Santa Cruz Food Tour

Very informative and good food. Would do it again if there was a Groupon. It’s pretty expensive otherwise.

Fabulous tour that is well worth the cost. Brian our guide/​historian was very informative, enthusiastic and knowledgable. The pace of the walk was good, with breaks on a regular basis. The food was great, the scenery was great. I recommend this tour as it is a must adventure.
Thank you,
Joe&Liz S.

Good evening
My wonderful girlfriend Christine brought me on this tour.
I loved every part of The Tour. The food all organic and in seasonal, this is the best part this is the way we are to eat food. Laili, the butternut squash the best I have ever eaten. Buttercup cakes, my taste buds explored. Penny Ice Creamery, this was the best Ice Cream I have ever eaten, I have a lactose problem, there was no signs, I feel the organic way this is made was to die for. Assembly the flavors, farm to the table its the best. Surfrider café, again everything just explored with flavors, the beer tasting was a lot of fun. True Olive Connection, pure and fused olive oils and aged Balsamic Vinegars.
Brian the tour guide, he was so impressive , a wealth of knowledge .
This was a great education of Santa Cruz of the History and buildings.
Wonderful walk.
Thank you
Katherine Decker

Brian deserves your business! He knows his little town and enjoys doing what he does and it shows.
I went on the Santa Cruz Food Tour after much hype from my girl who had attended before. I must admit; it lived up to the high expectations that were set. The tour guide, Brian, is an interesting character and it’s difficult to not become more passionate about the history and food he’s discussing even if it’s not normally right up your alley. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE food and history can be damn interesting. But Victorian house styles? Not exactly something I’d normally care too much about. Despite that it was still cool to learn about the differences, especially as they pertain to Santa Cruz.
One gains a new appreciation for Santa Cruz even if you’ve been there countless times before. What starts off in your mind as a one-​dimensional beach town gains new depth as you explore and learn about other aspects of the community and its history.
There are a couple of critiques though. If you’re the type that is very hungry or eats a lot you will not want to make this your only meal. Eat before and/​or after. Also the order of the food establishments visited should be switched around a bit. We visited a restaurant, a cupcake place, an ice cream place then two more restaurants. This created a sugar high that could’ve been avoided if we had eaten more normal food before so much sugar.

A++
Fantastic!
Best tour ever!
Why have you not signed up yet?!
I love, love, love the Santa Cruz Food Tour. In fact, I love it so much, I’ve gone 4 times– on the SAME tour. It’s that good. And Brion, the owner/​tour guide is seriously great. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the Santa Cruz area, the history behind it, and the local restaurants dined at during the tour.
Here are some of the highlights you get on the tour:
+ Brion — totally awesome host!
+ Tons of history of the Santa Cruz area, the REAL facts behind the SC Mission, history of the railway system, facts about the beautiful architecture surrounding downtown, and much, much more!
+ Insanely great food at local restaurants — all restaurants Brion has picked on this tour have a story behind them, area local to the area, and are DELICIOUS
One of the best things about this tour is that although I’m semi-​local to Santa Cruz, I learned SO much I hadn’t previously known about the areas and dined at places I never would have otherwise.
This tour opens up new ways to enjoy the Santa Cruz area. Although it’s the same tour each time I’ve attended, I’ve learned a little more about the area, tried something slightly different then I did before, and got to enjoy this fantastic experience with someone new each time. :)
TIP: Book as early as possible because the tour dates fill up FAST.

This was a fun thing to do in Santa Cruz — a mix of history and food. I had a Groupon and we took the last tour of the year. Because of the route of the walk the order of things didn’t make sense in terms of a normal meal (starters, cupcakes, ice cream etc finishing with a slider then olive oil tasting) but was still really enjoyable. The food was really good and you get ideas about where to eat in the area which was useful. Our guide was really knowledgeable not just of the local history but also about each place that we visited. Will definitely do this again on their Capitola tour.

