Santa Cruz restaurant news: Malabar serves lunch, Mission Hill Creamery temporarily closed

Posted on March 10, 2011 by admin

Broccoli Tofu, Pumpkin Curry & Brown Rice lunch at Malabar

Some news in the Santa Cruz restaurant world, from two businesses on Front Street: Malabar now serves extremely affordable lunch in addition to dinner, and Mission Hill Creamery is temporarily closed as it searches for a new retail location.

First, regarding Malabar: people who love good international vegetarian food, especially ones who work anywhere near downtown, will be happy to hear that the restaurant now offers lunch service from 1130am-230pm every day except Sunday. Selections include one entree for $6, two-entree combos for $6.50, and three-entree combos for $7; these include your choice of jasmine or brown rice. Entrees rotate; recent choices featured Chickpea & Mushroom, Broccoli Tofu, Pumpkin Curry, and Tempeh Lala. One highly recommended appetizer is Fresh Salad Rolls ($6) with rice-paper-wrapped avocado, tempeh lala, lettuce, carrots, and two sauces on the side: plum sauce and an exquisite almond sauce. I haven’t yet tried Malabar’s dinner, but I’ve heard it’s fantastic. The menu is extensive and intriguing with dishes like Malaysian Mango Salad, Jalapeno Pakoras, Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli in Chipotle Sauce, and Artichokes and Pineapple Sauce. Plus, dinnertime also features homemade ice cream with a rotating flavor each week such as Meyer Lemon with blood oranges, raisins, lavender and ginger syrup, and fresh almonds. Dinner is served from 5-9pm Sun-Thurs and 5-9:30pm Fri-Sat.

Location: 514B Front Street, Santa Cruz 95060, (831) 458-3023.

Mission Hill Creamery announced Monday that its retail location at 504 Front Street is closed, effective immediately. Dave Kumec opened this organic ice cream shop in July 2010 (read background in my article), and Mission Hill’s tasty treats featuring seasonal ingredients from local farms have been satisfying Santa Cruz residents ever since. New gluten-free business Pele’s Oven is now the owner of the Front Street building and is restricting the space to gluten-free retailers, so Mission Hill has to move. Kumec says, “We are beginning our wholesale production and will be selling in local supermarkets as well as some restaurants, cafes, and attractions. We will continue to sell at Santa Cruz Local Foods in the frozen foods section and are still working on a new retail location on Pacific Avenue.” Santa Cruz Local Foods is an online marketplace where you pre-order organic food and then pick up from a pre-set location (or choose bike delivery for an extra fee). Keep up to date with Mission Hill through its Facebook page.

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

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Santa Cruz restaurant Hoffman’s offers discounts on food and wine

Posted on March 7, 2011 by admin

The restaurant Hoffman’s Bistro & Patisserie in downtown Santa Cruz is currently offering lots of specials each week, including substantial discounts on both food and wine.

Daily lunch specials at Hoffman’s cost only $6.95 (one recent selection was a meatloaf sandwich with fries), while daily dinner specials are $12.95. On Tuesday evenings customers can enjoy 2-for-1 burgers; these hearty, moist, highly recommended sandwiches feature hormone-free beef.

If you’re a wine lover, visit Hoffman’s on Wednesday and Thursday when all bottles of wine are half price. Hoffman also has live jazz nightly.

The Details

Hoffman’s Bistro & Patisserie

1102 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz 95060

(831) 420-0135

Open Sun-Thurs 8am-9pm, Fri-Sat 8am-10pm

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Good Food Awards include Santa Cruz and Big Sur winners like Happy Girl Kitchen

Posted on February 23, 2011 by admin

Pickled treats from Happy Girl Kitchen

The first annual Good Food Awards, for tasty and sustainable products, were announced last month; several Northern California producers including ones from Santa Cruz received honors. Awards were given out in categories including pickles and preserves at an Alice Waters-hosted ceremony in San Francisco.

Preserve winners included Apricot Chili Jam from Big Sur-based Happy Girl Kitchen, which makes a huge variety of yummy organic jams and pickles. You can buy this jam online as part of the “Sweet California” package which also features strawberry jam and orange marmalade. In Santa Cruz, Happy Girl products are sold at Food Bin or through Santa Cruz Local Foods. Located elsewhere?  Find out which farmers markets and shops Happy Girl products are available at the “where to buy” section of Happy Girl’s site. Happy Girl also offers workshops throughout the Bay Area; these are endorsed by Sunset Magazine, as I mentioned in my article last March.

