Since I discovered Burn’s vibrantly hued fermented hot sauce last year, it’s become a staple in my kitchen, boosting everything I drizzle it on with dynamic spiciness. Then, their escabeche earned a permanent spot in my pantry—the pickled jalapenos, carrots, garlic and spicy brine are a flavor-packed powerhouse that takes soups, quesadillas and salsa to the next level. Now, Burn has started making breakfast on Saturday mornings at the Westside Farmers Market, and they’ve hooked me again.
Before she and partner Chase Atkins started Burn at the end of 2015, Amanda Pargh worked with such top-tier chefs as Suzanne Goin at Lucques, Thomas Keller at Ad Hoc and David Kinch at Michelin-starred Manresa before moving to Santa Cruz. Deeply inspired by the incredible produce available at the farmers markets where she and Atkins vend their sauce, she creates her breakfast menu each week to showcase the best produce the local farms have to offer.
What I love about the way Pargh cooks is that she respects her ingredients too much to disguise them. Rather, she deftly combines them to be greater than the sum of their parts, each ingredient becoming even more vibrant. Last Saturday, Pargh’s menu included avocado toast with an herb salad of mint, cilantro, basil and radish topped with a crispy fried egg with a molten center and Burn fermented jalapenos; fried potatoes with broccolini, asparagus, a fried egg and dill-cream sauce; a farmers market bowl with cow’s milk yogurt, toasted buckwheat-coconut-quinoa granola topped with strawberries and plump olallieberries; a snap pea slaw with raw zucchini, green onion, purple cabbage and lemon; and cornbread with honey butter. Of course, you’re welcome to spice it up with their range of single-variety hot sauces.
“Everything we’re serving is from the area and organically grown. It’s feel-good food,” says Pargh. “Breakfast is the most fun meal of the day. It’s my favorite meal and it makes me happy to serve it. I love starting people’s day off with something fun and vibrant because hopefully they’ll feel like that for the rest of the day.”
