It’s hard to be considered a hot food destination when you’re Santa Cruz.

The college surf town with a hippie edge has been pigeonholed as a veggie-burrito kind of place — a land of tofu scrambles, chai with oat milk, and heart-opening cacao ceremonies. Either that or hot dog on a stick as a potential last meal before a death-defying ride on the boardwalk’s rickety, 101-year-old Giant Dipper. 

Though I attended UC Santa Cruz and my son is a student there now, I’ll admit that I have long judged the food scene from my snobby urban tower. But since I’m down there with some regularity — and desperate for better places than my old greasy-spoon haunts, like Zachary’s — I decided to lean on some food-savvy locals for recommendations.

Chef David Kinch, who has lived in downtown Santa Cruz for years, was my first call. Though he closed three-Michelin-starred Manresa in 2022, he still has five locations of Manresa Bread, The Bywater in Los Gatos, and Mentone, an easy-going, French Riviera-style restaurant with pizzas, pastas, and skin-contact wines, in nearby Aptos. (Tip: through Labor Day, they’re open for lunch al fresco.) He was more than generous with his suggestions.

I also pinged Elan Emerson, who seven years ago closed the Spanish restaurant Contigo in Noe Valley (one of my all-time favorites) to decamp for Santa Cruz. She and her husband, chef Brett Emerson, opened Barceloneta along Pacific Avenue but recently turned it into an excellent counter-service spot called Ibiza. “Everyone has this idea that Santa Cruz is only a beach town where everyone’s walking around without their shirt on and a surfboard under their arm,”  Emerson says. “But there’s so much more here.” 

That is, if you know where to go.

And if you do, you’ll be delighted as I was to discover that you’ve got a really delicious day ahead of you. Everything in sleepy Santa Cruz is early-to-bed, so plan your day trip so you can zip down Highway 17 on the way there and return with a leisurely drive up Highway 1 around 8 p.m., just as the sun is setting over the Pacific.

Some of the best new Santa Cruz restaurants were born of pop-ups — and that includes The Midway, a cozy spot from chef-owner Katherine Stern, who started it as a brunch stand at a couple of the town’s farmers markets. She opened The Midway at the end of 2023, and the food is simple but thoughtful and extremely locally driven. (Stern still sources almost exclusively from the farmers market.) Sour cream pancakes come with a compote of rhubarb, a dollop of creme fraiche, and cornmeal crumbles. A gem salad is topped with crispy breadcrumbs, and a carrot-coconut soup is enlivened with mint, peanuts, and cilantro. She also makes tangy loquat jam; take a jar to go. The Midway serves dinner too.

After brunch, stop at the vintage store Tomboy next door. With an eagle-eye curation of hip western wear like cowboy boots, bolos, fringed suede, and denim, it’s Beyonce-meets-Brooklyn level. The Midway, 1209 Soquel Ave.; Tomboy, 1207 Soquel Ave., Midtown, Santa Cruz

The most beautiful walk in Santa Cruz may not be at a beach. It’s along a paved path, which is part the 67-acre Arana Gulch, an open space that provides a peaceful stroll through thrumming prairies and wetlands. Walk the loop, which stops halfway overlooking the Santa Cruz harbor, and you’ll likely see great blue herons nesting at the top of eucalyptus trees.

For your picnic provisions, stop first at La Bottega del Lago, a little deli that opened last fall a quick drive away. It’s a microscopic “Eataly” and little sister to one of Kinch’s favorite Italian spots, Lago di Como. (“Run by a young Italian couple; the vibe inside is fantastic. They do a great carbonara, too.”) The shop carries organic marmalades, house-made pastas, panini (porchetta, provolone, caramelized onion — yes, please), biscotti, espresso, and fantastic gelato imported from Italy. La Bottega del Lago, 1701 Portola Dr.; Arana Gulch (S. Parkway at Agnes St.), East Side, Santa Cruz

Known for Belgian-style beers and barrel-aged mixed fermentations, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, owned by Adair Paterno, is among the best breweries in the Bay Area (and in fact, has a third location in Oakland, which opened a few years ago). Now the Santa Cruz tasting room has a long-term, in-house pop-up called Bookie’s Pizza, serving self-proclaimed “inauthentic” Detroit-inspired pies.

