Chef Jessica Yarr always dreamed of opening her own cafe and two years ago she had the chance to bring her culinary vision to life in her hometown.
Since opening The Grove Bakery and Cafe in March 2023, Yarr has regenerated her little section of downtown Felton into an oasis, or rather a grove. At the new spot, Yarr celebrates the region’s rich topography of flavors while bringing her unique take on plant-forward cuisine to the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“Plant forward resonated with me and I just took to it,” she says. “That’s how I’ve always preferred to eat personally, and so I really started making it a priority to cook that way.”
This may be Yarr’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant, but food was always an integral part of her life growing up in the San Lorenzo Valley, and she’s become somewhat of a celebrity in the local food scene over the years.
“My interest in food has been since forever,” she says. “Growing up my mother had a garden that we got all of our food from, and it was my job to pick the lettuce for the salad. My dad was a commercial fisherman and was a really good cook, so it was normal to eat seasonally and source from where I lived.”
When her first boss at a coffee shop and deli suggested she pursue a culinary career, Yarr dove in headfirst. After culinary school, she worked in kitchens across the region—starting with learning the art of French pastry at Theo’s (now HOME) in Soquel.
“The pastry chef went off to France, so I became the default pastry chef at 20 years old,” she says. “I was making very high-level from-scratch desserts mostly on my own, teaching myself new things. And that’s what really started me off.”
From Theo’s, Yarr brought her chops to institutions like Gabriella Café and the Penny Ice Creamery, earning coveted slots at events like Outstanding in the Field and Big Sur Food & Wine Festival. After years of “the grind,” she took a role with Bon Appetit Management Company as a pastry chef and then senior executive chef at the San Jose campus of Adobe.
“That’s where I really learned how to care for employees and prioritize employee well-being, and to become a better leader,” she says. “It also set me up to start my business.”
When the pandemic hit, Yarr drew inspiration from her Eastern European heritage and began making perogies and other family recipes to sell at the Farmers Market under the name Chicken Foot. As the pop-up got busier, Yarr decided to leave the corporate world and pursue her own venture full-time.
Before long, she was planning The Grove’s opening day.
As someone born and raised in Felton, it’s no wonder she has a “Bigfoot Sandwich” on the menu (a crowd-pleaser with avocado, scallion aioli, fried sweet potatoes and pea shoots on Tuscan sourdough). She’s dedicated to working with local, in-season ingredients.
“It’s a way of life here, we’re in the most beautiful place with so much access to great, fresh, seasonal foods,” she says. “But for me, what goes deeper is relationships…I know the time of year one specific farmer will have the best of this.”
The Grove features house-made pastries and breads as well as breakfast, lunch, rotating specials and a robust espresso and natural wine program. Top breakfast sellers include the bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich and the buttermilk biscuit sausage sandwich. At lunchtime, options range from rainbow bowls of veggies to loaded sandwiches, as well as small plates like Yarr’s personal favorite, warmed dates with ricotta.
There is a cult following for the mushroom magic toast—featuring a roasted mushroom medley, arugula, and goat cheese on sourdough porridge bread—and another cult following for the loaves of gluten-free bread baked daily. The pastry case always has something for everyone, too, between the carrot ginger walnut loaf that happens to be vegan (you’d hardly notice) and the gluten-free mochi doughnuts that are a favorite of gluten avoiders and eaters alike.
That’s the other thing Yarr is trying to do—meet an array of dietary preferences while still delivering on flavor, quality, and creativity. Take her beet Rueben, for example. Instead of smoked pastrami, Yarr uses beets that are marinated, smoked, and shaved just like the “real thing,” and serves them with sauerkraut and Swiss on mountain rye bread.
“The best compliment I ever got was this guy that tried the beet Rueben. He said, ‘That was the best sandwich I ever had and now I’m changing mind about vegetarian cuisine,’” she says. “That’s plant-forward right there, that’s exactly the goal—to expand people’s minds and not focus on what it’s lacking but what’s it’s offering. It’s about changing the perspective of what is the center of the plate.”
Yarr has also experimented with different event ideas and formats. This past holiday season, she offered gourmet holiday dinners to-go, which proved so popular that she plans to replicate the service throughout the year. She’s also collaborated with local chefs like Diego Felix of Fonda Felix on more formal, seated tasting dinners.
The biggest smash hits, though, have been the Neighborhood Nights. These more casual dinners have ranged from a crab boil to a fancy hot dog night, a tropical night in the winter and a BBQ night featuring meats from Pajaro Pastures.
“The Neighborhood Nights came in because I wanted to try out other things and bring diversity into the Valley,” she says. “We did a pop-up with Andy [Huynh] from Full Steam Dumpling, and we had a line almost to the fire station. It showed me people want something different and new, especially in the Santa Cruz Mountains.”
Now that The Grove has hit its groove, Yarr has been able to turn her attention to another passion of hers: sharing the joys of cooking and baking with everyone. She’s hosting workshops ranging from knife skills to holiday pie crust and flaky biscuits and scones to give people foundational knowledge and tips for getting creative with recipes.
She also recently took over the shop next door, opening a retail space full of seasonally rotating kitchenware and cookbooks – think stew pots in winter and preserving kits in spring. She admits, “I am very specific about tools and why I use them,” so The Grove’s Kitchen Corner is her way of sharing her top picks.
Much like The Grove represents the local food culture, it also represents Yarr’s personality and tastes as a chef and as a person. And, she hopes, a place where everyone can come together over their mutual love of food.
“The Grove is an extension of me and my aesthetic. All these pantry items and tools are things I love, and the menu reflects my personal eating style,” she says. “I want to help people taste things that are delicious that also give proper nourishment and are inclusive. So, a big family can sit down together and have a ham and brie sandwich, something on gluten-free bread, a vegan rainbow bowl, a bacon egg and cheese, and everything they want.”
About the author
Ashley Drew Owen is a writer and Massachusetts transplant. Her passion for learning about local food is only overshadowed by her passion for writing about or eating it. Safe to say, she is a lover of food and words, and also driving very fast in the left lane.