It was beyond what I expected!~
i thought it would be just hoping from one res to the other, but the guide gave us a great insight of Santa Cruz history and the res that I did not even know.
Santa Cruz, in my mind had always been surfers’ town, but it offers more than that! i highly recommend this.

If you visit Santa Cruz, heck if you LIVE in Santa Cruz — take the time for the Santa Cruz Food Tour. Brian has pulled together a most professional, entertaining, educating, and tastastic tour of local restaurants and historical sites in Santa Cruz. I have lived here 25 years and learned fascinating new facts about Santa Cruz. Not to mention the restaurants! I will become a patron of all of them — Leili’s Buttercup Cakes, Penny Ice Creamery, Assembly, Surfrider Café, and True Olive Connection.
I will take this tour again.

A wonderful tour! We started at Laili with a sampling of Afghani food. Brion gave us a history lesson on the origins of the building and the saving of the façade after the ’89 earthquake.
The walk took us into downtown and then up to the Victorians along Green street and then to the building that is not the Mission Santa Cruz. If you take the tour you’ll know why I say it’s «not».
All along the way Brion gave us a great history of the origins of Santa Cruz and the various architectural styles. We even went inside a couple of them.
The food places were awesome! To name a few, Penny Ice Creamery, surfrider café, assembly, and ended at the olive connection.
Be prepared to be on your feet for more than 2 hours, but it’s a slow pace and the food rest stops.

Everyone has done a great job describing this tour — it’s a fantastic mix of food, insider history lessons, walking and enjoying downtown Santa Cruz. We learned interesting facts about architecture, how the city evolved, and the history of the Santa Cruz mission. Things I had no idea about, even though I pass by them every week!
Here was the line up from our tour this past weekend:
Center Street Grill: bacon pizza & chinese noodle salad
Buttercup Cakes: mini blood orange cupcake
Penny Ice Creamery: full-​size scoop of strawberry and pink peppercorn ice cream, with a handmade cone
True Olive Connection: olive oil, balsamic vinegar with bread for unlimited tastings
Surfrider Café: slider & three microbrew beers
Malabar: roti & banana blossom salad
My boyfriend and I had done the Capitola Tour a few months prior and were so impressed we drug our parents along to the Santa Cruz tour. Once again, we were impressed by how well organized Brian is, satisfied with all the food tastings, and totally intrigued by all the new history facts we learned! A «must-​do» for tourists, Bay Area folks, and locals alike!

I highly recommend this tour. If you love food and you want to learn a bit about Santa Cruz history and archecture, oh and if you don’t mind walking, then this excursion is for you. You will learn about the very beginnings of Santa Cruz as well as the difference in architecture between a Stick Eastlake, an Italianate and a Queen Anne and see gorgeous examples of all. There are stories about the Loma Prieta Quake of 1989, the Spanich Galleons and the Santa Cruz Mission. And you will find out why that street at the top end of town is named «Bulkhead.» And there is so much more, but let’s get to the food…
We started at the Center Grill where we enjoyed this fantastic spinach/​bacon pizza with homemade sauce and the best crust ever. A light fusion Chinese noodle salad was served that mixed noodles, bean spouts, pineapple, peanuts and other goodies that I forget now. Excellent stuff. We learned a bit about the chef and the restaurant. The art on the walls here was also fantastic and is part of the First Friday Artwalks.
Next food joint was Buttercup where we each got an organic Blood Orange Cupcake that was sweet and tart and absolutely out of this world. Buttercup offers a wide range of interesting flavors to include gluten free. The owner/​baker has an interesting background and learning that made the cupcake that much better.
Then on to the Penny Ice Creamery where we each got a house-​made waffle cone filled with heavenly organic oreo cookie ice cream. These owners also have interesting backgrounds and have choosen to make their ice cream in a special way. I have never tasted ice cream so flavorful… and there is a reason it is so flavorful but you have to go on the tour to hear.
Now to the Olive Oil Connection. As a previous blogger posted, I too will never look at the grocery store olive oil (nor balsalmic vinegar) the same way. We learned how each are made, had samples galore and got to pair different infused oils with infused balsamic vinegars. Awesome!!!
Oh my gosh, more food??? On to Surf Rider where everyone sampled three micro brewed beers and then everyone but me since I don’t eat cows or pigs (yeah, I didn’t get bacon on my slice of pizza at the first stop) got a Derby Slider of Angus beef with gorgonzola cheese on a fresh baked roll. This was a huge hit. For me? Well I got this avocado appetizer which was a nice-​sized wedge dipped in Japanese breadcrumbs, quickly fried and seved with this wonderful aoili sauce. Nice!!!
Last stop was Malabar Restaurant, a Sri lankan vegetarian place that served ths Vegetable Roti (with squash and potato and curry) and a Banana Bloosom Salad. Excellent!!! Even the «meat» eatters thought the flavors and textures of both items rocked.
This tour lasts 3 ½ hours and is coordinated so well, you’d never know you were walking and eating for that long. I can’t say enough about our host Brian. He has lived in Santa Cruz 30+ years and is so ethusiastic about showing his guide group his city. Where comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk, to discover and to EAT!!!

