The Cellar Door Cafe

Right after kickboxing on Saturday I showered and we all piled in the car to drive over to Santa Cruz for lunch at the Cellar Door Cafe. I figured I had burned enough calories between the 2 hours of weight training and then the hour of kickboxing. David, Lauren and Cooper are at the kitchen bar, our favorite place to watch all the action as we eat.


Below is a large chalkboard on the wall with the list of the producers and suppliers of the ingredients that day, all the farms. Lauren, being a very clever young woman asks "Is the boy happy because the girl is dirty?"


Ha! Smart girl!

The Chef, Jarod Ottley sends out a complimentary dish of fried Brussels Sprouts with smoked chevre. We also ordred Smoked fingerling potatoes with aioli and a fantastic pizza. It was Lamb sugo pizza with sheep's milk ricotta.  My plate is below, I had only one piece but could easily have eaten half the pizza.


Cooper and Lauren said it was the best pizza they had ever eaten in their lives (yes I know they are only 17 and 18, but they eat a lot of pizza!).

David then had Santa Cruz abalone, winter roots, castelvetrano olive and pickled carrot. I had a similar version of this last visit, it is amazing.

I typically order any seafood because it is so fresh and unique here. I had Eureka sand dab. Monterey squid, white beans and cippollini. Heaven on my plate!

Both Cooper and Lauren had the same thing: seared skirt steak, warm cabbage salad, fried farm egg. The moans and groans from the two of them were never ending. Cooper said it was the best steak he has ever eaten. I explained they use great local meats- but he said it wasn't just the meat, it was HOW it was cooked.

Oh, I finished my plate....could have even eaten the skinny little bones I guess! 

We ordered some cookies, but the server brought over a huge platter of desserts, including my favorite Dark chocolate cookies with caramel mascarpone. I explained that we hadn't ordered that, and she turned to look at Jarod, who just nodded his head, instructing her to place the platter in front of us.

Dessert was on the house. Lauren took one bite of the cookie and I thought she might try to whisk mine away from me! David and Cooper thoroughly enjoyed the date cake with maple and walnut.

Jarod come over and chatted about the upcoming holiday, the restaurant would be closed for a couple of weeks (good for them, bad for us). Lauren and Cooper expressed their pleasure with the whole experience and we vowed to return again soon.

Ferry Plaza Market

Saturday I was up at 5:15 and hit the gym for a quick 1 1/2 hour workout- LEGS! I trained hams, quads and threw in some calves (for what it was worth, I was pretty shot by then). 


I don't like rushing through my weekend training but sometimes I must make sacrifices!


I got home at 7:45 and rousted the boys, we had to pick up Lauren at 8:30 for our eating excursion in San Francisco.


I had the music on and nothing was satisfactory to the boys until I hit on Led Zeppelin, then I demonstrated the hair flying around, head banging car dancing only a crazy mom can do at 8:30 in the morning...and a mom who grew up with Led Zeppelin...(I know all the words....)


After every competition this is my dream destination, but after my October competition we were all so busy we never made it! So two months later, here I am having fish tacos and red wine for breakfast at Mijita. 

Lauren and Cooper enjoyed theirs, we also had quesadillas.  It was a bright but blustery day by the bay, coats were on most of the time.




Below David is introducing Lauren to raw oysters from Hog Island, David bought a bucket full!  Lauren liked them too! I have to hand it to her, not many people would be this adventuresome. Here- take a raw mollusk on a paper plate and stab It with a toothpick and stick it it your mouth...yeah...

After we ate and drank our way through the market, (tacos, wine, champagne, oysters, cheese), we stopped at Red's Java House for burgers.  The bartender was a little too overzealous when he opened David's beer, so the bottle flowed over the top when he plonked it onto the counter. He laughed and said "Hey buddy, keep it and I will give you another too! I think the stuff is organic or something, that keeps happening so I have been drinking them all day!"

I think David shared the beers....I had some very bad red wine, but  the atmosphere made up for it. Cooper and Lauren were having fun, the people watching was great! 


David really was having fun, he was just a little grumpy after I elbowed him as he walked up with my wine. The peels of laughter didn't help matters....He wiped it up and I drank the remains.

Red's has some seriously good burgers. There is nothing fancy about this place, nothing. In fact, they even have a sign "We do not serve lettuce or tomatoes" ha ha We decided it was because those are fresh items and would require monitoring or regular shopping..

My haul for the day? Two bags of Blue Bottle Coffee the fantastic, organic coffee we enjoy at Chez Panisse.  Lauren bought some for her father too. Sunday I shall have the Bella Donovan and....

A slice of this! My absolute favorite spelt and rye bread from Acme Bakery. When I told the guy at the counter I wanted 4 he looked at me like I was an oddball. I cannot really imagine any better breakfast than a THICK slice of this, toasted, with peanut butter and then a cup of scrambled egg whites on the side. I want to go to bed early so I can eat it sooner.


This bread is hefty and chewy, David described it to Lauren like thick cardboard, but I think it's more like semi dried oatmeal...I love it. It is only made twice a week, and available in San Francisco or Berkeley. I suppose it isn't high in demand. David is slicing and wrapping it up to freeze as I type this.

Then we bought a 2.5 pound rib eye from 4505 meats, look it's as big as my head! The four of us will have it for dinner on Sunday. 

I will serve it with roasted baby turnips that I bought and some steamed Romano beans. The turnips will be cleaned and dried, coated with fruity olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in a small open pan in a high oven until soft and almost caramelized on the outside, they will take on a sweet flavor, perfect with meat. 

Tonight (Saturday) I shall make clams (from Hog Island) with chorizo (from 4505 meats) and onions and wheat beer. It's like a Spanish stew, served with homemade aioli.

David will continue to eat the oysters he bought, I will find shells all around for days...

So was any of this on my "diet"? Nope. I am OK with that. I do believe it is important to eat clean and healthy, and I do 90% of the time. I also believe it's important to celebrate life and the things that bring us together, days like this. How many more times will my 17 year old son want to bring his girlfriend and hang out all day with us? Not many...How many days can I diet? Too many to count.

The food I ate and bought may not be low fat, but it is all (except the greasy burgers) from purveyors of local and sustainable goods. The greens were crunchy and just harvested, the coffee roasted the day prior, the meats local, the breads still warm as I placed them in my bag. The champagne? Came from France...ha ha but where else does real champagne come from?

Sunday I can get back into the groove, and enjoy my toast and coffee, thinking about the weights I will push the rest of the week.


And it gives me something to dwell on too. I do love to spend days like this and the fact that I don't do this often makes it oh so very special to me. We laughed and had such a good time, and luckily didn't get pulled over by all of the cops prowling Highway 280! 


Check out the video below to see Red's. Go straight to 10:24 because it's long! (Email subscribers will need to navigate directly to the blog to view the video)