by Christina Waters | May 21, 2007 | Home |
You know the ones I mean. Locations in which well-meaning, hard-working entrepreneurs keep trying to set up a restaurant business, and which keep resisting any success. Locations whose ill-fated feng shui, or abyssmal karma, bodes against every effort to achieve something like success. There are many such culinary Bermuda Triangles in every town, and the Santa Cruz area is no exception. Here – with input from many readers – is a short list of retail revolving doors. Places that just plain don’t work, no matter how creative the make-over.
1) The very top cursed location is the corner of Ocean and Soquel. What is it about this place? Surely this could be a prime location for something? I mean every hungry, thirsty tourist aiming for the beach has to pass by here, right? Yet over and over – nothing works. Maybe it’s the tiny parking lot, or the fact that it’s just a little bit too far from downtown. This one got the most votes of all! Former Rock ‘n’ Tacos, Maui Maui, something pancake house, something vegetarian, somebody’s bakery & café.
According to Larry Pearson, Players’ Pizza was the last successful restaurant at that site, owned by Terry & Cathy Hutson who closed it down and moved to the Sierra foothills 10 years.. . . Where’s the al qaeda when we need them? Just blow up this building and put it out of its misery.
2) Then there the former Manoff’s, on Water Street that re-re-opened a few minutes ago as another taqueria, after the demise of Puerto Escondido Taqueria. Way too tiny and (it has to be said) ugly. After many years of serving great burgers, Manoff’s went the way of Castagnola’s and the Santa Cruz Hotel. Then it was the Turkey Shack, then Mike’s Soul Food (or was it the other way around?), then some other burger joint, then a taqueria, and now yet another taqueria.
3) Several readers felt that the Art Center dining rooms of former, incomparable India Joze have become another cursed location. (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 21, 2007 | Art |
Boris Tyomkin, Dylan Morgan and Dag Weiser are showing some fresh paint on canvas – an experimental mix full of attitude and gusto – at the Michaelangelo Gallery on River Road, at the edge of Santa Cruz, starting June 1. Not what you expect. Check it out.
by Christina Waters | May 20, 2007 | Food |
Cocoa d’Arriba is yet another designer chocolate bar, priced at just under $3 and situated near enough to the check out lanes to tempt even the St. Anthony’s among us. We succumbed. At 77% cocoa and inflected with orange liqueur, this elite treat is ultra smooth and creamy. But the high cocoa content proves the downfall – at least in terms of enjoyability. Mono-dimensional in taste and almost unrecognizable as chocolate, this product lacks the balance between cocoa and butterfat to satisfy our chocolate desire. So there you are.
However, a sensational bar of pure dark chocolate – 61% cacao – from the house of Guittard (founded in San Francisco in 1868) proved almost perfect. Almost. The balance was exceptional, and yet, somehow the overall chemistry was not complete.
THE BEST! That’s when we discovered the electrifying Scharffen berger Semi-Sweet chocolate,
with 62% cacao. This elegant, $3.50 slice of heaven, hit every note. Substantial with a hint of creaminess, it started beautifully, opened into tangerine notes, and finished with a touch of honey. Absolutely perfect balance, and the company gets highest marks for using – and proudly printing on the label – non-GMO soy lecithin. Check out the labels of everything you’re tempted to purchase. If it’s got “soy” in any form, chances are it’s already been genetically modified. Franken food is everywhere – be vigilant. And while you’re on the anti-Monsanto path, fuel up on this glorious chocolate from Scharffen Berger. Stupendous chocolate any way you bite it.
by Christina Waters | May 20, 2007 | Food, Home |
Grilled sea scallops on a bed of Israeli cous cous, with ultra fresh snap peas and fava beans, micro bits of Meyer lemon all tossed in olive oil and Meyer lemon juice, with nano-strips of fresh basil. It is literally the month of May on a plate. Thanks to Avanti chef Ben Sims, who has other such goodies up his seasonal sleeve.
by Christina Waters | May 15, 2007 | Food, Home |
How unfair that we compare gluttonous humans to pigs! Pigs are absolutely sensational creatures — playful, intelligent and curly-tailed. I love pigs and I love pork. So that means I was curious to see TLC Ranch, home to a hundred free-spirited, free-range pigs. TLC Ranch overlooks the pastoral paradise that lies somewhere between Aromas and Watsonville. On the generous easements of a 200 acre spread, rancher Jim Dunlop raises hundreds of chickens, lambs and pigs. Big fat gorgeous Berkshire and Blue Butt pigs. All of these animals live in ways that would make even animal liberationist Peter Singer happy. The word “free-range” doesn’t begin to describe the prime wandering, foraging, rooting and lazing around Dunlop’s animals enjoy on their idyllic acreage.
I’d been interested in the pastured products of TLC Ranch since discovering them at the farmers markets last year, so I jumped at the chance to join a dozen or so folks, plus plenty of kids, for a walking tour of the Ranch, which is tucked into acres devoted to horses, organic strawberries and raspberries. Under the oaks, nestling in the soft dark forest floor of ponderosa groves, the fabulous pigs slept, ran around and rolled in deep troughs filled with mud. Weighing in at up to 400 pounds, the animals forage their way through one section of the property, and then are moved to another where their ability to eat anything is put to good use. Dunlop describes them in colorful ranchers’ terms, as “bulldozers with manure spreaders on the back.” (more…)