I purchased a Groupon deal for the Santa Cruz Food Tour and it was money very well spent! We went on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, after having a late but light breakfast. At the Center Grill, our tour guide Brian warned us to not eat too much since we would have plenty to fill our bellies with as the tour progresses. Of all the places we visited, we thought the salad and pizza at the Center Grill was our least favorite. At Buttercup, we savored the most delicious blood orange cupcake with a slice of cumquat atop Earl Grey frosting — WOW! At the Penny Creamery, we sampled a full-​size homemade waffle cone with fresh strawberry ice cream and then headed over to the Olive Connection. Tasting olive oil at its purest is a true eye-​opening experience and worth every delectable calorie! Next, we headed over to the Surf Rider Café for a juicy and savory slider and washed it down with some microbrews. Our last tasting was at the Malabar to try a curried leek and onion roti paired with a incredibly refreshing banana blossom salad. The great thing about getting a chance to «sample» everything was the fact that most of it was not a traditional sample size. They truly seemed like a full-​size portion!
In between filling out our bellies, Brian filled us in on tons of local CA and Santa Cruz history. It was definitely a great tour to take and a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.

Santa Cruz food tour; I was expecting to eat, eat, and eat some more. Now I did eat, however I wasn’t expecting to also get a tour of some Santa Cruz’s historical sites. pretty neat! … I would recommend to go on this tour — wear comfy shoes!
–food was also good.

My friend snagged a Groupon Deal — we both live in Monterey, about 45 minutes away. I’ve spent a lot of time in Santa Cruz, and thought I’d probably been to some of the places on the tour, but I love food, so I thought it’d still be fun. When we arrived for the tour and got the itinerary, I figured out I’d been to 5 of the 6 places — which as it turns out, really didn’t make a difference because we ended up eating food I’d never had at 4 out of those 5 places and I learned things about each business that I found pretty fascinating. So yeah, maybe I’d been to the Penny Ice Creamery a million times, but I’d never heard the details about how they make their ice cream and where they source their ingredients, and what actually makes their ice cream different from most other ice creams, and why they provide free homemade cones, etc.
In-​between each food stop, we heard about different historic buildings and house architectural facts — a little more than I had expected on a food tour, but it turned out to work quite nicely because the info was interesting, and you obviously can’t squeeze all this eating into an hour, you need some breaks to digest.
The tasting servings are substantial and there is a nice variety. You will be full by the end of it. If you let them know in advance about any preferences you have — vegetarian, no alcohol, etc, they will happy accomodate you.
Anyway, it’s totally worth doing, even you’ve already eaten at some of these places, and even more worth doing if you are new or just visiting the area. There were about 10 people in my tour, and most of them were from Monterey, Salinas, etc, however there were a couple people from out of state and everybody seemed to enjoy it equally.
If I have out of town guests coming, this will totally now be a future option, and I’d happily do it again. The full non-​discount price seems slightly steep, but I noticed that right now they have a summer-​long online sale that takes 30% off, which puts it more in the value worthy range for me.
I really want to go on their Capitola tour now, but they only do those on weekdays, but I’ll make it happen one of these days!
The places we went on the Santa Cruz tour include:
Center Street Grill — pizza & chinese noodle salad
Buttercup Cakes — mini cupcake
Penny Ice Creamery — 1 scoop cone
Ture Olive Connection — all you can eat olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with bread, and a taste of balsamic soda
Surfrider Café– slider & three microbrew beers
Malabar– roti and banana blossom salad

