In Mexico, one of the big holidays is the Day of the Dead, or in Spanish, Dia de Muertos. It’s a three-day holiday during which people remember and pray for…
California Restaurants
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With the Annual San Diego Food Festival taking place in September every year, we have compiled a list of restaurants where you can get into the spirit of the festival…
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The largest city within Silicon Valley and the tenth largest in USA, San Jose marries Spanish historical structures with modern high rise buildings. A regular travel spot for business travelers…
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The foggy city of San Francisco is the perfect excuse to explore the restaurants and bars that line the streets of the city. Almost all the cities in California have…
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The largest and most important city in the fertile Central San Joaquin Valley, Fresno comprises people from 80 different nationalities, who have set up home here. Fresno has an eventful…
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‘California begins here’. Sacramento, the capital of California has revamped its efforts on a huge scale to match up with more popular destinations in California like Los Angeles and San…
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I liked this place a lot – it’s sort of the Goldilocks of restaurants in this area. It’s not too big and not too small. It’s sort of tucked away…
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I have always been kind of uncomfortable with the while concept of obligatory gratitude. All the treacly demands that I practice daily gratitude, that it’s some kind of moral obligation,…
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Kauboi doesn’t really work. It doesn’t even seem as if they’re trying that hard. Oh, well. The name (say it out loud) is sort of an inside joke – the…
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After you’ve done it enough, reviewing restaurants becomes, unsurprisingly, a little predictable. Preparing and serving food is, after all, a business. There are best practices, like in every business, and…
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Santa Cruz is a town with a split identity. Wow, that sounds like the beginning of a detective novel, doesn’t it? One personality is Beach. Sun, sand, surfing, families, Monterey…
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While you hop about in this city in hopes of catching a glimpse of Jennifer Lopez or Johnny Depp, ignoring what the sun is doing to your flawless complexion, you…
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One of the things I find profoundly irritating about restaurants is the unfortunately common practice of Trying Too Hard. This entails dressing up what ought to be straight-ahead dishes with…
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This place is a hidden gem, and an unbelievably romantic throwback to a whole other era in the history of the Bay Area. A little background: Santa Cruz is overwhelmingly…
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Lago di Como is an odd place. The food isn’t bad, and everyone’s friendly and everything, but you get the impression when you go there that they’re just kind of…
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Palapas may be the best Mexican restaurant in the Santa Cruz area. The food is terrific, the atmosphere is lively, fun and smart, and the staff is great. Here’s…
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Santa Cruz is an unusual town. It has an amazing, and slightly unreal list of world-class things to do and see – the Boardwalk, Big Basin, Monterey Bay, surfing. But…
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This was a very, very good meal. A few completely random thoughts: Afghanistan has basically been at war for the past three decades. The life expectancy there is 45 years.…
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If you walk down the breakwater in Santa Cruz towards the lighthouse on a summer night, you often can look across the harbor and see an enormous party going on…
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As John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island.” First of all, what other restaurant review have you read, ever, that quotes John Donne? Second, no restaurant, apparently, is…
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Caruso’s is, if not the very best Italian restaurant in the Santa Cruz area, damn close. It and La Casa Nostra are neck-and-neck, although they’re as different as two places…
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It’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, restaurants are businesses. Not everyone can be (or should be) Thomas Keller. Foodies are, for the most part,…
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Assembly is the new “it” girl of Santa Cruz restaurants. Located in the former Aqua Bleu, Assembly has been packed since the night it opened. The day we reviewed it,…
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We tried out La Posta on Oscar night, 2014. Maybe, as Patrick O’Brian put it in one of his novels, I’m turning into a cantankerous old dog rather than being…
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This place is fantastic. No beating around the bush – it is just plain great. I never really had any idea what German food was, or could be, so maybe…
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Santa Cruz is one of America’s capitals of surfing. According to history, three Hawaiian princes who were in town to attend a military academy had crude wooden boards milled…
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In a little spasm of curiosity, I googled the word “Malabar” before beginning to write this. Turns out, “Malabar” is a Spanish word that means “juggling.” Which is appropriate. This…
