May 9, 2017 – Santa Cruz is definitely a town that celebrates collaboration. Just look around at the flourishing and hyper-friendly beer community, all rubbing elbows and sharing advice with each other. A prime example of this delicious meeting of the minds is the highly anticipated opening of a dream team collaboration between Chris LaVeque of el Salchichero and Alec Stefansky of Uncommon Brewers. The umbrella business, aptly named “Oasis” is sure to become an oasis of food and drink in the revamped Farmers Exchange building on River Street. At last, the very long awaited project is grandly opening for all on Friday, May 19th.
“I’m probably gonna cry a lot when it opens, because I’m so #!&%* happy,” says LaVeque. “It’s kinda like having a baby, and after 4 years giving birth. It’s a huge thing.” The two business owners and friends have known each other for ten years and have always talked about joining forces in some way. Mostly, according to LaVeque, the idea revolved around “a simple tasting room, sausages, sandwiches…just keep it simple,” he says.
But the final result is hardly simple. Since finding the space in 2013, the construction, permitting and legalities they have faced have been a big hurdle in getting the place open. “I’ve learned that the building code, in large part, is a long-term project of finding construction hazards and preventing/mitigating them in current and future construction. It’s dense, arcane, often incomprehensible, but most often designed with a good purpose. It’s also often inflexible and nonsensical. Those have been the most challenging moments; where we’ve run into something that makes no sense, makes no difference for the customer’s experience or most importantly their safely, but has to be done. The code says so and so it must be.” Stefansky explains.
Not to mention that the two continue to run their own, separate businesses full time. Needless to say, they have been busy. Which is why the completion of the space is even more satisfying for the team, and why they are so excited to share it with all of us.
“I think that we’ve created a really special place for people to come and enjoy great food and great beer,” he adds. “Our goal is to strike the balance between Santa Cruz’s historic and modern character—necessitated in part by our repurposing of a 90 year-old farm supply warehouse into a current code-compliant building. We maintained the original trussed roof support beams and the 2nd generation 1960s white fir floor.”
“The bar and tables are all live-edged redwood. Ironically it’s not local redwood, but from an urban logging operation in the Berkeley hills. The main dining tables are all sister slabs from the same tree, and the three pieces that make up the 32’ bar are also part of a set. We will feature local artists’ work on the expansive southern wall on the lounge side which can accommodate large, gorgeous pieces. The space is wide and open with tall ceilings, family tables, a long bar, couches for lounging, a few palm trees for life, and a badass crew running an open kitchen behind the bar,” says Stefansky.
That kitchen is officially called Matambre, the food side of Oasis, and that “badass crew” is being led by chef Eli Chausse. He is the former manager of el Salchichero and LaVeque’s brother-in-law as well, coaxed back to the area for this project. While some may be surprised that LaVeque is not leading the charge on the food scene, being that he is an accomplished chef himself, he explains, “I actually have no part in the food. Our chef and sous chef have free rein of the kitchen, and I trust them completely. I’m just the business owner, making sure both the butcher shop and this place run smoothly. I’m the floater, I go where I’m needed.”
It seems as though he has put us in good hands. Chausse says Matambre’s goal is to cater to everyone, “Whether folks are stopping in for a quick lunch to grab a pint and a sandwich, like our morcilla torta with Spanish style blood sausage, mint salsa verde, and white bean spread; or coming in with a group and sharing multiple small plates like our spring pea toast on a sourdough baguette.”
“We are also planning to offer a few family-sized sharing plates,” he adds. Plates such as whole boneless poussin torchon over Rancho Gordo corona beans and spring vegetables with Mad Marge’s whole grain mustard jus, or steak frites with a one-pound boneless ribeye with port bone marrow butter. There will also be vegetarian and vegan options, such as asparagus with sauce gribiche and slow cooked egg and a homemade black bean burger with cashew pepper spread.
Since the new building is so large, it allows space for a curing room that more than triples the capacity of el Salchichero. This means more treats for us, as well as an innovative plan to start up a snack meat vending machine onsite. LaVeque envisions this to be a pilot program to see if the format is lucrative or not, and if it proves to be popular, hopes to launch a whole collection of vending machines around town and beyond in the future.
On the beer side of things, this will be an elevated tasting room for Uncommon, featuring their whole craft lineup, plus some new additions.
“The initial alcohol licensing is a Duplicate Type-23, which allows us to serve malt beverages produced under our license. There’ll be some guest beers that we contract brewed for other breweries, but for the first few months it’ll be thirteen taps of Uncommon beer and one with soda water for our house made sodas,” says Stefansky. “Down the line I will be pulling a full Type-23 license from the State, which will allow us to serve guest beer and wine. I’m really looking forward to having a diverse selection for our customers.”
“We have some fun new beers coming along from our own lineup that I’m really looking forward to getting out into the wild and we’re also excited about offering some pretty unique non-alcoholic beverage options like preserved lemon soda or cold brew coffee soda,” he adds.
If this all seems complicated, don’t be afraid. The two have made sure that we will have a smooth experience. Stefansky breaks it down for us: “The primary focus of Oasis is beers from Uncommon Brewers and eats from Matambre. We’ve kept the customer side simple, no extra steps to get food or beer from either part of the business, with a really slick new point of sale system.”
LaVeque adds: “Oasis is the umbrella, but for the consumer it is one business, one receipt, completely seamless. He does the beer, I do the food.”
Oasis will be open from 11am to 10pm daily. We can’t wait!
Oasis Tasting Room & Kitchen, 415 A River Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
About the author
Amber Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