I’ve been on six food tours and I have to say that Santa Cruz is a great one! As far as tour guides, Brian is tops! He is very knowledgeable and extremely hospitable. He doesn’t go into the eateries and «turns it over» to someone there to do the talking, he does it all! He’s refilling your water glass while giving you the history of the restaurant, telling you about the food you’re eating, etc. He worked harder than all the guides on other tours I’ve done. He was training another guide that day but didn’t let that become a distraction which we appreciated. He knows Santa Cruz and has a vast amount of information on the architecture of homes in the area; this tour had more time spent on such than other tours we’ve done, but we found it interesting and fun!

Bought a Groupon deal for this tour and it was fabulous. Went with my husband and 17 yr. old daughter. Brian was our tour guide and he was great. I didn’t realize that there would be Santa Cruz history and architecture stops along the way. It added so much to the tour. Enjoyed it as much as the food. There was only one small hill at the beginning that might be challenging for some, but you have the option to skip that part and meet up at the next destination, which one person in our group did. Oh, and there was one part with quite a few steep stairs down the side of a very small :“hill”, again very easy for most people.
We had 5 stops on our tour, which included the True Olive Connection. That was really interesting and fun. We ended up buying the 6 pack. Loved the ice cream and slider. My husband had a generous 3 beer sampler. We had a tiny icy/​lemonade type drink that was delicious, but ridiculously tiny, about 2 inches tall and about 1 ½″ wide. It should have been a bit larger. At least the size of one of the beer samples.
I thought I wouldn’t like the last tasting at a vegetarian restuarant, but it was absolutely delicious. The roti with potatoes and vegetables was so tasty, but very spicy. When eaten with the refreshing salad, it was amazing. We are planning to take my vegetarian daughter there to eat. I know she will love it too. We also had a really delicious banana lassi with saffron. Boy, just talking about this makes me wish I could go eat there right now.
I have to admit though that I brought my own little very lightweight stool and sat down a time or two. I am not a big walker though, and for most people, the walking is quite doable and pleasant.
I would do this again in a heartbeat. They are planning to start a Capitola tour and I’m sure we’ll have to check that out to.

Great tour guide, Brian, helped us get antiquated with history and restaurants in Santa Cruz that we’d never would have known about on our own. The places we visited were very unique and worth the money and time.

This is such a fantastic idea, the marriage of two of the favorite things I like to do — walking tour and culinary extravaganza! My girlfriend alerted me to a LivingSocial Deal online for only $ 37/​person. We couldn’t have picked the perfect day to go. It was full-​on sunshine in Santa Cruz. Brian was a great tour guide. He knows everything from architecture, to history, to food. He is the perfect guide for this walking tour.
That day was the end of my 14day raw food cleanse so I was a little worried that I’d over-​eat and get indigestion. However, the selection of dishes that were prepared really prevented that. The dishes were organic, filling and not very rich. I thought we’d get sampler sizes but the servings were actually sufficient. My favorite of all was the ice cream — boy, it was wonderful. Make sure that you don’t eat lunch before the tour. You may also have to skip dinner. The restaurant selections were fantastic and I will definitely go back. Brian gave us a list of other restaurants so I will check them out too the next time my girlfriend and I come back for the weekend. Because of this tour, I learned to really fall in love with Santa Cruz now that I know a little bit more about it. You must absolutely do this!

