Trout Farm Opens Its New Restaurant and Bar

May 2, 2023 – Chef Jon Dickinson grew up tending and eating tomatoes in his family’s lush Santa Cruz garden. 

“I would eat them all day—you just can’t buy them like that in the store,” he says. “I got exposed to a farm environment and working with organic foods at an early age.” 

He was washing dishes and working food prep by his early teens, and cooking professionally by 14. 

From there, across decades, he’s traveled an arc with long stints at impressive restaurants, all of them in the Santa Cruz area.

When asked which ones he demurs. 

That was surprising, but other things he said put it in context: One was personal (“I’m a shy, quiet, private person”); the other was powerful—reflecting the wisdom and humility of more than a half century working at the craft.

“My experience is all over the place, and I’ve learned a lot over the years from different folks and different styles,” he says. “I’m a good cook—but it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t have a good team around you. It’s a collaborative effort on everyone’s part—from the dishwasher to the maintenance to bussers.”

At one point he adds this, an unprompted follow-up to the point that a chef’s resume can be a helpful tool for readers to know what they’re getting into: “They’ll experience good food. I can guarantee you that.” 

(He did tell Edible off the record where he’s worked, and the list supports yet another something he said: “If you’ve been out to one of the better restaurants in Santa Cruz, you’ve eaten my food.”)

At Trout Farm Inn his food, which will be served starting tomorrow, May 3, feels like a snuggly match for a local institution recently reborn and applying ambition to its food, drink and family-friendly swimming pool program. 

It’s a menu defined by simple, smart, accessible and comforting grub with local at the center of its identity. 

Share plates roll through smoked wings to creamy hot artichoke dip to Manilla clams steamed in white wine, garlic, shallot, tomato, butter and fresh herbs (appetizers run $13-$24). 

Soups and salads dip into promising things like a smoked trout chowder with fennel, red potato, onion, cream, lemon and dill ($12) and the Trout Farm Caesar with Grana Padano cheese, garlic croutons and anchovies ($14). 

Lunch looks lovely, and reminds me why it’s my favorite meal of the day: three different Trout Farm tacos (short rib, pulled pork or fish), a signature burger, fresh rockfish-and-chips, Kalua pulled pork sliders ($15-$16) and a flexed-up rundown of sandwiches like the big Italian, fried chicken, meatloaf or turkey club, most available as a half with a choice of soup or house salad ($16-$18).

Entrees close the day with oomph. Think braised chicken thigh and leg in a rustic red wine-tomato-herb sauce ($27), whole rainbow trout ($28), short ribs ($34), mushroom cashew cream pasta ($22), mustard-crusted salmon ($32) and more. 

The Trout Farm Inn pool, which opened briefly last summer, is undergoing repairs and expected to reopen once the hot weather kicks in. The outdoor snack bar will reopen when the pool does and have a separate menu, serving up smash burgers, hot dogs and fries.

Dickinson lives in Boulder Creek, just up the mountain from Trout Farm Inn, so he’s digging the mellow commute. He sounds that much more fired up, however, for the sparkling new space. 

“It’s really cool to get to work in a brand new building with brand new equipment,” he says. “It’s just gorgeous.”

Trout Farm Inn’s bar-restaurant is open daily 11am-3pm for lunch, 3-5pm with a bar menu and 5pm-close (tentatively around 9 or 10pm) for dinner. | 7701 E. Zayante Road in Felton | (831) 335-4317, thetroutfarm.com.