Found Treasure: Surf City Billiards & Cafe

April 14, 2023 – All of the Things delivers on the promise. 

It arrives smoky, sweet, sour and savory, with soft body one wouldn’t anticipate from a citrus cocktail. 

The alchemy behind it proves intuitive: These things blossom by way of Burrito Fiestero mezcal, tamarind syrup, orange and lemon juice, plus Orgeat almond liqueur that provides depth.

More importantly, it works as a handy shorthand for both 1) its inventor and 2) the bar-lounge-restaurant where she serves as creative director. 

Tawni Lucero is all of the things. 

She plays chef, bar director, art curator and enthusiasm engineer. 

She draws inspiration from ancestors hailing from Germany, France and Spain, having grown up eating various grandmothers’ schnitzel, crepes, tamales and meaty chili. 

Her professional background includes French culinary school training, working the door at a trendy Los Angeles gay bar and using seamstress skills to sew together a local boutique that the New York Times spotlighted for its lofty hipster IQ.

Surf City Billiards & Cafe, meanwhile, is also all of the things. 

Located on lower Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, it’s an underrated comfort food restaurant, expansive pool hall, vinyl-spinning culture hub, craft cocktail haven, solid dartboard destination, and “beer pong” tournament host with a resident trophy and a waiting list to enter. (In all fairness, without paddles it’s not pong. It’s Beirut.)

If that wasn’t quite enough, it’s also a great place to belly rub Stella, the half-pint Maltese-shih tzu-poodle mix with a heart of melted ghee. 

While the place had me at billiards and beer, the wonderland of edible entries (from lemon pepper wings to soft-shell crab on brioche) and sippers (note the Daydreamer with bergamot liqueur, chamomile simple syrup, Las Californias gin, lemon and a  spritz of absinthe) swear me in as smitten.

On top of that, Surf City makes its own ranch, teriyaki, country gravy, Hollandaise and a barbecue sauce Lucero simply calls “the special part.”

Meanwhile the cafe is integrating elements that make it that much more of a fever dream. 

Those involve:

• A Sunday brunch (noon-4pm Sundays) with waffle-battered fried chicken sandos, vegan fried-pickle po boys, and tofu-asparagus-avocado-arugula scrambles;

• A taco program with house made tortillas and onions pickled in Modelo and hot sauce; 

• Rotating resident art from local masters that star at First Friday Santa Cruz monthly art tours; 

• A rearranged floor plan to cultivate more eat-and-enjoy zones and greater social quotient.

Lucero self-identifies as “very excitable” and acts like her creations emanate out of somewhere unknown. 

“I just think of what ingredients work together,” she says. “I like a balance of flavor. I don’t know where that comes from.”

One place the bar’s curated liquor selection comes from is the mind of owner Zac Crandell, who taps into interesting finds with help from his popular L.A. neighborhood joint Johnny’s Bar.  

“Zac is adamant about being different,” Lucero says. “We try to give people an option they’re not aware of—and might be better than the thing they thought they liked.”

My favorite Found Treasures-esque part of all of the action is that many locals don’t realize this is unfolding at all, let alone in the heart of downtown Santa Cruz, with an outsized heart for hospitality. 

“We’re creating things and making people happy,” Lucero says. “That’s the whole point of this place.” 

931 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz | More info at Surf City Billiards & Cafe’s Instagram.