No matter how you slice it, wood-fire it, deep-dish it, thin-crust it, brick-oven it, or stuff-crust it…
Whether you roll Sicilian, Neapolitan, Roman, New Yorker, Chicagoan or Detroit-style…
Regardless of your preference for pepperoni or peppers, black olives or green, bacon or basil, pineapple or purgatory, jalapeños or extra cheese…
If you’re an identifiable pie purveyor of any variety, your appetite shall be sizzling with the approach of the first-ever Santa Cruz Pizza Week—Jan. 29-Feb. 8—if only because of the star producers participating.
The list of SCPW pizza-smiths joining in bubbles up around 25 (and swelling) as of press time, and involves some of the greats in the game.
Toss these by your tastebuds, if you will: La Posta, Kianti’s, La Marea, The Pizza Series, Namaste, Buzzo, Pizza 1, Engfer Pizza Works, Pizza My Heart (times three locations), Seabright Social, Upper Crust, Laili, Sleight of Hand, Crow’s Nest Beach Market, Churchill and Beers, Pizzeria la Bufala, Cavalletta, Woodstock’s, Mentone Restaurant, Bookie’s, and Tramonti Santa Cruz.
Bookies pizza guru Todd Parker, who already specializes in outside-of-the-box, produce-driven, fluffy-thiccie-tasty pizza, provides a helpful take on the excitement, while noting he and his team are plotting a meatball pizza special and an unprecedented foraged mushroom masterpiece.
“It’s an opportunity to do something we wouldn’t normally do, something fun, in a new way,” he says. “An invitation for people who don’t know about us to come check us out!”
That speaks to the big picture driving the 11-day stretch: Eaters can anticipate bespoke special recipes, exclusive Pizza Week–only deals and, yes, pizza for people who care about their locally created pies.
The official website presents a flavorful place to start, and there is also an official app (wklys.co/m/pizzaweek) and an Instagram feed (instagram.com/santacruzrestaurantweek) to keep y’all well-rounded (or square).
As punk rock icon and Santa Cruz–style spirit Henry Rollins put it, “Pizza makes me think that anything is possible.”
FOR THE RECORD
I’m with immigrants.
NEXT LIFE
I promised more things to look forward to in 2025 in this space, but the pizza urgency means that can wait another week. But (!) there is this dope development to savor right now: Gabrielita Tamaleria (in a kiosk by New Leaf Market on Pacific Avenue) with chef Gema Cruz’s Oaxacan, banana-leaf-wrapped tamales—“unlike any you’ve had,” she says—are officially dishing in downtown Santa Cruz…OK one more thing to come, and start prepping recipes for: The 42st Annual Clam Chowder Cook-Off, Feb. 22-23, at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the only clam chowder competition in the land that has lasted this long and lusciously, beachboardwalk.com/Clam-Chowder-Cook-Off…The most surprising press release of the year came this week with a request for me to attend the Rocky Mountain Oyster Fry Festival, happening just over the state border in Virginia City, Nevada, on March 16, and you’re invited too, visitvirginiacitynv.com…While A Complete Unknown earns Oscar buzz, Bob Dylan low key distills an underappreciated connoisseur-grade thing with his Heaven’s Door Spirits and its line of whiskeys, heavensdoor.com…“There is nothing,” Dylan once said, “so stable as change.”
