Everything tastes better outdoors
Life in Santa Cruz centers on the outdoors, whether it’s surfing, swimming, zip lining, hiking or, yes, eating.
It seems that anywhere there’s an outdoor area — scenic or not — a restaurant will add a table or two. It may not be manicured or well planned, but the draws are always the sun and hopefully cool breezes.
You’ll see bare-chested men and bikini-clad women dining under the umbrellas at Seabright Brewery, just across Murray Street from Betty Burgers. Neither patio affords the most scenic views — city streets — and the crowd would never make a casting call for a remake of “BayWatch,” but there’s still something about eating outdoors that makes even mediocre food taste good.
Walking down Pacific, the main street in Santa Cruz, you’ll find stop after stop of sidewalk culture — Cafe Delmarette, Pizza My Heart, the Alfresco and Cafe Campesino kiosks and the new Assembly. Maybe it doesn’t quite evoke images of Paris, but it feels as organic as Santa Cruz itself.
So here are some of my favorite places to dine outdoors. Most welcome dogs, and at the Crepe Place they even bring water and a biscuit for tail-wagging guests.
Laili
If I had to choose only one outdoor space, it would be this Afghan restaurant just off Pacific. It’s a green oasis, surrounded by vine-covered walls with a stone floor, tables set with white linens and space heaters for cooler evenings.
Diners can order the Mediterranean plate with hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh and cucumber yogurt, or a Moroccaninspired beet salad. Main courses include pomegranate eggplant with rice, chard, caramelized onions and yogurt; a half chicken with roasted potatoes and a pomegranate sauce; and beef tenderloin skewers marinated in a garlic lime sauce with rice and seasonal vegetables.
101 Cooper St., (831) 423-4545 or lailirestau rant.com. Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Main courses less than $25.
Assembly
Thosewho want to join cafe society and watch the action along Santa Cruz’s main shopping district should check out this restaurant, which opened last year. Not only does it offer views from the sidewalk, it has the best food in the area. It’s owned by Kendra Baker and Zachary Davis, who also run the Penny Ice Creamery and the Picnic Basket.
Garage doors roll up so diners outside feel a part of the 100-seat restaurant inside. The one-page menus include some great salads, such as peach and fresh mozzarella with roasted zucchini, watercress and a plumthyme vinaigrette; and chopped salad with Little Gems, seasonal vegetables, kraut, avocado, olives, eggs and quinoa in a red wine vinaigrette.
Mostly sandwiches are offered at lunch, and at dinner there’s always a hamburger and a homey dish such as braised short rib or roasted chicken leg and a fish preparation like halibut with spaetzle, corn, lobster mushrooms and spinach. Desserts are also a specialty, particularly the sundae featuring Penny ice cream.
1108 Pacific Ave., (831) 824-6100 or assemblefor food.com. Open continuously for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Friday and beginning at 9 a.m. SaturdaySunday. Most main courses less than $20. Pono Hawaiian Grill at the Reef Bar
Owner Braddah Timmy Hunt missed his Hawaiian home and brought a little bit of his former life to this 3-year-old restaurant, creating a menu that has spring rolls, house-made kimchi, ceviche and at least a half dozen types of poke that can be ordered as an appetizer, with rice or in a salad.
There are also some stomach-filling plates that include scoops of white or brown rice nestled next to such things as a very good chicken teriyaki and pork lau lau, a combination of meat and fish wrapped in a banana leaf and slowly cooked.
There are also sweet kalua pork sliders, chicken katsu, deep-fried chicken breast and various wraps, even one with Spam, which some consider the Hawaiian national meat.
The outdoor patio is spread over several levels; it’s a little shabby but a lot of fun.
120 Union St., (831) 426-7666 or ponohawaiian grill.com. Open continuously for lunch and dinner daily. Main courses less than $10.
