Half Moon Bay Brewing Co.

Yes, this is the Santa Cruz Food Blog, but I've been traveling a bit lately. You wouldn't want me to not tell you about these places away from home, would you?

The latest excursion was up Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay and their brewing company. The gang was in tow - Ryan, Spencer, Jason and Alex - all fine beer-drinking men.

HMB Brewery Co. web site

When we arrived around 8:30pm Saturday night, the bar was too crowded to find a seat. But the restaurant had a table for us. Had it been daytime, the view of the water would have been great. But at night, the ambiance was good too, with a large aquarium and all dark wood interior.

We started with a pitcher of the Bootleger's Brown Ale ($16.50), which was malty, nutty and a bit sweet. Now, we needed food to go with the drink, so we ordered the nachos with extra guacamole ($15). This is a bit on the pricey side for nachos, but it was piled high with good stuff.

It's hard to ask everyone who's starving to wait for me to take a picture... and then you sneak a bite when you think nobody's looking. Busted! The nachos had homemade chips that were extra crunchy. This is important with nachos since no one likes soggy chips. There were black beans, cheddar cheese and jalapenos. Our waiter, Ryan, was nice enough to bring us more chips when we ran out.

Three of the crew ordered the broccoli and potato soup. It came with some sliced bread and oyster crackers. Jason said it was good, but was better with some pepper on it. A cup was $5.50 and a bowl was $7.25.

I ordered the Duo of Cochinita Pibil Sliders with fries ($10), which translates into "roasted little pig". They had a crunchy coleslaw and pickled onions on them and they were fantastic. The fries were crunchy and not greasy with good potato flavor. The pork was sweet and smoky, just the way I like it. I would order this again. Our second pitcher was a special Saison brew ($16.50) and it had a hint of a lemony aftertaste.

This place looks like a cool place to enjoy some beer and enjoy the views. They have happy hour (hours?) Monday through Friday from 11:30 to 6 in the bar. You can get brewery shirts and mugs too. It makes for a nice pit stop if you are headed up the coast. A little on the pricey side though.

Scores out of 10:

Food: 7

Service: 7

Atmosphere: 8

Value for price: 6

Overall: 7

Trattoria Pinocchio (SF)

So, if you find yourself hungry in San Francisco, like we did last weekend, you couldn't do much better than Italian food in North Beach. But which restaurant would be the one?

Trattoria Pinocchio web site

Parking was an adventure, but if you go down the street a ways, there were plenty of spots. Bring quarters! The place had many windows and the waiter had a thick Italian accent. There was a long bar and a big espresso machine in the back. You could imagine you were in Italy!

Our waiter, Antonio, took our drink order and a bread basket was brought over. Starved, I jumped on the bread, oil and vinegar dipping. He came back and took our orders and soon the salads arrived.

Baby greens, grape tomatoes, shaved carrot and fennel in a light vinaigrette = deliciousness. You could tell this place was a step above. Olive Garden take notes!

I got the Meat Tortellini in a walnut cream sauce ($18.95). A little Parmesan one top made it a perfect pasta lunch. The sauce was so rich, I was wiping up the sides with the bread. Her fork would appear and steal a tortellini from time to time, but I didn't mind. I was stealing some from hers too.

She got the Pasta Festa Special ($24.00), which had chicken, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes in a light lemony cream sauce over freshly-made ribbon pasta. Wow, that was good. You know how you plan to ask for a to-go box before the meal comes and then you wonder where your leftovers went? It was like that.

I splurged at the end of the meal with a Cappuccino ($4.25). I thought it was more foam than anything else, but still had that rich coffee flavor. One thing on the bill that surprised me was the SF Health Care charge at 1%. I must have missed that in the morning papers.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 9
Service: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Price: 9
Overall: 9

Hang Ah Tea Room (SF)

When one thinks of food in San Francisco, many culinary delights come to mind. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Fisherman's Wharf... Italian food at North Beach... How about Dim Sum in Chinatown?

I checked on Yelp for some suggestions and Hang Ah Tea Room came up as the oldest in town. Since 1920. Let's see if it's any good.

Hang Ah Tea Room web site

Through the main gate of Chinatown, we trekked up the hill and then down a side street. The restaurant faces a neighborhood playground. Once you enter, you walk down a ramp, so the place is actually below street level. There were plenty of tables available on Saturday at noon.

We went over all the menu items - and there were many - and the waitress brought a pot of tea. The dim sum, which translates to "touch of heart", are small plates of food meant to be shared. We wanted to try them all, but settled to start on some BBQ Pork Buns. They were doughy and had sweet BBQ meat on the inside. The homemade chili oil on the table was a perfect compliment to the thick doughy buns.

Next were some Mince Pork Tamales, which were sticky rice and pork wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. I had tried this at the Forest buffet in Tahoe and I liked unwrapping my edible treasure. Adult playing with food alert! The pork inside wasn't very minced, but still tasted good. Again, the homemade chili oil gave this dish a little kick.