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The Red Pearl is a dump. For ambience, it is easily the worst place I’ve reviewed in the Santa Cruz area. It’s cold, not especially clean, and decorated like an…
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Oswald is a great little place, with exceptional food, but interestingly, it’s located in a seriously unglamorous part of Santa Cruz. It’s kind of a food fortress – there is…
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Suda is a great, big, huge, giant surprise. It looks like it’s going to be sort of run-of-the-mill. The restaurant is one big concrete box, with some arty touches for…
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An initial word of caution, please, or a recommendation for a grain of salt. When I went to Bittersweet, I was sick. I mean, really sick. Like, people sitting nearby…
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In many, many ways, I am a complete sucker for a pretty face. For obvious reasons, this has gotten me into real trouble on more than one occasion. However, at…
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The Stranger: Beer… and a bottle. Lutie Naylor: Ain’t much good, but it’s all there is. [brings drinks] Lutie Naylor: You want anything else? The Stranger: Just a peaceful hour…
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This place wasn’t actually bad. I have had bad. I know bad. Sometimes it makes you physically sick, or sometimes it makes the entire act of eating seem sort of…
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They always mess up the coffee. Every restaurant I have ever eaten in, that I can remember, always serves mediocre coffee at the end of the meal. It’s either watery,…
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Capitola is a little seaside resort town that’s kind of an extension of Santa Cruz. Downtown Capitola, such as it is, is wedged into a tiny little spit of land…
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I sat and did a little sobering math before writing this review. If you multiply the number of meals per day (3) by the number of years I’ve been eating…
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I Love Sushi is fun. There’s really no other way to describe it. When you think of Japanese culture, at least as an American, you think of seriousness. Tea ceremonies.…
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For seafood and steaks in an interesting setting, Horatio’s in the San Leandro Marina is a great spot. With great views of the waterfront and a menu that includes signature…
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There are steak places in every major American city where the whole point seems to be excess. The steaks are wonderful, but they’re incredibly expensive. The side dishes are all…
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I am a huge fan of the remade Ocean’s Eleven series of movies. In the third one, Ocean’s Thirteen, a man goes into a restaurant in a fancy Las Vegas…
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Something that not a lot of people realize (there’s got to be a more elegant way to phrase that) is that California and Mexico have been, for hundreds of…
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Mission Coffee (or Fremont Coffee Roasting) is a local hangout, coffee shop, restaurant, and music venue in the Mission district of Fremont. Its cool and cozy vibes attract a hipster…
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I have this personal preference for food that, for want of a better term, tastes like something. I like strong flavors. I like unusual ingredients – sometimes I will go…
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Why go to the Melting Pot? Because it’s fon to due! When life calls for a celebration, it’s time to head somewhere a little bit special for a nice evening…
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Introduction Whenever I’m in the mood for some hearty and consistent Mexican fare, Celia’s is my go-to spot. Offering all the familiar favorites, Celia’s is a fairly traditional Mexican restaurant,…
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Gabriella Cafe is a funky, classic little French bistro located in downtown Santa Cruz. The décor is eclectic – the tables don’t all match, the interior is a series of…
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Dinner at Shadowbrook, in Capitola, is not an undertaking to be, uh, undertaken lightly. It’s a big deal – expensive, sprawling, and really, really good. It is going to take…
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On the hunt for a new Thai restaurant, I came across Green Champa Garden, which categorizes itself as a Thai and Laotian restaurant. Laotian food is new to me, but…
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Not that long ago, what is now the Paradox Hotel, in Santa Cruz, was, to put it sort of gently, a dump called the University Inn and Conference Center. Described…
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I have to admit, the entire mystique built up around New Orleans leaves me a little cold. I’ve seen The Big Easy, I’ve eaten at some Cajun restaurants, but ultimately…
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The Red Rabbit is a trendy spot in Midtown Sacramento, popular among twenty- and thirty somethings looking for fun and a fancy drink. This place had been recommended by a…
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Not your typical pizzeria, Pizza and Curry offers food inspired by the fusion of Italian and Indian cuisines. My first reaction upon hearing about this pizza joint was bewilderment, a…
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A couple of years ago, through some finagling, I got to take a first-class flight on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to San Francisco. This flight, in this service class, on…
