A local legend is doubling down on its love affair with the community.
Companion Bakeshop has pumped out some beautiful sourdough boules and batards for nearly two decades. Hundreds, actually, on a daily basis—classic, three seed, walnut, goat horn and rye among them—that go out to seven Monterey Bay Area farmers markets and appear at its flagship Westside (2341 Mission St., Santa Cruz) and Aptos (7486 Soquel Drive) outposts, along with a bunch of cafe options.
Now the Westside locale has added a marketplace, to go with additional seating indoors and out, that celebrates area purveyors, deepens collaborations, and arrives on time for foodie-friendly holiday shopping.
Jennifer Eckert Bernau plays curator, ambassador and decorator for the space, which shelves cookie dough logs, cookbooks, kitchen tools, ceramics, chocolates, T-shirts, tote bags, linens, vintage curios, cheeses, jams, hot sauces, beverages, ice cream and more from a few dozen hand-picked makers.
“Cooking, home brewing, bread and pie baking, bread-making and a lot more,” she says. “It’s really full of beautiful things that match our shop and feature our favorite local vendors.” companionbakeshop.com
DOWNTOWN UPGRADE
CT Lights has done a rebirth/rebrand, transforming into Tarros Mexican Restaurant and Bar (110 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz ). Tarros—“mugs” en español—nods to the property’s past as 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, and hints at the mug club owner that Noel Cardona is workshopping to include personalized vessels and various discounts for bronze, silver and gold tiers. He sounds additionally psyched to feature the food of his childhood, namely Guanajuato- and Michoacan-leaning plates like pork ribs in a prickly pear salsa and classics like mole enchiladas. “I want to share my own cooking—very traditional cooking—integrating dishes from regions that I grew up with, when I would wild harvest ingredients for my mom.” instagram.com/tarros_santacruz/
SIP SITCH
If it’s wrong to fanboy out on the Aptos Wine Wander lineup on Dec. 8, I don’t want to be right. Bring on Santa Cruz Mountains’ own Aptos Vineyard, Burrell School Vineyards, Common Thread Wines, David Bruce Winery, El Vaquero Winery, Integrity Wines, Inversion Wines, Kathryn Kennedy Winery, Kissed by an Angel Wines, Lester Estate Wines, Lago Lomita Vineyards, Muns Vineyard, Sante Arcangeli Family Wines, Silver Mountain Vineyards and Windy Oaks Estate Winery, paired with Aptos Village businesses for an event that’s a bargain at $45 in advance ($50 day of). winesofthesantacruzmountains.com
NIBS AND NUGS
Shopper’s Corner (622 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz) doesn’t skip a week hooking up the Surf City with good-old-fashioned small-town charm, which is one reason its 1-page Weekly Specials comes overstuffed every time, with seasonal deals, recipes, strong wine values and heartfelt customer testimonials, shopperscorner.com…Seattle nonprofit Toxic-Free Future reports on consumer product safety. This month it gave F grades to Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, Chipotle, 7-Eleven, Subway, Inspire Brands (the parent for Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s and Sonic Drive-In) and Yum! (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill). In a word, eesh, toxicfreefuture.org…The 45th EcoFarm Conference digs in Jan. 22-25, 2025, with 1,500+ organic, biodynamic and regenerative farmers, ranchers and industry leaders soaking up expo center action, keynotes and workshops, ecofarm.org…The 2024 edition of “Best of Santa Cruz” appears on the horizon, and voting—open until Dec. 8—is quick and easy, goodtimes.sc/best-of-ballot.