My lunch companion's favorite Chinese dish are pot stickers and Hang Ah did not disappoint. The only drawback is having to wait until they aren't so hot to eat. They were cooked very well, first boiled, then sautéed with one crispy side. Rounding out the dim sum were some egg rolls. We both agreed we couldn't remember any others that were better. They were so crunchy as you bit into them. Very satisfying!

The final dish was Chicken Fried Noodles. This was very good with the understanding you were going to smell like onions afterwards. The chicken was plenty and the noodles weren't greasy. We couldn't believe our good fortune to find this place.

One nice feature was a screen showing a slideshow of the menu items. Very helpful in deciding what to order. The furniture was a little out-dated, but the quality of food more than made up for that. There were other nice artwork and historical items decorating the walls.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 9
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Price: 8
Overall: 8

99 Bottles (St. Paddy's Day)

Top 'o the morning to ya!
March 17th, the day when everyone is a little bit Irish.
But where to go? Rosie's and the Poet would be packed, so we chose 99 Bottles downtown.
Turns out they had some specials that were fun!

99 Bottles website

We were wearing our green proudly (no pinching) and we started off with some drinks. 99 is known for its extensive drink menu. Black and Tan for me and she got Wyder's Berry Burst hard cider.

Our waitress was very friendly and brought over some limerick sheets to make up our own. The owners would vote on who's was best. Well, after a few drinks, the limericks were flowing like a lager!

A limerick break...

A frustrated brewer named Jacques,
Drowned himself in a barrel of Bock.
Grieved his friends, “Sad, it’s true,
Though this flavor is new,
But the next batch, let’s take off his socks.”

Back to the food...

We ordered some appetizers: Mozzarella Sticks ($9.99) and Chicken Strips ($9.99). Both were warm and not greasy with a moderate coating to let the cheese and chicken flavor come through. The holiday specials ($12.99 each) were Corned Beef and an Irish Stew.

The corned beef dinner came with the traditional cabbage, potatoes and carrots. It was cooked well and still retained all the good flavors.

My Irish Stew was so good... Irish I had ordered another! Thank you, I'll be here all week. Kidding aside, the stew broth was thick and rich and had hearty pieces of lamb, potatoes and carrots. 

We didn't stay for the limerick results, but they may call us later if we win. But we already won with some yummy dinners and a fun time out on St. Patrick's Day. 99 has been a local favorite for many years and will continue to be. It's a party every night!

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Service: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Price: 7
Overall: 7.5

Wingstop

Lunch... a break from the work day. It's important to enjoy yourself and recharge the batteries for the afternoon. I work on the westside of town, so my choices include Mission Street and downtown SC. Luckily, there are lots of good places to eat.

One of the close-by favorites is Wingstop in the Almar Shopping Center. I know what you are thinking... "but that's a chain restaurant... how can it be good?" There is a time and place for almost everything (Justin Bieber not included). Wingstop fulfills that craving for spicy wings and fries like nobody's business.

Wingstop website

My co-worker/buddy Jim and I rolled up last Monday and noticed they made some changes to the menu. New flavor: Chili Lime! Also, they now had a 'Meals for Two' on the board. That sounds good to us.

You order wings either with bone-in or boneless and then choose a flavor. They range from plain to atomic in heat. We ordered boneless for Chili Lime and Original Hot ($15.99). The meal came with fries, 2 dips and 2 drinks.

The drinks come from this contraption - Coca-Cola Freestyle... they even have a website. You can pick from over 100 choices from Coke, Sprite, Fanta, flavored waters and more. They have iced tea too.

It takes a little bit for the food to be ready since they make it fresh to order. You pick up your tray of goodness when your name is called. Jim got ranch dip and I got bleu cheese. They also have honey mustard and a cheese sauce.

The Chili Lime wings were very good - a little heat with a nice lime flavor. It reminded me of citrus chicken entrees at Mexican restaurants. Dipping them into the bleu cheese sauce may be a little much for some people, but I liked the cool, cheesy mix. Wingstop fries have salt, pepper and sugar on them and you can't stop eating just one. My kids go crazy for them, so it's a good thing they serve a big portion. Jim's wings were gone before I even noticed. He liked how they were spicy, but not too hot where he couldn't taste the food. Very saucy!

The menu here is short and sweet - wings, fries and dips. The only vegetables are carrot and celery sticks - really? I could see maybe a small salad with chopped chicken on top as a good addition. But you have to respect them for keeping the menu simple. The wing flavors change from time to time, which is something.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: -- (counter pickup)
Atmosphere: 6
Price: 7
Overall: 7 (good for a quick, filling lunch)

Margaritaville

It had been a while since I last went to Capitola Village, so I was excited to try Margaritaville. This place is always hopping on the weekends with a dance floor and DJ, so we decided to go on a Sunday night.

Margaritaville website

The parking meters in the Village go until 8pm, so it wasn't expensive when we arrived at 7pm. A stroll overlooking the beach and all its driftwood was followed by a few other restaurants, which started to get me hungry. Kabobs, Thai, pizza... a nice selection down there.