It’s made by Todd Parker, a former Manresa alum, who focuses on seasonality. You might see fava beans and ramps in late spring, but I’d suggest heading straight for the sweet-salty-funky ’nduja, pineapple, and anchovy pizza, topped with fresh leaves of licoricey tarragon. A corner slice, which has an airy dough and crispy crust, gives good ASMR. Pair it with the Anais, the light and summery house saison, or the Saison Bernice, which uses the Anais as a base and adds some sour culture. Sante Adairius Rustic Ales and Bookie’s Pizza, 1315 Water St., East Side, Santa Cruz

The romance of buying seafood straight from the docks never wains. Family-owned H&H Fresh Fish at the harbor sells local hamachi, halibut, sablefish, and ling cod — and also transparently denotes how it was caught (hook and line, trawl, longline, bottom set). The selection is bolstered with fish, crustaceans, and mollusks from other West Coast locations. There are a few prepared items, including tuna poke, a perfect midday snack to enjoy at one of the umbrella-covered picnic tables. H&H, 493 Lake Ave., Santa Cruz Harbor, Santa Cruz

Steamer Lane Supply, located in a little kiosk at Lighthouse Field State Park, combines all of Santa Cruz’s best stereotypes: It’s got outdoor-only, dog-friendly seating directly across from the world-famous Steamer Lane surf break; a vaguely crunchy vibe; surf merch; a meadow to walk along; and iconic West Cliff views. The menu includes a pulled pork bowl, but you should start with what they call “’dillas” — essentially, pressed burritos that are quesadilla adjacent. Specifically, get the kimchi version, with jack cheese and brown rice. If you’re a morning person, get there at 8 and grab a breakfast taco. Of course, you can sit at one of the many picnic tables, but better yet, head across the street to watch the surfers do their thing. Steamer Lane Supply, by the lighthouse at 698 West Cliff Drive, West Side, Santa Cruz

In a time when bookstores are dying, Bookshop Santa Cruz, founded in 1966, seems to be thriving. The massive and all-encompassing emporium in the heart of downtown is enough to make a day out of. (Very hot tip: On July 2, one of my favorite authors, Rachel Kushner, will be in conversation with Santa Cruz’s own Jonathan Franzen about her latest book, “Creation Lake.”) 

When you’ve bought enough books to start your own library, head across the street to Ibiza to grab a falafel. The herbaceous, hand-formed balls come with yogurt, harissa, pickled onions, peperoncini, cabbage salad, and housemade amba (a sweet-spicy mango pickle), rolled into fluffy, house-made pita. You can, and you should, add french fries. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave.; Ibiza, 1541 Pacific Ave., Downtown, Santa Cruz

If I could take two spots and bring them back with me to San Francisco, it would be the Birichino winery tasting room and Hanloh. They’re both downtown, which means you can start with a flight of wine at Birichino — a pretty space filled with a sea of plants, beveled glass, a zinc bar, bistro chairs, and a white pressed-tin ceiling — then walk over for Thai food at Hanloh. Birichino specializes in old-vine California wines, plus “a few from the late disco era.” The labels are artful (call me shallow, but I have no problem judging a wine this way), and the excellent wine follows. Get a bottle of the 2023 Carignane-dominant Scylla to bring home, then head over to the coolest restaurant I’ve been to in a while. 

Hanloh is located inside the hip and irreverent Bad Animal rare bookstore, which has a rack of prominently displayed vintage Playboys and certain sections labeled as “hot shit.” While Hanloh opened as a pop-up, it’s apparently here to stay. The homespun but refined cooking of chef Lalita Kaewsawang, who worked at Manresa for a couple of years, has not gone unnoticed. In June, Hanloh was selected for the L.A. Times’ 101 Best Restaurants in California list. Get everything on the small menu. It is all delicious, especially the seafood-driven nam prik lon (a Thai-style crudite) served with seasonal veggies for dipping, and the local black cod, in an aromatic broth of bird’s eye chiles and lemongrass. Birichino tasting room, 204 Church St.; Hanloh (located inside Bad Animal), 1011 Cedar St., Downtown, Santa Cruz