Chef, co-owner and Paris native Muriel D’Agostino named her popular Adorable French Bakery after Julia Child’s common refrain, “It’s adoooooorable.”
Child’s now looking down from her kitchen studio in the sky and saying just that as Adorable has debuted two new storefronts to peddle D’Agostino’s authentic, child-friendly and Child-friendly French treats like dark chocolate eclairs, cast iron sourdoughs and vanilla frangipane galettes.
The from-scratch goodies have made AFB nothing less than a farmers market juggernaut, serving 11 markets on Saturdays alone (including Westside and Scotts Valley) and 12 more on Sundays (like Live Oak and Los Gatos).
Its croissants are so good, in fact, the San Jose Mercury News named its flaky beauties among the very best in the Bay Area, despite the fact AFB is based down this way. And Adorable dives deep into the category, with butter croissants, chocolate croissants, double chocolate croissants, cinnamon vanilla croissants, vanilla raisin croissants and—perhaps the most inspired—almond Sacristan-style croissants.
AFB also has coffee stalls slinging everything from double almond croissants to Detroit-style pizzas on UC Santa Cruz and Stanford campuses, but never had a restaurant to call its own.
Now it has launched into a brand new—and brave new—era with not one but two brick-and-mortar spots for the people.
The former Malone’s Grille (4402 Scott Valley Drive, Scotts Valley) is now an Adorable French Bistro, as is Vinocruz Winebar + Kitchen (4901 Soquel Drive, Soquel).
Both are open 7am–7pm daily for coffee and the parade of pastries and other baked goods, with Vinocruz doing sit-down service midday and evenings and the Scotts Valley spot adding its own bistro program within a month.
D’Agostino’s husband/co-owner/baker Nicolas Lossky says the eateries are part of a logical evolution.
“We have this great production center with 26 people creating all this great food,” he says, referring to their 254 Portrero St. headquarters. “It just made sense to dispatch it to a storefront.” adorablefrenchbakery.com
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Huge food news for small operators: The Santa Cruz County Supervisors just gave Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs) the go-ahead, starting Jan. 1, 2025. The two-year pilot provision empowers home chefs to prepare food for sale from their own kitchens. The ever-helpful El Pajaro Community Development Corporation (23 E Beach St., Suite 209, Watsonville) aims to offer training on earning a MEHKO permit in the coming months. Meanwhile, nonprofit home food entrepreneur advocate Cook Alliance offers an eight-week course that also awards grants upon completion to assist people with opening a MEHKO, and has a comprehensive FAQ rundown on the whole opportunity up at its website, cookalliance.org.
NEWS BUFFET
The rebuilt Capitola Wharf celebrates its official grand reopening—the completion of an $8 million project in the wake of the ruthless storms in early 2023—2:30–5pm on Wednesday, Sept. 25, with food trucks, live music from the Joint Chiefs, and ceremonials from Capitola Mayor Kristen Brown and other local leaders. This year the village also celebrates 75 years as a city, capitolavillage.com…As Good Times reported last month, Barceloneta is now Ibiza (1541 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz)—starring daytime salads and wraps—but retains the same mom-and-pop team behind it. It also holds onto Barceloneta’s soul, as Chef Brett Emerson will dish up its signature chicken paella for a special World Paella Day dinner Friday, Sept. 20, that also features Spanish wines and appetizers and the signature Ibiza salad that helped inspire the switch ($75), ibizasantacruz.com…Julia Child, sizzle away: “This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and, above all, have fun.”
