January 3, 2023 – With apologies to Buffalo Springfield, there’s something happening here.
No, scratch that. There are lots of somethings happening here.
After COVID slapped restaurants with a dark and extended reckoning, another bumper crop of new restaurants and compelling projects comes on the heels of an eventful 2022 that featured impressive traditional restaurants and non sitdown eateries and drinkeries alike.
Last year’s surge of top restaurant debuts tended toward the south side of Monterey Bay, so it makes sense that this list includes a majority of Santa Cruz spots, though Carmel, Carmel Valley, Watsonville, Monterey and Hollister will be heard from too.
Stay abreast of more detailed stories about each via Edible Monterey Bay’s website and/or by signing up for EMB’s newsletters.
Watsonville Public House toasting downtown
Presbyterian minister Rev. Robbie Olson and friends are reinventing the 6,700 square foot former Stevie G’s Meats on Main Street as a taproom/beer garden/full production brewery. Food trucks and neighboring Tamal Factory will buttress the tiny kitchen’s small bites, and the brewery’s nonprofit structure will stream a portion of proceeds into local causes, which merits an all-caps CHEERS. Conservative open date: July 2023.
Mirth Kitchen event-worthy lunch in Carmel Valley
The chef behind thriving catering outfit A Taste of Elegance has added a restaurant in the former Lokal, open for lunch starting March 1. And while it will borrow fresh-and-local identity (and greatest hits) from the team’s special event experience, Mirth will be its own thing. “We didn’t want Mirth to be an afterthought to our catering,” owner operator Annie Hobbs says. “Which is why we haven’t been in a big hurry. We want to come out with a bang.”
Crave Wine Bar flowing vino in a great space
This slick concept finally debuts on Hollister’s main street as this publishes. It represents a welcome addition for an under-appreciated wine region with a strategically located venue that’s part lounge, part tasting bar, part shop and all Cienega Valley identity (with some imports thrown in for good measure). Settling in between craft beer houses Mad Pursuit Brewing Company and Pour Decisions Taproom, it’s also a welcome update for an increasingly lively downtown Hollister.
The Pizza Series throwing dough in Scotts Valley
Champion dough-spinning madman Matt Driscoll has found a permanent home at 226 Mt. Hermon Road in Scotts Valley, soft opening at the end of January. So here come the regionally inspired pies—from thick and fluffy Detroit-style to habit-forming New York grade—that make saliva ducts flood at first sight. And while his trippy culinary journey finds new life, the most remarkable part of this saga is how his fiancée and Pizza Series partner Maddy is surviving a rare genetic disease with a liver transplant.*
The Midway getting a spiffy new spot
After a crowd-rousing residency at Bad Animal, and ongoing popularity at Santa Cruz Community Farmers Markets, former La Posta chef Katherine Stern now has a place to call her own. The Soquel Avenue spot in Santa Cruz—in the old Oyunaa’s Mongolian Cuisine, next to the Rio Theatre—will rely on the same fundamentals she always has: local, seasonal, farm-fresh, comforting, like her squash cappelletti with crispy Brussels sprouts, roasted apple, brown butter and sage. Stern hesitates to get specific with an opening date, but hopes for sometime in early 2023.
Ad Astra Bread Co. unloading loaves from Monterey
Ad Astra has gradually been building a bread dynasty, populating many top-shelf restaurant menus while doing the snacks for Other Brother Beer Company in Seaside. Its success meant AABC has outgrown OBBC, and will move to the former Bull & Bear on Alvarado Street soon. The plan from there is to open for counter service and (mostly) production by the end of spring 2023. When Ad Astra departs, Other Brother will assume command of the kitchen, led by brewer Kevin Brown and lead cook Josie Lewis.
A triple dose of additions for the Beer Thirty family
The debut of Beer Run in the long vacant Wienerschnitzel A-frame on Soquel Avenue—featuring house-recipe sausages and boatloads of craft beer—will be a big deal for midtown Santa Cruz, and could happen any month now. Meanwhile the brain trust behind Beer Thirty will also soon introduce a restaurant-bar to the reinvented Trout Farm in Felton and expand the original bottle shop and pour house in Soquel.
