There is something special about dining at a restaurant where the chef pays tribute to their roots through delicious food. Here are a few Santa Cruz County places where this is the case. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg!
Pana Venezuelan Food
118 Cooper Street, Santa Cruz & 2738 Mission Street, Santa Cruz
Open since 2023 at Abbott Square, Pana serves up authentic Venezuelan style arepas. These cornmeal pockets are opened in half and filled with a variety of tasty ingredients. Pabellon is a customer favorite with a magnificent combination of black beans, mozzarella, shredded beef, and plantains. Another must-try combination is the Sifrina, which overflows with flavorful shredded chicken, tasty cheddar cheese, and a generous helping of ultra-fresh avocado. Their homemade sauces are the crowning touch: choose from guasacaca (avocado), garlic, or spicy. Insider tip: you can customize your arepa however you want. Interested in the Capresa (a takeoff on an Italian Caprese salad) but also craving chicken? Go ahead and ask for a chicken addition! Love plantains but the arepa you’re looking at doesn’t come with them? Add them—or get a whole side order instead.
The arepa “houses a lot of emotions, stories, and culture,” says German Sierra, who is chef and co-owner/business partner with his wife Gabriela Ramirez. He is a Venezuela native; Ramirez was born in California to parents from Mexico. The foundation of the arepa recipes came from his family in Venezuela. He and Ramirez have enhanced the recipes from there. Their goal, which they definitely achieve, is for people to experience a feeling of comfort—and for people who grew up eating arepas to be taken back home through wonderful food memories. “Every morning before going to school, my most vivid moment is waking up listening to my mom in the kitchen cooking arepas, then the smell of arepas, then I got to the kitchen and there were arepas ready for me for breakfast,” says Sierra. They originally created Pana as a food truck in 2019. You can find the truck on the Westside (2738 Mission Street) many days of the week.
Fun facts: Pana’s arepas are also available to San Jose Sharks hockey fans in a kiosk at the SAP Center. And Pana earned a spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the Bay Area in 2022 (one of only 2 Santa Cruz places to receive this honor).
Copal
1203 Mission Street, Santa Cruz
Chef Ana Mendoza, a Oaxaca native, opened Oaxacan restaurant and mezcal bar Copal in 2020 with partners Stuyvie Bearns Esteva and Noëlle Antolin. The trio’s mission is to share Oaxacan culture through fabulous food and drinks. They brought back much of the decor from Oaxaca including handmade textiles and wood block prints. There are also vivid folk-art sculptures from Mendoza’s village, San Martin Tilcajete.
They make all the food from scratch, and it shows. Recipes have been passed down to chef Mendoza from several generations of her family.
Looking for unique regional appetizers? Try Chapulines (sautéed grasshoppers with chile, lime) or fresh Nopales (chopped cactus with tomato, radish, onion, and cilantro—ingredients complement each other beautifully). If you’re a meat eater, you will adore the Molotes: masa fritters filled with potato and chorizo.
Menu standouts include signature mole; choose from four kinds including Mole Negro and Mole Verde and choose your protein (chicken, pork leg, pork ribs, or vegan with tempeh, garbanzo beans, and roasted chayote). The verde is excellent with either of the pork options. Chef Mendoza and her staff grind the many spices necessary for this dish, by hand. In fact, the Negro contains 30-plus ingredients including roasted chile ancho, chocolate, and cinnamon, and takes three days to make. The homemade tortillas that are included (in this and many entrees) feature corn that Copal has milled itself. They use organic heirloom varieties which are imported from Oaxaca and grind it every day to make masa for tortillas and other selections.
Meat lovers shouldn’t miss two specialties: Albondigas soup (the pork meatballs are to-die-for) and Tlayuda. Some refer to the Tlayuda as a Oaxacan-style pizza, but it is way more than that. Picture a hard corn shell that’s over a foot in diameter topped with ground chicharron, savory black bean paste, grilled pork adobo, thinly sliced salt-cured Wagyu steak, and housemade chorizo. Now add quesillo, avocado, cabbage, tomato, and outstanding homemade salsa. It’s as colorful as it is delicious.
If you’re dining at lunch, you’ll love the Oaxacan torta sandwich, served on a large fresh-baked roll called a “telera.” It’s spread with pasta de frijol (a black bean paste). Additional fillings include avocado plus protein choices such as a breaded pork cutlet.
Copal has a mezcal selection unlike anywhere else in the county, with more than 200 available from small-batch producers. You can even order a mezcal flight! Copal also has mocktails like Bright Eyes with botanical spirit Livener from Three Spirits, Martini and Rossi Floreale, housemade hoja santa syrup, and lemon. Beer, wine, and agua frescas round out their drink menu.
