2014 Food Blog Roundup

Pop the champagne and blow your horn - it's the end of 2014! Besides Auld Lang Syne, it's the time of year for "best of" lists. Here's the highlights from the food I blogged about in and out of Santa Cruz last year:

Best burrito - De La Hacienda Tacqueria

This one has it all - a generous size, delicious ingredients, and a salsa that won't quit. All for an affordable price. Nestled along Laurel Street, across from the high school, don't blink or you might miss this Mexican gem.

Best place for a pint - Half Moon Bay Brewery

There's a reason we live on the west coast. The sun, the waves, the mellow vibes. So, why not with a cold one? HMB Brewery has a great atmosphere to enjoy your meal inside or out. But better out.

Best breakfast - Zachary's

If Michelangelo was a short order cook, the Mike's Mess would be his masterpiece. Everything there is tasty. There's a reason that this place is a Santa Cruz institution.

Best Asian - The Panda Inn

There were many Asian places I went to over the last year - Thai, Chinese, Japanese. But out of all of them, I'm rated the Panda Inn in Aptos the highest. Everyone who goes loves that place. You should go too!

Best overall dish out of Santa Cruz - Rangoli's Sweet & Spicy Cauliflower

No other dish I enjoyed this year topped this. It was a surprise to find something so flavorful with of cauliflower! Of course, you need to like a bit of spiciness, but if you do, it pays off big time. The texture, the color, the flavor... I will be making special trips to San Jose for this one.

Best overall dish in Santa Cruz - Scalloppine do Pollo alla Modo Mia at Lago Di Como

Mmm, this was the best dinner I had last year at a restaurant. I never heard about Lago Di Como on Portorla Drive before then, but now I'll never forget it. Treat yourself to this and the rest of their wonderful menu. The burrata appetizer is heavenly as well.

Where would I go for my last meal?

Okay, so this is a bit controversial, because it's not in Santa Cruz, but my pick for best meal (all courses) for 2014 would actually be in South Lake Tahoe at Mont Bleu. The meal I had at the Ciera Steakhouse blew the doors off my culinary car.

It was a bit pricey, but so worth it. From the French Onion Soup starter to the Chocolate Molten Cake dessert, I can not say enough about this dinner. I still dream about the Chicken Mediterranean entree I had. This steakhouse is now on my "must-stop" list when in Tahoe.

So that's it! Forty-nine blogs about where I ate in 2014. It's been fun and I will continue to write up more into the new year. Please send me ideas for places you want to hear about. We live in a great city with lots of great food choices. Bon appetit!

Casa Rosita's

Who likes Mexican food? A show of "manos", por favor. Aha, I knew it. You can't escape it here in California, but why would you want to? Melty cheese, spicy salsa, succulent meats all served with beans and rice. Sign me up!

Casa Rosita's (Yelp)

There are a lot of Mexican spots around town, so what makes this place any different? Let's find out. We got there on a Friday night and we had to wait about 5-10 minutes for a table. That is a good sign.

They have a small bar with about four bar-stools if you are thirsty, but they only serve beer and wine. Ever have a Beer-rita?

We were seated in the corner and chips and salsa were promptly delivered. They have two kids: pico de gallo and a spicy red. The red didn't kick in at first, but had a slow burn if you like that sort of thing. Not too hot, but I'd advise against guzzling it by the gallon.

She went with the #1 combo of a Beef Taco and Steak Enchilada with rice and beans ($11.50). It arrived hot with lots of cheese on top. She liked how the meat was cooked and the little bit of guacamole on the side. A star of the plate was the enchilada sauce, which had just the right amount of chili flavor.

I went a la carte (that's how I roll) with a Spinach Enchilada, Chicken Tamale and 1/2 beans for $11. I didn't miss the rice and I got some avocado slices on my tamale. Mmm... just looking at this picture now as I'm writing up this review makes me want to drive down there again tonight. Everything in this meal  was delicious. The tamale had a nice light cheese sauce over it that was a good contrast to the slightly spicy enchilada sauce. Magnifico!