The Buttery Corner Cafe
What looked like an empty lot from a razed building affords outdoor seating for this bakery and cafe. Diners sit at picnic tables or umbrellashaded tables on crushed gravel. Having ordered and paid inside, diners are given a number and find a seat and the food is brought to them.
Some assert that this is the best bakery in Santa Cruz, and I can’t argue when it comes to the chocolate ginger cookies. Loyalists also swear by the carrot cake. The cafe also makes good salads — including a Cobb with chunks of still-warm chicken — and a really good bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on ciabatta bread.
Other offerings include six vegetable-based sandwiches, the same number of salads and about a dozen other sandwiches, including curried chicken salad, grilled ham and cheese and turkey club.
There are also full breakfasts with eggs, steel-cut oatmeal, housemade granola and pastries, of course.
702 Soquel Ave., (831) 458-3020 or butterybakery. com. Open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. Most sandwiches less than $8.
Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant
The interior has the distinct feel of a seashore shack that’s been battered by salt air, but the patio overlooking the yacht harbor can be glorious.
The restaurant’s owners, the Olivieri family, have had businesses along the water since the 1950s; they opened a bait and tackle shop in 1962 where the Crow’s Nest is today and moved to theWest Harbor in 1977.
This is a good stop for shrimp or crab Louie, fried calamari or simple grilled fish. Best bet include a very good fish and chips, and a classic version of cioppino with local rock cod, rings of calamari, prawns, crab legs and mussels in a moderately spicy house-made tomato sauce.
616 Atlantic Ave.; (831) 426-3736 oraldos-cruz.com. Open daily for breakfast lunch and dinner (Sunday until 4 p.m.) Most main courses less than $20.
The Picnic Basket
In the shadows of the Beach Boardwalk, this restaurant offers outdoor seating with a view of the street, people playing volleyball and lazing on the beach. It has a true sense of place.
The food includes an exceptional BLT, vegetable salads and a daily changing grain salad. And since you’re at the beach, a hot dog may be in order; their dogs are pedigreed, coming from El Salchichero, and served with Farmhouse cultured kraut.
125 Beach St. (near Second Street), Santa Cruz; (831) 427-9946. www. thepicnicbasketsc.com. Open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. MondayThursday, until 9 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Sandwiches less than $9.
Midtown Cafe
This breakfast and lunch restaurant opened in January and is known for its spot-on, compact menu and use of organic ingredients. You can sit at the two cafe tables in front, or move to the back patio enclosed by wood fences, plantings and stands of bamboo. It’s a great place to enjoy the specialties, including Acme coffee and maple bacon and fried egg sandwich with arugula and pickled onions. Breakfast items include granola and combination such as fried eggs over polenta.
There are also daily changing sandwiches and salads listed on the chalkboard. It could be Cubano pork with a kale Caesar salad, chicken with tomato and pesto or tri-tip on bread from Kelly’s French Bakery with Point Reyes blue cheese and chimichurri.
1121 Soquel Ave., (no phone or website). Breakfast and lunch daily until 2 p.m. Most sandwiches $8 or less.
The Crepe Place
This restaurant has been in business since 1973 and feels as if it is frozen in time. The crepes can be lackluster and the service slow, but it was my dog, Sheba’s, favorite stop. The patio stretches out in back of the restaurant, a little seedy and rough around the edges, but it has several seating areas, lots of plants and places to explore. The waiters automatically brought her a bowl of water and a biscuit, and I gave her a lot of the processed-tasting turkey and gooey cheese in my crepe.
While the crepes can be leathery and overstuffed, there’s often a very good soup of the day and an excellent warm artichoke served with both drawn butter and mayonnaise.
For weekend brunch the restaurant features many egg dishes, including its signature crab Benedict, and for vegetarians a tofu scramble.
1134 Soquel Ave., (831) 429-6994 or thecrepeplace. com. Lunch and dinner continuously daily until midnight (1 a.m. Friday) and starting a 9 a.m. Saturday-Sunday. Most entrees less than $18 and include bread, soup or salad.