May 11, 2015 – We all seek some kind of identity or definition to know who we are, what we do, where we are headed. For Ty Pierce of Ty’s Eatery, one of the newest food businesses to open in the Food Lounge in Santa Cruz, self-identity doesn’t seem to be a problem. He knows he loves making food for people, he knows he wants his own restaurant one day, and he knows that Santa Cruz is the place he wants be. However, the definition he is looking for is simply how to describe his cooking.
His concept is to present a customizable menu using local, fresh, organic ingredients that offers “comfort food that is healthy.” He says: “I’m still trying to figure out the best way to describe it, to keep its integrity.” He is searching for the words to convey an element of choice within each seasonal menu, featuring options to ensure that everyone who walks in will leave satisfied, from the meat and potatoes kind of folk to the gluten free, paleo, CrossFit crowd.
For instance, a recent breakfast menu consisted of a variety of egg-based dishes: carnitas and eggs, a veggie scramble, and a California omelette with bacon. I was given a small form to fill out, instructing me to select my choice, plus two sides to go along with it, from sprouted wheat toast, to homefries to roasted sweet potatoes to a cup of steel-cut oatmeal. There was also a handful of griddle items and baked goods to choose if desired, like gluten free banana oat or buttermilk pancakes or cheese blintzes. I could indulge in a very true to classic cinnamon roll or the chocolate banana bread that had no added sweetener. It was Mother’s Day, so I opted for the cinnamon roll, of course. Getting past any branding issues won’t be a problem once you taste the food, and the ever-changing menu and custom ideology keeps things exciting for return visits.
But what really sets Ty’s Eatery apart is his commitment to using quality ingredients. My “Omelette of Greens” featured broccolini, swiss chard, garlic and cheese and was obviously made with produce that had flavor, was fresh and prepared skillfully in a simple way. That is the essence of what he’s trying to do, the bigger picture aside from just slinging food, especially when we are facing such large-scale health epidemics in this country. “I want to be part of the solution, there’s so many people sick from food, people have to learn how to eat better, to eat safely,” he says.
Having grown up in the business at his aunt’s popular Sunrise Bistro in Walnut Creek, he soaked in a lot of her health-conscious sensibilities. She is the co-author of “Fat Chance Cookbook”, a New York Times bestseller that looks at the negative impacts of sugar consumption and how it leads to chronic disease. Next he went to culinary school and then hit the road, working at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Chow in San Francisco, then traveling and working in London and Italy to broaden his scope. He discovered that, “by chance, every place I ended up had this belief system, like Alice Waters, of using local, fresh food. Food that keeps you well.”
If Ty’s menus seem familiar, you may have run into his cooking at Front Street Kitchen, where on recent Thursday nights for the past few months, the Local Harvest Eatery Pop-up dinners took place. Ty has since moved on to doing his own pop-ups at Food Lounge. “It was going really well there, but I wanted to go off on my own,” he explains.
For now, you can find Ty twice a week at the Center Street location, doing a Sunday Brunch from 9am-2pm and on Wednesday nights from 5pm-9pm. The onsite bar functions quite well to service our beverage needs, featuring local wines, cider and an exclusive beer collaboration with New Bohemia Brewing Co. So far, Ty says that the public is definitely supporting him by word of mouth. “I think that in Santa Cruz, everyone likes to support local businesses here, which is amazing,” he says. “The community seems to really jump behind people doing noble things.”
About the author
Amber Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
