Boulder Creek Brewery & Cafe

So I had reviewed Surfrider Cafe earlier this year that's down in Santa Cruz. They feature beers from the Boulder Creek Brewery up Highway 9. Now it's time to try the food there!

BC Brewery webpage (FB)

Walking in, there's the bar and huge brewing vats on the left and the main dining area with tables and booths on the right. My guest and I sat in one of the booths in the back. We were looking for a light lunch and some good brews.

Our waiter said he'd be right back after dropping off some menus. "Right back" was more like five minutes, which is a lifetime if you are thirsty! There were some Trivia Pursuit cards on the table, so we tested each other's useless knowledge until he came back. I chose the Red River Blonde ($5.50) to drink and she got a guest cider ($6).

When the drinks came, we ordered our food. The Four By Four cheese dip ($8.95) looked good with its secret recipe of four onions and four cheese, served with ciabatta bread. And we got the Santa Cruz burger ($9.50) with avocado, mushrooms and cheese. We paid a little extra to get garlic fries on the side.

So this dip was amazing! Caramelized onions were hiding in all the creamy cheeses... cheddar on top and cream cheese and mozzarella inside. Not sure of the other ingredients, but man, was it tasty! We were fighting over each bite!

The burger was good too and the fries were busting out all over. Big chunks of garlic and parmesan gave a strong, but wonderful flavor. The burger was well cooked and juicy and the bun was soft and chewy. I mixed some of the garlic chunks in with the cheese dip to knock it out of the park. Ooof!

Now the bad news... our waiter was distracted and slow the whole time. I asked him for the check and he said "okay, be right there....". Then we proceeded to help several other customers. It's not like we were hiding in the back, we were right on his path through the restaurant! I would forgive one mix up, but he was slow to give us menus too. No excuse for that.

This is the only brewery in Boulder Creek and the beer and food is good. Worth the drive up. But expect some slow service.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 8
Service: 3
Atmosphere: 7
Value for price: 7
Overall: 6.50

West End Tap & Kitchen

One of the best places to go in Santa Cruz is the West Side. A walk along West Cliff, a jaunt through Natural Bridges, a bike ride to Wilder Ranch... what could be better? Food! West Side has some fun, little places here and there and one of the most recent additions is West End Tap & Kitchen.

Website

Located in the Swift Street Courtyard, it's across from the SC Mountain Brewery and besides a couple winery tasting rooms. That's tall company to keep! How does it measure up?

My brother Mike and sis-in-law Diane met me there for lunch this week. Diane had been a couple times last week and wanted to go again. They have two large dining areas, a good-sized bar, a fireplace with comfy chairs and a small patio as well. We sat along the wall at some high tables.

It was cold and cloudy that day, so I started off with something to warm me up - a small French-pressed coffee from Verve ($3.50). It was strong and good, but I would have preferred it served in a smaller cup. It looked dinky!

After scanning the menu, we all decided on an appetizer, fried calamari with jalepenos ($9). It was served with homemade ranch and garlic oil. Yes, those are big slices of jalepenos battered up with the calamari. Yes, it was a crunchy, spicy sensation. We all dug in with happy smiles. The server said it's even better during happy hour (M-F 3-6pm) when it's only $5.

Diane said there's lots of things she wants to try on the menu, but keeps coming back to the bleu cheese burger ($11.95 + $2.75 cheese). It comes on a large tray with crispy french fries. Even though I consider a lunch burger and fries over $14 a bit expensive, she went on and on about how good it was. The bread was from Gayle's in Capitola (why not Kelly's next door?).

I got the Chicken sandwich with a side salad ($11). The chicken was buttermilk-coated and fried and was nice and flavorful. It had a tangy coleslaw and marinated onions on top, which was a good contrast to the slightly sweet bread and salty chicken. The side salad was just dressed with a mild vinaigrette, which was sadly bland. I should have gotten fries!

Mike's burger lunch came with bacon ($11.95 + $2.50 bacon) - how could you go wrong? It was gone in two shakes of a pig's tail. Man, that guy can eat!

So, West End is a nice place for a good lunch, but I would have like to have seen more choices on the menu. Sandwiches, burgers, flatbreads and salads are about it. Maybe there were daily specials I missed, but our server didn't mention any. The prices were a bit higher than I like to pay, but the food was quality. This place would be good to impress a date or your parents. Happy hour sounds like a deal too.

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

Bonus: Rogue Public House SF

Special bonus edition of the Santa Cruz Food Blog... coming to you from SF!

A sunny day in San Francisco! Will wonders ever cease? We also found an all-day parking lot with an attendant for $15! No, I'm not telling you where...

After exploring the Ferry Building (which deserves a whole blog post by itself), we were ready for a nice cold one. There are some good beer places in the city, but the closest one was in North Beach.

Website (FB)

The Rogue Public House on Union and Powell doesn't brew the beer there, but gets their supply from the brewery in Oregon. We arrived during the Argentina/Belgium World Cup game, so the place was hoppin'!

They have the beer list written on chalkboards on the wall. Quite the selection, so why not try a sampler?

For about $7.37, you get a taster tray of four different beers. I like to start with lighter brews, so I got a pilsner, brown ale, pale ale and hefeweizen. Dat's good!

For lunch, my guest got the Kobe Bleu Balls ($9.95), which is a meatball sub with homemade chips. The meatballs have bleu cheese in them - yum! She said they were good and didn't have filler like breadcrumbs in them. I really liked the tangy marinara sauce on it.

I went with the Irish Nachos ($9.95), a big helping of waffle fries with horseradish cream sauce, corned beef, cheddar and green onions on top. Talk about a great pairing! I needed another Hazelnut Brown Ale ($6.44) to go with it. The cream sauce just gave a hint of horseradish, which is probably better than a stronger bite. The fries did come out just warm though.

Rogue Public House is worth a visit for all beer fans out there and is a lot closer than a drive to Oregon. The food was a bit better than normal pub food. Our server was friendly and attentive. It was noisy and crowded during the World Cup game, but it wasn't uncomfortable. We will definitely be coming back.

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