This place is a bit far for me, being out on Portola Drive (right behind Cole's BBQ). But if you want a homey, feel-good Mexican meal, you know where to go. Tell 'em Juan sent you!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 8
Overall: 7.75

Main Street Burger - Los Gatos

Happy holidays everybody! What a great time of year... for eating! Let's jump right into this yummy burger place in Los Gatos (just over the hill from you, Spencer!).

Main Street Burger

Right at the start of downtown, this place is right next to Willow Street Pizza. Besides burgers, they have chicken, fish tacos, hot dogs, salads, onion rings and ice cream too. Even breakfast eats too. A real American cafe.

You order at the counter and they give you a buzzer, so no table service. That's okay with me! You can get a soda at the million-choice soda machine. You can watch the cooks make your food. You can sit at the high tables by the windows and watch the world go by.

I got the Nirvana Burger ($10) with cheddar, bacon-onion jam, lettuce, tomato and Sriracha mayo on an egg bun. As you can see, I couldn't wait to take a picture. But where's the pickle? They didn't ask us how we wanted our burgers cooked, but this one came out medium and was good. The bacon-onion jam is so delish. I could eat a whole bowl of that stuff. I would be sick, but it'd be worth it.

The Idaho Fries ($2.75) were super yummy - skinny like I like them. Crunchy outside, soft inside. Very tasty with the mayo side we got to dip them in. Burger and fries heaven!

She got the Side Burger ($5), which was supposed to be smaller, but it was close to the size I got. Maybe the bun wasn't as large? Either way, she got her burger fix sedated with this - a great $5 deal.

I'm calling this place's burgers as good as In-And-Out, but with more choices for toppings. They have Bacon & Bleu cheese, Mushrooms & Swiss and even the fabled "heart attack on a plate" - two grilled cheese sandwiches as buns for a double-cheeseburger. Eat at your own risk!!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: n/a (but they did give us a dip for free)
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 7
Overall: A solid 7.25

Panda Express

Time for lunch! It was a cold and rainy day this week, when my brother Mike and I wondered where to fill our bellies after a meeting at work.

"I'm not too hungry."

"Something fast..."

"Something close."

How about the panda?

Panda website

I know, I know... why are you reviewing a chain restaurant? Well, it's not the Santa Cruz "No Chains" Food Blog and sometimes you can't plan out for a better place. And when quickness is a factor, it's nice to go to a cafeteria-style eatery. Grab a tray, pick your food, pay and eat!

On a side note, let me join the mournful outcry of many in NorCal with the signing of our Panda to the Red Sox. The Giants won't be the same without you, Pablo! Okay, now back to the food...

Stepping up to the counter, your first choice at the P.Express is for here or to go. Then you choose rice or noodles or steamed veggies. Then how many entrees do you want - two ($6.70) or three ($8.20). I guess you can ask for all of your choices to be crammed into a bowl, but Mike and I wanted plates. Better to see what you are eating! Oh and there's two kinds of rice - white or brown. My dream of quinoa is still waiting.

Mike got the chow mein noodles, Beijing Beef and SweetFire Chicken. The noodles were good with chopped cabbage and onions mixed in. Not too greasy. The beef was cooked well and had red peppers and onions in a sweet and sour sauce. The chicken is a new flavor with pineapple chunks and peppers too. Mikey likes it hot! He also got two side sauces: teriyaki and sweet and sour because you can never have enough sauce.

I got the veggies, Eggplant Tofu and String Bean Chicken. The steamed veggies looked kind of plain, so I got some teriyaki sauce for them too. The chicken was good with no grisly pieces and the beans were not soggy at all. It was cooked in a ginger-soy sauce. The highlight for me was the eggplant and tofu in a sweet and sour sauce. There could have been more tofu, but the eggplant was not mushy and it absorbed the sauce excellently. I would get that again.

