Welcome to Lily Belli on Food, a weekly food-focused newsletter from Lookout food and beverage reporter Lily Belli, bringing you the latest local food news from Santa Cruz County, plus a few fun miscellaneous tidbits from my own life and around the web.
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Customers at Santa Cruz County Farmers Markets can use their SNAP benefit tokens like cash. Credit: Kevin Payne-Shaud/Lookout Santa Cruz
…Good news for hundreds of Santa Cruz County residents: This week, the California Legislature voted to preserve a vital food assistance program. For the past 15 years, Market Match has allowed millions of low-income people across the state to increase their purchasing power at farmers markets by “matching” their SNAP benefits with extra cash. But with California struggling with tens of billions of dollars in budget deficits, funding for the program was scheduled to be cut in the 2025 budget.
Over the past few months, local farmers market organizers have sounded the alarm and drawn public attention to the benefits the program would bring to both low-income families and small farmers. Legislative support is a step in the right direction, but Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of the month to approve a budget for it.
Nicole Zam, education and outreach coordinator for the Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market, believes between 300 and 350 people take advantage of the benefits at the market each week, with many saying the extra support is “life-saving.” Zam has been active in lobbying to keep Market Match open, even visiting Sacramento in March with nearly 100 other supporters. Watch for updates here.
… On Monday evening, the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project released 150,000 young king salmon, called smolts, directly from the Santa Cruz Municipal Pier as part of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s efforts to mitigate losses of king salmon as they migrate from their spawning grounds in inland rivers to the ocean. This is the second consecutive year that MBSTP has released smolts from the pier, out of millions the organization has released over the past two decades. The releases will help struggling salmon populations and, ultimately, Monterey Bay’s commercial and sport fisheries, which have faced problems severe enough to have had to cancel salmon seasons for the past two years. For more information, visit mbstp.org.
Pericos tacos come with complimentary chips and salsa at the new Taqueria Los Pericos in Aptos. Photo by Kevin Paineshaw/Lookout Santa Cruz
… Last week, one of Santa Cruz’s most popular taquerias opened a new location in Aptos. Taqueria Los Pericos opened its new location in the Rancho del Mar Shopping Center, serving the same rich and vibrant menu of traditional Mexican dishes, including tacos, burritos, chile rellenos and tortas. I stopped in for two Pericos tacos (one pastor, the other lengua) and a generous serving of warm, thick chips and housemade salsa. Here’s what you need to know:
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In case you missed it
One warm evening last week, I was rummaging through my small collection of wine bottles and came across a bottle of Ser Winery’s 2022 Dry Orange Muscat. It was a bottle I was given a while back and for some reason it had been tucked away in a corner. After a long stint in the fridge, I opened it up and discovered a wine I’ll be drinking all summer long. Made from 100% Orange Muscat grapes, this white wine is not sweet at all and is bursting with floral, citrus, pear and stone fruit aromas. The mouthfeel is delicate and dry, perfect for setting it down on a picnic table on a warm evening and enjoying it with friends.
Apparently, Lookout wine reporter Laurie Love was way ahead of me. This wine was her Wine of the Week for March. I wish I had listened to her sooner. Read her review and learn more about this local wine here. And don’t miss Laurie’s bi-weekly wine column. The latest edition is here.
Event Spotlight
Join the Surf City Wine Walk this Sunday on Santa Cruz’s Westside. Enjoy wines from 12 small wineries with tasting rooms scattered throughout the neighborhood, all within walking distance. Tickets are $55 per person and include unlimited tastings, a wine glass, and a map. More info here.
Life with Bell
Crushed potato chips are the secret to this fried fish sandwich. Photo by Lily Berry/Lookout Santa Cruz
This is a short but important PSA on deep frying. I’m not talking about safety. You know, wear closed-toe shoes and fry in a well-ventilated area. I’m talking about potato chips. I made fried grouper sandwiches for dinner on Monday night. Instead of batter or breadcrumbs, I used a 50/50 mix of breadcrumbs and crushed Lay’s potato chips. The result was the most beautiful golden brown, amazingly crispy, perfectly salted fried fish I’ve ever eaten. I just wanted to share this tip, dear readers. Here’s one more thing: To get the stickiest coating, dry the fish thoroughly with paper towels and season with salt. Rub the flour, egg, potato chip and breadcrumb mixture all over, pressing on all sides until it’s completely covered. The key is to wait until the oil is hot enough. Use a meat thermometer if you have one. And don’t immerse it in oil until it’s sizzling enough.
Food news worth reading
➤ As part of their efforts to become more sustainable, some restaurants are finding creative ways to reduce plastic waste, such as reducing disposable containers and lending out reusable ones. Doing so is slowly becoming easier, with a growing number of reuse services lending out everything from stainless steel coffee mugs to takeout containers. (Civil Eats)
➤ Weight-loss foods are nothing new, but with the growing number of people taking medications like Wegovy and Ozempic, Nestle is the first company to launch a food line aimed at them. The high-fiber, high-protein whole-grain bowls, sandwich melts and pizzas are tailored for consumers who take the GLP-1 drug called semaglutide. (CBS News)