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When San Francisco offers one of its rare clear, sunny, and warm days, you have little choice but to make the most of it. With baseball games and the America’s…
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Digger’s Diner is a casual restaurant that serves old-fashioned, classic American food, including classic burgers, as well as some dishes that are hard to find today, like patty melts, reubens,…
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Red Chili is a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in Hayward. Though that might suggest a fusion of the two types of food, it was more like a restaurant that served…
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Kabuki is a small and inexpensive Japanese restaurant in Fremont, a real Mom and Pop restaurant, run by a Japanese couple. It’s not glamorous or fancy, but it’s clear that…
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I spent the first part of my adult life living in South Philadelphia. South Philly is a somewhat rundown part of the city that once was solidly – like, completely…
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Some of the best authentic Mexican food is found in the strangest of places around here. It’s not unheard of to find great home-style Mexican food served in the back…
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The Santa Cruz Harbor is home to several hundred boats – everything from stand-up paddleboats to the Chardonnay to every kind of boat in between. Particularly in the summer, it’s…
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One of the fascinating things about review restaurants is that along with being a place to eat, a restaurant is also a business. It has a number of different moving…
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This part is easy. As far as I can tell, Soif is the best restaurant in Santa Cruz. I may be wrong – there may be others I haven’t discovered…
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I hardly know where to begin to review the Paradise Beach Grille, in Capitola. To say that it was bad is an understatement. It was bad in a way that’s…
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There is a lot – I mean, a LOT – of mediocre Middle Eastern food out there. Here’s your hummus, here’s you falafel, here’s your pita, thanks a lot, pal.…
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There’s a certain mystique attached to the California beach restaurant. A lot of the myth about California is attached to the beach scene, and places right on the water almost…
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A local establishment that’s been run by the same family for over 20 years, Mission Pizza is a surprising spot, not just for food, but entertainment, too. In all those…
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It was the name and the logo that got me first. Spanky’s Dog House – the logo of a cartoon hotdog wearing a spiked collar. How could I pass that…
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Stagnaro’s is a Santa Cruz classic. It’s been in operation since 1947, and is still run by the original family. It’s right on the Municipal Wharf, and in good weather,…
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Akira is not the place to go in Santa Cruz if you are either a) in a hurry; or b) hard of hearing. Otherwise, it’s fine. The restaurant is located…
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If you drive North up Route 9 out of Santa Cruz, one of the first towns you come to is Ben Lomen. Tucked into the redwoods on the southern…
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Le Moose Crepe Cafe offers what sounds like a bizarre blend: Thai food and French crepes. This strange mixture of cuisines may have been why I was hesitant to try…
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With a historic Pride Festival going on and quite possibly the best weather the city has ever seen in June, what better place to spend this Sunday than San Francisco.…
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Jimmy’s Place is your unassuming neighborhood breakfast diner, serving a traditional American breakfast that also caters to Asian tastes. Jimmy’s Place offers a choice between country potatoes and rice as…
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Like its name suggests, the Original Pancake House is an old favorite, known for its wide variety of pancakes. Though the restaurant is a chain with about 100 franchises,…
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I increasingly have a real problem with restaurants that are not, at the end of the day, comfortable. When I go out to eat somewhere, I am not interested in…
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Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz is a busy, relatively unglamorous commercial part of town. Tire repair shops. A supermarket. A dance studio. And lots of busy traffic. The Crepe Place…
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What exactly happens behind these curtains which makes people stand for, sometimes, over an hour? That food and passion go hand in hand is absolutely true for this place. Orders…
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The Bay Area has quite a few Italian restaurants. Actually, each of the 12 odd cities have at least two good Italian places from which to choose. Yesterday, we were…
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I knew I was walking towards my first Hawaiian meal and it was a just a few steps away from the office. My first reaction after entering this place…
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In a city where chain restaurants dominate the food scene and the people are starved for something new, unique spots like The Vine are a rare find. Its trendy yet…
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When I think of the quintessential food of San Diego, California, visions of tacos, rice and beans, or super fresh seafood caught just off the coast instantly come to mind.…