Mike and I both like to eat and for under $10, we both were satisfied with our lunch. Another reason we chose this place was because GameStop is next door. Hey, we needed to update our Christmas lists!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 6
Service: n/a
Atmosphere: 5 (think mall food court)
Value for price: 7
Overall: 6

Buttercup Pantry (Placerville, CA)

On the way to South Lake Tahoe (from Santa Cruz) is a great place to stop and grab some grub. It's in Placerville (formerly Hangtown) on Highway 50 called Buttercup Pantry.

Yelp webpage for Buttercup

We stopped there for breakfast and found the place very charming. Many old-time trinkets adorn the walls and their bakery display was crazy. Pies, cakes, apple turnovers - all mouth-watering. (I didn't get a picture to show you, dear readers, but please take my word for it. Or check out the pics on Yelp.) You can wait to be seated or eat at the counter like we did. That way you can watch the cooks do their thing.

They have old vending machines in the lobby and fun signs all around from days gone by. A big plus for kids and cultural historians. You get a real sense of an country store at this place. Let's see if their food is a good as the decor.

She wanted biscuits and gravy and they came with sausage patties, eggs and potatoes ($9.89). She switched the taters for fresh sliced to'maters. She liked the thick, creamy gravy, but the sausage was sort of plain. That is a crime in the world of sausage! At least the portions were generous.

I ordered the Ham and Eggs ($10.95) and kept the home fries and biscuits & gravy. I was thinking the ham would be diced, but I got a ham steak as you can see. Not disappointed! It was flavorful and slightly salty, but not too much. Just right with the savory, fried potatoes and eggs. The coffee was strong and hot and the servers were friendly.

Breakfast was good! Next time, we will come by later to enjoy their massive salad and soup bar. And maybe some dessert too! It's very close to the freeway exit and is worth a stop. So much better than Denny's!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Atmosphere: 8 homey!
Service: 8
Value for price: 7
Overall: 7.5

Bonus: BJ's Brewery Holiday Beer Dinner

There are many things this get this hombre in a holiday mood - searching Amazon wish lists, over-priced gingerbread lattes (kidding), putting up blinking lights only to find that half the string is out... But what really gets my goose cooking are the seasonal holiday brews. Pumpkin ale is a popular one, but BJ's Brewery had more to share at their Holiday Beer Dinner last week. Let's check it out!

BJ's Brewery website

They do this $30 prix fixe meal every couple of months and this time's theme was the holiday. Parking at the Cupertino BJ's is like parking on Black Friday. Get there way early to get a nearby spot. The Apple campus is right there and it's a busy place. The dinner started at 7pm, so we arrived early and sat at the bar.

The dinner was four courses served with seven beers or "four courses and 7 beers ago". Each diner got a cool etched glass like the one on the cover of the menu. The warm up beer was Sam Adams Winter Lager and it was very good.

The first course was Fritos Nachos paired with Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. This spiced ale was bold and intense with citrus and woody aromas. A nice counter to the savory and salty nachos. This was a great way to start off!

Next up was a Thai Chicken Mango Salad paired with Woodchuck Winter Chill Cider and this was her favorite. She's a fan of fruit ciders and this one fit the bill. It had a rich apple flavor with hints of vanilla and Oak. The salad wasn't dressed very well and the chicken was sort of bland. Oh well, drink up!

After a palate cleanser of Rogue's Yellow Snow IPA (not made with real yellow snow, happily), the main course of Grilled Pork Chop, White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans was served. The Annual Grand Cru brew from BJ's Brewery was paired with it. We both liked it very much as it wasn't too heavy with some fruit and spice flavors. The chop was a bit overcooked, but still tasty. The star of the plate was the mashed potatoes - who doesn't love those?

After yet another palate cleanser, you can never be thirsty here, the dessert was a Triple Chocolate Pizookie with Ghiradelli ice cream. The palate cleanser was Green Flash's Green Bullet, which was too hoppy for my tastes. But the pairing with the pizookie was Stone Coffee Milk Stout and it was perfect. You need to like stout, which is a very strong flavor, but with this rich chocolate dessert, it was great. The triple chocolate was the cookie dough (1), the chocolate chips (2) and the ice cream (3). Needless to say, we were glad to each have our own one!