Santa Cruz-based Plumline also won in the preserve category for its Damson Plum Jam. Plumline is a line of jams, preserves, compotes, and sauces from Heidi Schlecht, former owner of Santa Cruz’s River Café and Cheese Shop and current partner in Feel Good Foods Catering. Discover how to purchase jams including a “jam share” option ($120) where you get one jam a month for 13 months with varieties like award-winning Damson Plum plus quince, tomato chili, and pear rosemary conserve.

Good Food Award pickle winners included Arame & Ginger Sauerkraut Salad from the Ceres Community Project in Sebastopol. Ceres helps teens learn about preparing and eating healthy foods while simultaneously providing organic meals to people battling cancer. Read more about the award-winning salad, including sauerkraut’s health benefits, here.

A collaboration of food producers, farmers, food journalists and independent grocers organized by Seedling Projects created the Good Food Awards, which celebrate “tasty, authentic and responsibly produced” products and honor “outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients.” From 780 entries, 130 finalists were named, and there were 71 total prizes in seven categories from several US regions. The categories were beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves.

Peruse the list of other winners including ones in beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, and coffee. Coffee winners included Kemgin, an Ethiopian varietal from Oakland’s Blue Bottle Coffee. Learn about Kemgin and order here

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

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el Salchichero butcher shop opens in Santa Cruz with local handmade charcuterie

Posted on February 18, 2011 by admin

The long-awaited el Salchichero butcher shop, operated by Chris LaVeque, opened Saturday in Santa Cruz at Swift Street Courtyard.

LaVeque’s mission is to provide “the best meat products using locally sourced, humanely raised animals.” Selections on opening weekend included pork, beef, rabbit, goat, lamb, and sausage (such as sweet Italian, breakfast links, and merguez), and prices on average were $10-20/pound. el Salchichero uses pasture-raised animals from N-A Ranch, Devil’s Gulch Ranch, Gleason Ranch, Claravale Farm, and Ratay Ranch. You can find out what’s fresh each week at the el Salchichero web site.

LaVeque has spent the last eight months working on his butcher shop, making sure everything met his high standards before he opened. Before that, you could find LaVeque selling his handcrafted charcuterie and traditionally butchered meats to loyal fans at several Santa Cruz area Farmers Markets, and participating in local events like the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Company’s Sausagefest. Now that the Westside Santa Cruz shop is open, el Salchichero is returning to the markets and will be selling products including sausages and bacon. Find el Salchichero at the Scotts Valley Market on Saturdays from 9am-1pm (beginning February 19) and at the Live Oak Market on Sundays from 9am-1pm (beginning February 20).

What can you expect from el Salchichero in the future? The company plans to provide both food and education regarding locally and sustainably raised animals, and will utilize recipes that rotate depending on seasonal availability (LaVeque only uses local farm ingredients). Current ingredients include fire-roasted and dried chilies and produce from organic Lindencroft Farm in Ben Lomond.

LaVeque’s background includes a degree from San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy, an apprenticeship with Severino’s Community Butcher, an internship at renowned Los Gatos restaurant Manresa, and positions at local restaurants Cellar Door and Gabriella Cafe.

The Details

(831) 423-MEAT (6328)

402 Ingalls, Suite 5 (Swift Street Courtyard in Westside Santa Cruz)

Open 10am-7pm Tuesday-Sunday

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

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Learn to cook with Iron Chef and Michelin Star winner David Kinch of Manresa

Posted on January 29, 2011 by admin

Summer fruit and vegetable salad by David Kinch of Manresa. Photo: Justin Lewis

You can now learn to cook from Manresa chef/owner David Kinch, a world-renowned chef who has won Michelin stars and a James Beard award, and has been crowned champion on an episode of Iron Chef, among many other accomplishments. For more on the simultaneously down-to-earth and astoundingly talented Kinch, read my interview with the Santa Cruz resident.  If you are a lover of fine food and you haven’t treated yourself to a meal at Manresa in Los Gatos, I highly recommend booking a reservation immediately.