Buzzo Pizza wood-fired pies in Soquel
Speaking of Beer Thirty, Buzzo aims to open in a neighboring space early in 2023, once staffing is in place. (Patience recommended.) The beautifully blistered pizzas include a potato number with bacon, egg, roasted onion and white sauce and a pancetta with leeks and red onion.
The arrival of Kona Steak and Seafood in Monterey
Yup, they’re not done yet. As EMB reported last fall, Bill and Teresa Lee are back for restaurant number 12. Kona will key off familiar themes, namely island vibes, tropical drinks and a social atmosphere. It will also be the couple’s largest space yet, occupying the 6,000-square-foot former P.F. Chang’s in Del Monte Center.
An Alderwood sister spot and more Flashbird action
Not far from the OG Alderwood now appears a second location, promising items proven popular at the original—breads done in house, burgers, sandwiches, salads, cocktails and a raw bar. “Definitely more mass appeal and casual,” Chef Jeffrey Wall says. “I just want it to be really yummy, everything from scratch.” The debut may come as soon as the end of the month. At the same time, the restaurant group is introducing second and third iterations of popular fried chicken outfit Flashbird on Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley and 41st Avenue in Pleasure Point. Wall’s hoping for mid-February and late spring openings on those, respectively.
Jeninni reopening with a fresh new identity
Bidding goodbye to hospitality lifer and jeninni kitchen + wine bar creator Thamin Saleh was sorrowful, but made sweeter because of two of the many relationships he’s developed over the years. His friend and celebrated chef Jerry Regester, and Regester’s partner in life and restaurants, Gail Grammatico, couldn’t pass on a chance to take over and make it their own. Seeing what they do with the space and the legacy as arguably Pagrovia’s most daring menu is the definition of something to look forward to.
Grove Cafe Bakery fantastic-ness in Felton
The chef behind creative sensations Chicken Foot and The Brunch Shift, Jessica Yarr, returns to her native mountains to open a clever bakery in the former Chopstix and Wylder Space. The hearth breads, broad vegan options and 11th Hour Coffee commence seven days a week around late February, though installation of the featured wood-fired oven will have to wait.
Nicolás Cocina de Herencia’s inventive Mexican in Carmel
In June 2021, Edible reported on the second restaurant for the familial team behind cult hit Villa Azteca in Salinas: Chef-owner Susana Alvarez would be exporting their smart takes on classic Mexican—think octopus tacos, tuetano bone marrow and prawn aguachile—to the Sur La Table in the ground floor of Carmel Plaza. Flash-forward to January 2023 and one of her many kids involved in the business says it will definitely open this year, but construction delays mean no timeline any more specific than that.
Mad Yolks indulgent sandwiches and energizing teas
The real story here, according to the Yolks’ own language: “We are dedicated to creating an environment that not only nourishes the body, but also feeds the soul with clean food, casual style, and appreciation of simple beauty.” At their Pacific Avenue headquarters, that translates to crave-credible sandwiches stuffed with eggs, chives, mushrooms, fried chicken and more, served on signature brioche buns. Eye-popping, yes; super tasty, yes again. (Get more with “New spot Mad Yolks drops over-the-top egg sandwiches and adventurous teas on downtown Santa Cruz.”)
*Editor’s note: The original version of this piece noted the partnership behind the Pizza Series had planned on a liver transplant from fiancé-to-fiancée, before emergency surgery required a minor medical miracle. Instead of the live donor transfer, Maddy received a new organ from a deceased donor, not her husband-to-be. “As much as I wanted to, and was so ready to help save her life, I wasn’t able to become her live donor,” Driscoll says. “Words can’t describe how grateful we are that a liver came through for her, sooner than I could donate. It’s been a blessing and her recovery is going amazing and her liver numbers are finally in normal range after 2 years of illness.”
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
