Santa Cruz, Surf City

I wasn't exactly sure the stuff here was worth a trip report. The food wasn't spectacular and there aren't any great photos. Santa Cruz is not some kind of culinary destination, more like a California campus town with the usual cheap eats that students go for. Geographically its wedged between the Bay Area and the divine destinations of Carmel and Big Sur to the south, not far from Artichoke county to the East. Surf Rock legend Dick Dale was playing live, so were some old West Coast rappers or LA punk rock bands. The Beach Boardwalk brings in a lot of families from the Bay Area, and almost everything is much more affordable than it is further down the coast.



First things first, there are a lot of taquerias. Its like one on each block, and its hard to find any that looked special. Las Palmas Taco Bar had the catchiest signage near the boardwalk, and it has been open for a long time. The prices are rock bottom even by taqueria standards, right across the street from the pier and boardwalk where everything has a premium added.

The menu was huge but I went with a combination of tacos made crispy on a grill with a little oil. The shredded beef and shredded chicken were tasty, but the ground beef was a tasteless mushy filling. The cheese here was a kind of dry mexican cheese I hadn't found on a taco before.







Local California chain Fosters Freeze has nearly a hundred location with many in old roadside buildings. Wikipedia says they have some kind of co-branding to share locations with El Pollo Loco.

The restaurant has avoided any kind of modernization through the years, and the food menu looks really uninspiring beyond the Nathans Hot Dogs. I went with a berry parfait, with soft serve that couldn't be messed up:







The old campus area coffee shop of the nineties with its big ugly coaches and oversize frappes doesn't always cut it for todays student. Modern decor and a more detailed selection of coffees and brewing techniques get kids through the door these days. Verve Coffee Roasters was kind enough to treat me to a Latte as art:

Modern Decor:







The most famous part of Santa Cruz is the beach boardwalk area, and its been advertized to family visitors from the Bay Area for weekend and summer trips for as long as I can remember. The food served here is more like a Midwestern State Fair, but its open all summer long and only slightly rolled back in the winter. The diverse choices include deep fried cheesecake, dessert chimichangas, garlic fries, and other unhealthy options.

"Best Corn Dog in the County" according to the sign:

The Surfside Grill stand also has local faves like Artichokes and Zucchini.


This was a real fresh dipped and fried corn dog, nice warm soft batter with a truly cheap hot dog inside.






Las Palmas Taco Bar
55 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA
http://www.laspalmastacobar.com/


Foster's Freeze
229 Laurel St, Santa Cruz, CA
http://www.fostersfreeze.com/


Verve Coffee Roasters
1540 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA
http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/

Surf City Grill
400 Beach St, Santa Cruz, CA
http://www.surfcitygrill.com/

Coming up..... more college town food, beach area sweet stuff, some ethnic choices and Surfing Santa.

Thanks for starting the thread. I too have struggled to find some decent food here. After several visits, I can think of only two places that are worth recommending. Taqueria La Cabana is a pretty decent taqueria; I especially recall the fish tacos, but the meat stuff was above average, too. And I'll be hitting up the Penny Ice Creamery every time I come back. Excellent ice cream in creative flavors. As far as I'm concerned, that's the one must-visit place in town.



Taqueria La Cabana
2332 Mission St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Penny Ice Creamery
913 Cedar St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
http://thepennyicecreamery.com

Your best bet for food in Santa Cruz is out on the pier. I have eaten at a good number of the restaurants serving seafood and while none are "once in a lifetime experiences", you can generally get competently prepared seafood.

The specialty of the area are sand dabs, a smaller locally caught fish. They are usually pan fried with butter and are quite excellent. Also, most serve a great bowl of chowder and some good vegetable dishes.

If you are heading down to Aptos, Capitola, and Monterrey, let me know and I will pull out some of my trip notes. There are great food opportunities in the area.

Part 2 of 2, Capitola, Brazilian, back to SFO.




Capitola, home of Surfin Santa, is the next beach town down the road with its own boardwalk/pavilion area and pier filled with bars and restaurants. Things are packed tightly in this area, and parking is tougher to find.



Every beachside shopping area has some sweet shops, and there was a big taffy place and a couple bakeries and ice-cream joints here. These fancy rice crispies treats caught my eye, although I'm not sure what made one of them "Venetian", it just seemed like something real simple to put in a window display.