Emozioni Pasticceria & Rosticceria
2841 Porter St. Suite B, Soquel
Emozioni is an authentic Italian treasure, serving artisan pastries and espresso plus a small selection of pizza. Partners Crescenzo “Enzo” Pelliccia (founder/co-owner/executive chef) and Michele “Mic” Tartaglia (co-owner) are natives of the Naples region of Italy. Pelliccia’s experience includes attending culinary school and serving as the executive pastry chef at Los Gatos-based fine dining restaurant Dio Deka.
There is no indoor seating, but several tables adorn the patio, in a courtyard in Soquel Village. Most ingredients Emozioni uses are from Italy. As you devour the results, you can taste the difference. The name they chose for the business, Emozioni, is fitting. It comes from the Italian word meaning emotion, and you will undoubtedly be filled with emotion as you enjoy these works of art.
One must-have pastry is Baba Al Rum, a staple in Naples and a staple at the bakery. “We operate with a great deal of Neapolitan philosophy and pride,” says Tartaglia. Delectable Baba Al Rum is sponge cake soaked in spiced rum syrup. They also make equally delicious spinoffs that appear on a rotating basis, like pistachio-cherry Baba.
Other stars from Emozioni, available most days, are La Pastiera Napoletana aka Neapolitan Easter Pie, and Sfogliatella Frolla. Easter pie ingredients include ricotta and citrus. Flavors are hard to describe but it’s masterful! Sfogliatella Frolla, one of Naples’ most famous pastries, is exceptional. Stuffed with ingredients such as semolina, sweetened ricotta, candied oranges from Sicily, and cinnamon, the filling is creamy and wonderful.
Chocolate Bomb, also available regularly, is a chocolate lovers’ dream. The core is a flourless dark chocolate brownie; it has whipped milk chocolate ganache, vanilla chantilly cream, and dark chocolate glaze. People of all ages love this—kids can eat it on its own, adults can take it home and complement it with a glass of red wine. Warning: it sells out early.
Do not skip the cream puffs! Fresh patê choux made daily is utilized for rotating varieties of cream puffs and tarts. The puff topped with powdered sugar, with organic fresh whipped cream sandwiched in between the two buttery, heavenly pastry layers, is always available. It sounds simple, yet it will elicit moans of delight.
Other rotating delights include Limoncello E Meringa (lemon meringue tart): take one bite to be transported to another dimension. It features Sicilian candied lemon, Sicilian lemon marmalade, white chocolate ganache, and more. What an incredible contrast of crunchy and creamy textures. At lunchtime, Emozioni offers savory homemade pizza. There is always at least one vegetarian selection. With thin crust, and organic flour from Petaluma’s Central Milling, chef/owner Pelliccia says it’s a style served in the bars in Italy. It definitely works! The crust is perfectly crisp, and you can taste the quality of the toppings, from the cheese to the imported Italian tomatoes featured in the sauce.
A retail section has a small, yet carefully curated, rotating selection of items from Italy. These include organic extra virgin olive oil, pasta, organic Italian soda, and fruit spreads.
Real Colima 2
1101 E Lake Ave, Watsonville
Yes, there is a plethora of Mexican food in Watsonville—from grocery stores that sell tacos, to taquerias, to sit-down restaurants. And many of them serve very authentic cuisine. But there was only room for one in this article, and that’s Real Colima 2. The Watsonville-based family-run Mexican restaurant is a true gem that has been serving customers since 1992. The Moran Family operate this plus Real Colima 1 in Royal Oaks; the latter has been open since 1980. Owner Rosa Moran was born in Mexico. Her son Alphonso Moran is Real Colima’s general manager.
When you first see the restaurant, you will be charmed by its exterior—that of a small, quaint house. The staff are friendly, and portions are large. The popular tortillas are made fresh every day. Many orders come with a tortilla; if you choose flour, know that it is huge, but you still might want to order an extra because they are fantastic.
One of the dishes that comes with a tortilla is a restaurant specialty: Camarones Al Charco, otherwise known as fabulous bacon-wrapped shrimp. This is a must-try on your first visit; you will truly enjoy the smoky and spicy flavor juxtaposition. Each order contains several meaty, large shrimps encased in bacon, smothered in Monterey jack cheese and spicy Diabla sauce.
A can’t-miss breakfast dish, available all day, is the Chilaquiles. Cut-up chunks of fried homemade corn tortillas, Mexican and Monterey jack cheese, and Ranchero sauce with a nice kick combine to create a wonderful harmony of flavors. And you get rice and beans on the side.
Hot tip: for another Real Colima specialty, birria soup (only available on Saturday and Sunday), go as early as possible. They open at 8 a.m. on weekends. Both the birra and the menudo, another traditional dish only offered on weekends, draw crowds. These selections sell out every weekend; once it’s gone for the day, you’re out of luck. The same advice is true if it’s a cold or rainy day and you want the “regular weekday” soup. These are Caldo de Res (beef soup) and Caldo de Pollo (chicken soup) and there is only one batch each day.
Real Colima 2 is also known for empanadas (cheese, shrimp, or meat), sopes, and chile colorado, among other dishes.