I'm not going to rate each course, but overall it was a equisite night of eating and drinking. The tastings were not too much to make us loopy and we were quite full by the end. The waitstaff were all knowledgable about what they were serving and seemed happy to be working this special event. We will be looking for that cider and stout at the stores back home.

The next beer dinners are in February and March - check out their website: www.bjsrestaurants.com/beerdinners

Hindquarter Bar & Grille

Well, hello everybody and welcome again to the SC Food Blog (tip of the hat to Evan). Today we are talking ribs and one of the best places in town is the Hindquarter, downtown. Just over the bridge from CVS, across from Riverside Lighting.

Hindquarter website

We went on a Wednesday night about 6pm and it was crowded. Not "can't find a table" crowded, but we got the last parking spot in their lot (score!). There's plenty of street parking around back. We heard they extended the Santa Cruz Restaurant Week prix fixe menu, so we had to try it. You get an appetizer, entree and dessert for $25. My folks went and raved about the French Onion soup and Creme Brûlée.

The hostess seated us right away and also brought us some bread and water. After our drinks were ordered, we ordered our meals. Our sever was busy with lots of tables and was a bit slow to get back to us. Maybe more people were there for the $25 deal.

Man, Dad was right! This delectable French Onion Soup was so tasty. It was hot and all the cheese was melty. The onions were translucent and the broth was very good (not too salty). The bread on top soaked in all the soup and made for a nice texture. A++! We were both very happy we both ordered this.

Next up was my entree, St. Louis Ribs plus mashed potatoes and cole slaw. This is what the HQ is all about. Ribs and steaks. The pork melted off the bone and made my fingers all saucy. In a good way. The slaw had a peppery taste, which balanced off the cool crunch. And who doesn't like mashed taters? Everything on this plate was top notch.

She got the Margartita Steak with sautéed Brussel Sprouts and a baked potato. The beef had a tart, green sauce over it and it didn't taste right to her. Luckily, it was easy to brush off. I tried it and it was okay, but not a good match for the steak. She liked the potato, but was disappointed with the sprouts. They were cooked through, limp and soggy. Better to have them crispy.

Dessert was the Creme Brûlée and it had a nice crunch to the top. Any food you have to crack to get to is okay by me. I'm looking at you, Mr. Egg. Anyway, the caramelized sugar on top matched perfectly with the silky custard underneath. She was very happy and even let me try a bite.

This was because I ordered the Hot Fudge Brownie with vanilla ice cream and she wanted a bite back. The presentation on this dish left a lot to be desired, but tested great. The fudge was warm and dripping down the chocolate walnut-filled brownie. Too bad it looked like an afterthought. But the flavors were all there.

This is the main dining room and they have several other rooms off of this. Also, the sports bar is around the corner with TVs and a full bar. Check out their happy hour (4:30-6:30pm) for good deals. And their website lists daily specials and sometimes a coupon too.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7 (but 10 for the ribs)
Service: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 7
Overall: 6.75

Chili's Capitola Mall

If you have read some of my other reviews on this blog, you know there's high-end places like West End and Laili's and there's not so high end. This is one of the latter.

Chili's

Chili's is at the Capitola Mall and it's near the main entrance. There's a nice sports bar on one side and a sit-down restaurant on the other. My daughter loves to go there - maybe because it will usually include mall shopping too. She's a sneaky one!

One thing I love is value. And the Chili's endless chips and salsa is all about value. For $3.29, you get a never-ending supply of this appetizer. The chips are warm, thin and crispy. The salsa is smooth and not too spicy in a ranchera style. You finish one tray and they bring you another. You want some to take home and they give you a bagful. It's pretty fantastic!

Kelly's favorite dish bar none is the Chicken Crispers ($10.19) which includes fries, corn on the cob and dipping sauce. She said the corn wasn't soggy (like other places - KFC) and tasted fresh. The chicken was crunchy and meaty - what more could you want? She devoured it in record time. You'd think the chips would have slowed her down.

