sous vide shortrib over sweet polenta
Beer and Wine
- Kathryn Kennedy: the winery poured a few exclusive bottles of their 2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, for the lucky few that had a chance to taste before it was all gone!
- Santa Cruz Ale Works: Santa Cruz AleWorks IPA, Santa Cruz AleWorks Kolsch
- MYKA Cellars: 2012 Mitzi Unoak Chardonnay, 2012 Malbec Dry Rose, 2011 Kane Cabernet Sauvigonon
- Santa Cruz Mounting Brewing: Madame Grey – Milk Honey Stout infused with earl grey, Fresh Hop Black IPA, Wilder Wheat
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.
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