There wasn't a hostess when we walked in, but a sign saying "Seat Yourself". There was a big table of kids for a birthday party, so we opted for a booth across the way. It took awhile for someone to bring us menus. Turns out someone who worked there was also celebrating her birthday and a lot of the staff were helping her party. They were in the booth next to us.

We finally got our menus and we ordered margaritas. The Groupon coupon we had said two drinks and two dinners. Sweet! I ordered a blended one without salt, but it came with it. My guest said her raspberry one on the rocks was good. The waitress said we could upgrade the tequila to a better quality for 50 cents. But I could barely taste the tequila in mine!

I excused myself to visit the restroom and found a woman walking out of the men's room. And there were two guys in the stall. Needless to say, there were some shenanigans going on in there. Thankfully, I made it out alive.

She ordered the Capitola Club Sandwich with a side salad. It had a grilled chicken patty, bacon, avocado and cheese. She said no tomatoes, onions or mayo on the sandwich and they got that right. She liked the soft roll it was served on and the salad was good, but not note-worthy.

I ordered the fish tacos with a side salad. As you can see, the portions were good. I asked for Italian dressing and what came was a mystery. It looked the same color as Wishbone, but didn't have the seasonings in it. It tasted bland. The tacos were good with shredded cabbage, salsa and tartar sauce.

So, an interesting time at this place. Slow service to start. An adventure in the restroom. Uneven food quality. But she said to mention that the waitress we had was nice. Maybe Sunday nights are the wrong time to visit. They were closing just as we left, but that's no excuse to stop providing good service.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 6
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 2
Price: 4
Overall: 4

Yamamori Sushi & Grill

Welcome back to the Santa Cruz Food Blog - this time around, we're doing Japanese food in Scotts Valley at Yamamori. Located at the north end of town (Granite Creek exit), it's in the same shopping center as Carl's Jr. and the SV Market.

Yamamori website

It was a family dinner with mom (a long time blog reader - Hi, mom!) and daughter, Kelly. Being the picky eater of the family, if she likes this place, then anyone else would too. Not crowded at all at 6pm Friday night.

They've done a nice job with the decor with cozy booths around the perimeter and the sushi bar in the middle. Check out the cool orb lights! Very clean and well lit.

When you order a dinner, you get salad (with Miso dressing) and Miso soup. Little cubes of tofu and chopped scallions are hiding in the salty broth. Fun to test your chopstick skills picking those out. Each table also gets a tray of edamame.

Kelly ordered (and always orders) the Chicken Katsu/Veggie Tempura combo dinner ($16.95). I had to be quick snapping the photo since she dived right in. It's a huge plate and has the panko-breaded chicken, rice and tempura veggies. She's getting a lot better at chopsticks, but they will give you a fork if you ask for it.

Mom got the Chicken Teriyaki with Tempura Veggies combo ($16.95) and look at all that food. She said it was very good and needed a box to take some home.

I went with some sushi - Banana Slug Roll ($8.95 top) and California Roll ($4.45). The Slug roll had avocado, banana, mango and yam tempura and mixed well with soy sauce. The sweet, salty flavors were uniquely delicious. The Cali roll was very fresh and I could really taste the crab meat.

Service was fast and courteous and our drinks were always full. We had a Groupon coupon, but the fine print said we needed to make reservations for it. They also said it didn't work on Fridays, which was not mentioned on the coupon printout. Buyers beware if trying this.

All scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Price: 7
Overall: 7.25

Surfrider Cafe

Hello there, fellow food eaters and welcome to the Santa Cruz Food Blog. The latest eatery to be reviewed is Surfrider Cafe on Front and Cathcart, downtown SC. It used to be the Pontiac Grille, for those of you with good memories, and that place was fantastic. Will Surfrider measure up?

Surfrider (link to their Facebook page)

This place is on a corner with two other restaurants: The Greek and an Asian buffet. So there's a good variety of food if you head over there. But Surfrider has something the others don't: craft beer. They are owned by the Boulder Creek Brewery and have all their beers on tap. Quite the nice selection that I've enjoyed before, but today was lunch. Going back to work after a few beers is not recommended!

We actually got there at 11:25, so the kitchen opened in 5 minutes. We sat at a booth and read the menu. Lots to choose from, but my guest had never had the Avocado Fries ($8.95), so that was a must. They bread avocado slices in panko crumbs and lightly deep fry them. The salty crunch on the outside is a perfect match for the smooth, creamy inside. They paired it with their jalapeno aoili. So good!

She ordered Jack's Sliders ($7.95) that came Angus beef, bacon bits, cheddar and thin, stringy onion rings. She liked it but said the buns were too crunchy. She did like how the lettuce and pickles on the plate were cut into smaller pieces to add to the sliders.

My lunch was the Buffalo Chicken sandwich ($8.95). It came with coleslaw and a bleu cheese sauce. The spicy chicken was very good and my bread was soft and chewy.

On other visits, I had and can recommend the chili-cheese fries and artichoke dip. We usually stop by Surfrider for drinks and apps before the Santa Cruz Warriors games. It's just down the street. Here's a link to the Boulder Creek Brewery webpage if you want to see the beers they serve.

All scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Price: 7
Overall: 7