Chef Kinch is joining his girlfriend, popular food blogger Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, to teach a series of workshops at Love Apple Farm. Last October, when the 2011 Michelin Restaurant Guide for the Bay Area was published, Manresa kept its impressive two stars. Read more. Kinch also won a Best Chefs in America Award from the James Beard Foundation on May 3, 2010; read details.

The workshops are entitled Day-off Dinners and take place on select Sunday afternoons from noon-3pm. They are bound to be entertaining, informative, and absolutely worthwhile. Love Apple Farm’s web site promises that attendees will learn to cook “deceptively simple, delicious dishes, using techniques from two culinary masters made practical in the home kitchen.”

Each class includes a tour of Love Apple Farm and costs $125. Register and get more information here.

Class Schedule & Menus (menus subject to change based on produce availability; more dates will be added in future)

February 13 – SOLD OUT

  • abalone rice clay pot
  • simple roast chicken
  • green salad with classic vinaigrette
  • apple tart with salted caramel sauce

March 6

  • orecchiette with broccoli
  • braised fish with winter vegetables
  • green salad with classic vinaigrette
  • almond cake with winter fruit compote

March 27

  • prune and root vegetable “stew”
  • spice-rubbed pork loin roast
  • arugula, orange, fennel salad
  • Chocolat Désir cake

April 17

  • a study of asparagus
  • classic Gigot d’Agneau: roast spring leg of lamb
  • new potatoes, peas
  • strawberry-almond cake

For those unfamiliar with Love Apple, this biodynamic farm run by Cynthia Sandberg has provided Manresa with wonderful produce for many years – and it is now the restaurant’s exclusive kitchen garden. Love Apple and Sandberg are legendary for more than 100 varieties of heirloom yummy tomato seedlings, which are available to the public for purchase. Recently, Love Apple moved to a new farm off of Highway 17, near Scotts Valley and Los Gatos – interesting note, it’s actually the site of the former Smother Brothers Winery. This new location includes an exquisite space perfect for workshops, so Sandberg has added many classes to her offerings including homemade cheese-making, bee-keeping, and farm-to-fork themes geared towards kids.

If you’re on Twitter, please follow me: @santacruzfoodie

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Santa Cruz ice cream news: Mission Hill Creamery offers delivery, coffee, homemade waffle cones

Posted on January 20, 2011 by admin

Organic ice cream at Mission Hill Creamery

Organic ice cream venue Mission Hill Creamery has started a delivery service, offering pints of ice cream to Santa Cruz residents who live within city limits AND to folks on campus at UC Santa Cruz. The cost is $5 plus price of the ice cream – how about Spiced Chai, Pumpkin, Vanilla Bean, or Ricotta with Caramelized Fig? (YUM!) Plus, the $5 is waived for orders of three or more pints. Santa Cruzans with a sweet tooth can get this service from noon-7pm daily.

Product news: Mission Hill now serves fresh coffee, as of Sunday, January 16. There is a brew bar with Barefoot Coffee from San Jose, and you can also order tea and chai. And Mission Hill now offers customers waffle cones that are made in-house; they are vanilla bean with whole wheat. Another new treat is Hot Fudge Sundaes; these feature Mission Hill’s own made-from-scratch sauce, organic whipped cream (made in-house) and on top is an Amarena cherry, which is an Italian specialty.

Mission Hill is open Sun-Thurs from 12-9pm, and Fri-Sat 12-10pm.

Read all about the ice creamery in this comprehensive article, which includes details on the local ingredients owner Dave Kumec uses. Stay up-to-date with daily rotating flavors through the ice creamery’s Facebook page.

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

The Details:

Mission Hill Creamery

504 Front Street, Santa Cruz 95060

(831) 515-8799

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Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival with MasterChef Jake Gandolfo benefits UCSC scholarships

Posted on January 18, 2011 by admin

Treats from the 2010 Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival

The 4th annual Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival on January 23, a very fun event that benefits student scholarships, features a special guest this year: MasterChef Jake Gandolfo. One element of the festival is the announcement of who wins the 2011 “Chocoholic of the Year” – there are five nominees; you can vote here.

The Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival brings more than 25 vendors to the Cocoanut Grove. Vendors range from local confectioners and bakers like Desperately Seeking Chocolate, Snake and Butterfly Chocolate, Original Sin Desserts, Chefany’s Cake Shoppe, and Marini’s Candies to businesses from other parts of the state and even other states (like Theo Chocolate from Washington).  Tickets are available at the door or in advance at Bookshop Santa Cruz, and two UCSC locations: the Baytree Bookstore and Norrie’s Gift Shop at the Arboretum. Prices are $5 for three tastings, $10 for eight tastings, or $20 for 20 tastings.

Each vendor will have treats – including gourmet truffles, cookies and cupcakes — available in exchange for a tasting ticket. In addition to the tastes you can get in exchange for your tickets, selected vendors will be selling chocolate products including some suitable for Valentine’s Day like gift assortments.

This all benefits a very worthy cause: re-entry student scholarships at UC Santa Cruz (for students returning to higher education after an extended absence, often students who are also parents or military veterans).

The 2011 chocolate festival will feature a demonstration of turning cacao beans into chocolate by Cabrillo College staff. Also, there will be live jazz by local band Hold Tight.

The chocolate festival is presented by the UCSC Women’s Club, a nonprofit organization open to women of both the campus and local communities. The club has meetings throughout the year (except for the summer) with engaging speakers, and also hosts interest groups including book clubs. In the last 30 years the club has raised more than $175,000 and awarded nearly 300 scholarships. In 2010, over 1,200 people attended the festival and $13,000 was raised for the re-entry scholarship program.

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

The Details

Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival

Cocoanut Grove, 400 Beach Street, Santa Cruz 95060

Sunday, January 23 from 1-4pm

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Mushroom cooking demos, kids activities, more at Santa Cruz Fungus Fair

Posted on January 6, 2011 by admin

An intrigued young attendee at Santa Cruz Fungus Fair

If you’re a mushroom fan, don’t miss the 37th Annual Santa Cruz Fungus Fair this weekend where you can watch cooking demos, get recipes, and hear experts at Louden Nelson Community Center in downtown Santa Cruz. Prices and fair hours can be found at the end of this article.

The event is so popular that this year it’s been expanded from two days to three days, beginning on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning. It features lots of great food from various vendors; last year selections included mushroom lasagna, cheesecake with candycap mushroom glaze, and India Joze Thai 3-mushroom soup (I had one delectable $4 bowl and could have eaten so much more!). Plus, the festival has many informative displays where you can learn more than you ever thought possible about mushrooms. A special habitat display area, beautifully arranged, will showcase hundreds of mushroom species commonly found in the Santa Cruz/San Francisco/Monterey Bay area.

The fair is hosted by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, a non-profit organization that aims to expand the understanding and appreciation of mycology (study of mushrooms) and to assist the general public, related institutions, and societies to further this goal. Its biggest event is the annual Fungus Fair.

MUSHROOM COOKING DEMO INFO:

Friday, January 7 6-7pm: Oswald Chef/Co-Owner Damani Thomas will do a demo and talk on opening night of this year’s festival. He is an incredible chef and this is bound to be an engaging, informative program. Read more about Oswald, including the popular downtown Santa Cruz restaurant’s three-course fixed-price Wednesday evening meals.

Saturday, January 8 3-4:30pm: Chef Todd Spanier, who runs a business gathering “wild foods” including mushrooms and huckleberries, and getting them into markets and restaurants – including getting his morels into Chez Panisse. Read more about Spanier at the Fungus Fair web site’s program/speaker section.

Sunday January 9 3-4:30pm: Jozseph Schultz (founder/chef of restaurant India Joze) is doing a demo and audience members will get to taste samples. Schultz’s travels include Bali and Turkey, and he is a talented cook and storyteller. Here are some of his recipes; he’s authored cookbooks such as “India Joze International Mushroom Cookbook.” In addition to running India Joze (read more on this fabulous restaurant), Schultz teaches many classes including ones at local New Leaf Market and UC Santa Cruz.

Other fungus fair highlights include mushroom identification (bring your own and have experts tell you details!), vendors selling mushroom-related books, jewelry, and ceramics, and lectures by individuals such as Fungus Fair founder / mycologist / author  David Arora — see complete schedule — plus a Kids Room with hands-on activities such as making clay mushrooms and dying fabric with mushroom dyes. Arora’s most recent publication was as a major contributor to a special ethnomycological issue of Economic Botany, a journal published by the New York Botanical Garden. His interests range from mushroom harvest and usage around the world to mushroom ecology, taxonomy, cuisine, foraging culture and storytelling. All of these subjects will likely be covered during presentations entitled “The Wheel of Fungi” (11am-12:30 Saturday, 1-2:30 Sunday). The Saturday and Sunday presentations have the same title but will not cover the same material. Arora says of them: “Without giving too much away, I will be giving something away.”