I got a bowl of chili ($5.29 - hey, it's named after that!), but was saddened by the shallow bowl. The flavor was okay, but not very spicy. I had trouble identifying the chunks of meat vs. peppers vs. beans since they were all just brown and mushy. The cheese did not add much taste either. This is school cafeteria food. Sad panda.

I had a coupon for a free dessert with any entree and Kelly's chicken qualified. Get on their email list to get these sweet deals, people! The Chocolate Molten Cake (normally $6.79) had vanilla ice cream on top and fudge and caramel sauce all over it. Inside was a fudgy sauce that oozed out when broken into - OMG. I'm at the age when I try to justify eating this, calculating the amount of sit-ups and how long to hit the treadmill. My daughter laughed and dug right in. Oh, to be a teenager again!

Have you seen these? There was a small touchscreen computer at each table and you could order more drinks and food from them. Also, games like Bejeweled and Zuma's Revenge to while you wait for your order. At the end of our meal, the waiter said we could slide a credit card on it and pay. It also will calculate the tip and print a receipt or email it to you. Modern tech! Is this the future of dining??

I view Chili's as a place to grab a quick bite before a mall trip, not a dining destination. Their menu is geared more towards kids and sports bar fare, instead of Mexican food. The chili was very underwhelming, but the chips and salsa were great. Without kids, I'd only come back here to watch a Niner game.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 5
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Value for price: 6 (just chips = 10)
Overall: 6

Oak & Rye Pizza - Los Gatos

Today's review comes to you from the charming little town of Los Gatos, California. Only a few miles over Highway 17 from Santa Cruz, you take the first (left!) exit into the heart of its downtown. Parking is always a challenge, but I like the lot behind Pizza My Heart. That way, you can walk the length of downtown, peeking into shops and many good places to eat.

Oak & Rye website

So even though this place has "pizza" in its name, it's more like a bistro. Comfy and eclectic decor, cocktails, wine and beer, brunch on the weekends... They have a wood-fire oven for delicious pizza, but check out these small plates:

Wow, I have never had this before - Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad ($8). It's just the sprouts, romano cheese, lemon juice and olive oil but it was amazing! So light and airy like a cloud. I know this vegetable isn't everyone's favorite, but if you like them, I highly recommend this simple, yet delicious dish.

The Homemade Pretzel ($6), served with beer cheese and wholegrain mustard, was also wonderful. You could do just this and the salad above for a dinner for one! The pretzel was soft and warm, with a buttery and slightly salty taste. It was great even without the cheese and mustard.

Next up was the Chili Verde Fries ($12) with pork shoulder, pickled onions, jalapenos, smoked sour cream and cheese. This was okay, but I found the flavors didn't meld well together. Some bites were very spicy and others were just plain. I guess some effort could be made to incorporate all the ingredients in each bite. Maybe a melted sauce over it would help.

Now the main course, a pizza called Scottie 2 Hottie ($17). This beauty had tomato, basil, mozzarella, honey, Italian ham and pepperchino oil. It had a this crispy, but chewy crust, which was perfect. I really like the burnt edges too for nice flavor. The oil and honey gave a spicy and sweet experience. For $17, I would've liked a bigger serving, but I guess you are paying for the quality toppings. Still a thumbs up.

I also got the burger special ($15) of the night (Mondays are burger night) and it was glorious. They make the sesame seed brioche buns in house and it's light and chewy. The burger is very fresh with beef, brisket and short ribs mix. Cooked to perfection and served with homemade potato chips. It's worth circling that day on your calendar.

There's outdoor seating and inside is a hip, causal vibe. You can sit at the bar or indoor tables. I had a few very tasty Mama's Little Yella Pilsner in a can ($3.50) and was not disappointed. Not an everyday eatery, unless you are on Bill Gates' good side, but quite nice for a special occasion.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Value for price: 6
Overall: 7.25