Walking along the pavillion I saw one place with a long line in front and it looked better than the sit down places in the area. Pizza My Heart has three locations in the Santa Cruz area, but the Capitola is the only one without seating, just a tiny counter in front if you want to eat in.


I know some people here are fans of price theory and wacky restaurant promotions. The $6.00 T-Shirt and slice combo, but with an extra $7.00 for a "premium" design shirt has to bring in more revenue.

The "Big Sur" Slice had mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage, and big brown hunks or garlic:


Pesto slice had generous amount of pesto sauce oozing over the edges:

The line was moving slowly and everybody wanted a t-shirt, and space was tight. The kids working there were having fun and joking around with the tourists. Everyone here was having a good time and this was good beach food.





Back to Santa Cruz:




There has been a small Brazilian community in Santa Cruz, likely attracted to the Surf City beach town reputation. A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school is on one of the main roads, UCSC has a Portuguese department with a couple classes, and a major street and big college are named for a Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.



According to the newspaper articles on their website, Cafe Brazil has survived a fire and been open since 1990. They have a separate counter for to-go orders and açai smoothies, and this place gets busy. The menu is mostly breakfast omelets and grilled sandwiches, and it closes at three in the afternoon.

The Feijoada was served quickly and came in under ten dollars. Getting the "completa" plate meant spending another dollar for a side of spinach and a different presentation.








The other Brazilian place is Samba Rock Açai Cafe, serving up bowls of açai and fruit and smoothies blended with acai to a mostly student crowd. The Brazilian "Suco" juice bars will usually have a shelves of fruits stretching from one end of the cafe to another, but Samba Rock had carved wood with a graphic of how to pronounce the word açai.

The Carmen Miranda Bowl had a bunch of chopped fruit with granola and crispy cereal with the açai at the bottom, waiting to be stirred:








Final stop was at a strip mall just outside SFO, tucked behind an In-N-Out burger and beside a Panera was a franchise of L & L Hawaiian BBQ, a restaurant chain that started with one drive-in in Honolulu in 1976. Now there are nearly 200 franchises spread as far away as Alaska, Japan, and New Zealand. This location was packed with busy people who wanted their plate lunches to go.

This was the #1 BBQ Combo with Kalua Pork, coconut shrimp, and a Swai filet (substituted for Mahi Mahi shortage). Nice portion of macaroni salad and two big scoops of white rice to round out the dish. The pork was soft and steamy, I've had much worse from fast food places. This was not fancy but the giant tray of filling carbs hit the spot before the long flight home.




Pizza My Heart
209 Esplanade
Capitola, CA
http://www.pizzamyheart.com/Pizza_My_Heart_Home.html

Cafe Brazil
1410 Mission St
Santa Cruz, CA
http://www.cafebrasil.us/

Samba Rock Acai Cafe
291 Water St,
Santa Cruz, CA

L & L Hawaiian Barbecue
340 Adrian Rd
Millbrae, CA
http://www.hawaiianbarbecue.com/

I may be heading back sometime soon, and I did notice Penny Creamery while walking around downtown. Next time I hope to get a good Breaded Calamari Steak Sandwich, and any other recommendations are appreciated.

Tyrgyzistan wrote:Part 2 of 2, Capitola, Brazilian, back to SFO.



These fancy rice crispies treats caught my eye, although I'm not sure what made one of them "Venetian",

Reminiscent of multicolored Venetian glass, as seen in paperweights etc.?

Not in Santa Cruz proper, but just a banzai pipeline ride away in Soquel we found Cafe Cruz - a top-notch SoCal joint featuring ultra fresh local seafood, beef, chicken and veggies,a solid list of draft and bottled beers and an appealing, offbeat wine list loaded with California options in all varietals:

Cafe Cruz
2621 41st Ave, Soquel, CA
(831) 476-3801

Parking is nearly nonexistent so drive across the street into the strip mall parking lot and walk over. Two of us had a blackened ling cod salad, one delared the beer battered fish and chips "in my top 5 all time" and the grilled ono sandwich was met with raves reviews. I am a hophead so I was pleased to find not one but two pale ales on the draft menu for $5 a pour. Service is attentive but not intrusive - even a little fun.

It was a bodacious lunch.

Davooda

Santa Cruz has several decent Indian restaurants. Unfortunately, it has been years since I have been there. I do remember one rather upscale Indian restaurant that put a sort of California twist on the cuisine. It was quite good, if not totally authentic. I guess, however, it doesn't make much sense to travel from Chicago to Santa Cruz to eat Indian food.