One of last year’s culinary demo guests was wild-mushroom chef/Oregon restaurateur Jack Czarnecki, and I really enjoyed his presentation. Read more about Czarnecki and his 2010 Fair appearance here — includes cooking tips. Get Czarnecki’s recipe for salmon cakes with mushrooms and truffle mayonnaise

See all you mushroom lovers this weekend!

On Twitter? Follow me @santacruzfoodie.

The Details:

4-7pm Friday January 7; 10am-5pm Saturday & Sunday January 8-9

Call (831) 684-2275 for more information or see fair site

Admission: Friday $5 for everyone

Saturday-Sunday – $7 Adults, $5 Seniors & Students, free for kids under 12

Louden Nelson Community Center, 301 Center Street (at corner of Laurel) – some street parking available at center; another option is further down Center Street near the police station

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Help the hungry: donate to people in need of food and get free bowling

Posted on December 11, 2010 by admin

Many of us, myself included, enjoy going out to eat and do it relatively often, but not everyone has this luxury. Lots of folks in Santa Cruz County don’t even have enough food to eat at home, and you can make a difference in their lives this holiday season (as well as any time of year that you’re feeling generous). If you’re a bowling fan, you can even be rewarded for your donation. Santa Cruz bowling alley Boardwalk Bowl is conducting a food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank. If you bring in a can of food anytime until December 31, you get one game of bowling for free. Limit of one free game per person, per day. All donations will be given to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County. For more information on this promotion, call Boardwalk Bowl at (831) 426-3324

Second Harvest Food Bank (831-722-7110, located in Watsonville) distributes 7.2 million pounds of food per year to local families, children, individuals and seniors in our community through over 180 agencies and programs. Hunger is an issue for nearly 1 in 4 children today across Santa Cruz County. You can donate to this worthy cause online — every $1 you give translates to $8 worth of food that Second Harvest distributes.

Boardwalk Bowl Location: 115 Cliff Street, Santa Cruz 95060

Please follow me on Twitter @santacruzfoodie.

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Santa Cruz and San Jose restaurants open for Thanksgiving 2010

Posted on November 22, 2010 by admin

Yankee Pier in San Jose is open on Thanksgiving Day 2010

Although certain stores and commercials would have us believe it’s Christmastime, it’s actually almost Thanksgiving — so here are a few Santa Cruz and San Jose restaurants that are open on Thanksgiving, for your dining consideration.

Santa Cruz Restaurants

Ideal Bar & Grill Its Thanksgiving feast starts at 11am. Choose from Traditional Turkey Feast ($14.95): maple and sage roasted turkey breast served with homemade gravy, roasted yams, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and orange-cranberry chutney or Herb Crusted Prime Rib ($21.95/14 oz., $24.95/18 oz.): slow roasted choice cut prime rib served with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Other selections include butternut squash soup and pumpkin pie.

106 Beach Street (at the Santa Cruz Wharf), (831) 423-5271.

Chaminade The Chaminade is serving Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 6pm. Reservations are required; call (831) 475-5600. The cost is $47.95 for adults, $16.95 for kids 6-12, and free for kids under 6. Selections include whole roast Tom turkey, stuffed roast lamb leg, prime rib au jus, pumpkin ravioli, and a large seafood display.

One Chaminade Lane, (831) 475-5600.

Bittersweet Bistro serves a Thanksgiving buffet from 12:30-6:30pm: $49.95 for adults, $19.95 for kids 6-12, and $5 for kids 5 and under. Make reservations now (831) 662-9799 and if you want an Early Turkey Discount, choose a 12:30 pm seating (Receive $10 Off per Adult). Buffet selections include Spanikopita, Beet, Lentil and Arugula Salad, Tossed Asian Salad, Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Baked Candied Yams, Teriyaki Salmon, Classic Glazed Corralitos Ham, Exotic Mushroom Carnaroli Risotto, Roasted Traditional Free Range Turkey with Pan Gravy, and a special kids’ table with Grilled Cheese, PB & J Sandwiches, and Chicken Fingers.

787 Rio Del Mar Blvd, Aptos, (831) 662-9799.

Aquarius is located in the Santa Cruz Dream Inn. The Aquarius Thanksgiving buffet will be available from 11am-9:30pm; please call (831) 460-5012 to make reservations. The cost: adults $49.95, children $19.95 – includes glass of champagne (for 21 and over), coffee, tea and soda. Buffet selections include Tomales Bay Oysters on the Half Shell, Wild Gulf Prawns with Bloody Mary cocktail sauce, Chilled Asparagus & Tarragon Aioli, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Sage Roasted Natural Turkey, Slow Roasted Prime Rib, King Salmon, Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Garlic Cream Sauce, Chestnut Stuffing, and Glazed Sweet Potatoes.

175 West Cliff Drive, (831) 460-5012.

Dharma’s is the place for a vegetarian Thanksgiving at your own house (restaurant is closed on Thursday so you need to pick up a day before). Dharma’s “Holiday Feast” entrée ($16.95) is breaded tofu stuffed with a wild rice medley, served with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, candied yams, a small side salad with honey-mustard dressing, and a side of cranberry-mango sauce. If you’re vegetarian you also might enjoy this recipe for Wild Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Shepherd’s Pies from renowned Greens restaurant Executive Chef Annie Somerville.

4250 Capitola Rd., (831) 462-1742.

Hoffman’s offers its regular menu plus holiday specials on Thanksgiving. Brunch will be 8am-2pm and dinner is 2:30-8pm. Reservations are strongly recommended. The restaurant and bakery also has Thanksgiving treats available to go, including pumpkin and pecan pies and pumpkin cheesecake.

1102 Pacific Ave., (831) 420-0135.

Also open on Thanksgiving: Gabriella Cafe (910 Cedar Street, 831-457-1677) and Sanderlings at Seascape Resort  (1 Seascape Resort Drive, Aptos, 831-662-7120). Call restaurants for reservations and more information.

San Jose Restaurants

Yankee Pier The Santana Row restaurant offers a Thanksgiving feast with a special “lobster for the price of turkey” promotion. Yankee Pier is serving a three-course prix fixe menu featuring a traditional Thanksgiving Turkey dinner or a Whole Maine Lobster dinner for $39.00 (kids ten and under: half portion, half price). You can make reservations for seatings between noon and 7:30pm; call (408) 244-1244. For a first course, choose either New England Clam Chowder with Dill Drop Biscuits or Yankee Salad with Hearts of Romaine, Fuji Apples, Sweet & Spicy Walnuts, and Shaft Blue Cheese. Dessert choices are pumpkin pie or a double chocolate brownie. In addition to entrée choices of lobster or turkey, an entrée of Alaskan Halibut is offered. The same menu is also available at its Lafayette and Larkspur locations. This special Thanksgiving feast is also offered at Yankee Pier’s Larkspur (415-924-7676) and Lafayette (925-283-4100) locations. Note: Yankee Pier supports the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.

San Jose location: 378 Santana Row, Suite 1100, (408) 244-1244.

Left Bank This Santana Row restaurant is serving a four-course fixed price menu for $39.75 from noon-8pm (holiday items are also available a la carte; regular menu not available on Thanksgiving). Vegetarian and non-vegetarian selections include butternut squash with crème fraiche, chives, and roasted pumpkin seeds, Norbest natural roasted turkey with mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, and brussel sprouts with lardoons, and smoked honey-mustard glaze natural rack of pork with leek and potato gratin and apple chutney.  A kids’ prix fixe menu ($9.99) will also be offered which includes a turkey dinner and ice cream sundae for dessert. The same menu is also available at the restaurant’s Menlo Park and Larkspur locations.

San Jose location: 377 Santana Row, Suite 1100, (408) 984-3500.

Other restaurants open in San Jose on Thanksgiving include Arcadia (100 W San Carlos St., 408-278-4555), The Grill on the Alley (172 South Market St., 408-294-2244), and McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood (170 South Market Street, 408-283-7200). Call restaurants for reservations and more information.

If you’re on Twitter, please follow me @santacruzfoodie.

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