So, my birthday rolled around and my buddy AK wanted to do something special for me. She is in the midst of packing up her house and getting ready for a tear down and rebuild. Because of this, she has realized that at our age, nick-​nacks and tchotchkes
are simply not needed. What to do? What to do? What do a couple of foodies do to celebrate a birthday? A Food Tour! She found this obscure little food walking tour of Santa Cruz. Really? Who knew?
Our guide Brian was excellent. Not only was he quite intimate with the restaurants we visited, he was also quite knowledgeable about the history of Santa Cruz — as in the history dating back to the actual Spanish settlement of Santa Cruz.
The tour started at 2pm and we finished up around 6pm. Each establishment was professionally ready for us with tables set-​up for our group. Portions were not small, but not full-​size. Perfect actually. At the end of the tour, we were stuffed! No dinner necessary after that tour.
This day’s tour went 1 through 6 at the following establishments:
1. Café Limelight: A wonderful start of housemade hummus traditionally dressed with paprika, cumin and extra virgin olive oil. Served with pita crisps and fresh vegetables. Delicious.
2. Center Street Grill: Here we were presented with a bacon-​blue pizza and Asian salad to share. Good, but not entirely memorable for me. I hear they are known for their Breakfast Benedicts, which is right up my ally. Will have to consider them for breakfast sometime.
3. Penny Ice Creamery: Quaint little shop. We were all presented with a housemade waffle cone filled with their freshly made vanilla ice cream. It’s a low-​air ice cream so it was fairly dense with some crystal-​ly chew.
4. True Olive Connection: A terrific shop specializing in high-​end fresh olive oils. They were set up for us with printed placemats of what we were trying. Additionally, we got to ‘taste’ the shop at our will. A very good set-​up and wonderful proprietor. A definite return visit for me.
5. Surfrider Café: Beer and burgers? Seriously. How can you go wrong with beer and burgers? Okay, for me no beer because I’m allergic. They accommodated me with an acai-​berry fizz. Tart. Refreshing. My other tour companions were issued place mats with three large circles and a beer name and description next to each circle. Those beer samples were not shy. We were each presented with a bacon-​blue cheese slider. This Burger Lady loved that slider! Looking forward to going back for a full burger experience.
6. Malabar Restaurant: Okay. On our way to Malabar, I happened to mention that I wasn’t looking forward to this stop as these flavors are not anything I seek out. I also don’t seek out vegetarian establishments. I was not looking forward to this stop concluding our tour. (Wrong!). Upon arrival we were presented with these wonderful Banana-​honey Lassi’s sprinkled with a delicate touch of saffron. Our food was grilled vegetable and potato roti along with a jicama-​pineapple-​mint salad. The roti was amazing! I so badly just wanted to drink the curry sauce served with it (but I refrained). The salad was refreshing and light. And so at the conclusion of this stop, our tour guide looked right at me and asked «so what was your favorite stop?» To which I honestly answered, «this one» (Malabar). Malabar is definitely on my ‘return’ list. I am craving it.

A fabulous tour at an affordable price. A wonderful birthday gift.
Want to do something special with a special person? This is it.

Growing up in Santa Cruz, my husband and I weren’t sure what to expect from this Food Tour. Turns out we had a blast!
The food choices were excellent. Nice sized proportions, fresh ingredients and great variety. Be sure to come with an appetite and good walking shoes. We walked and discovered new places in town we hadn’t paid much attention to before. The historical and architectural information was presented in a fun and relaxed manner. Our host definitely has done his homework. I highly recommend this outing to anyone local or visiting. Grab a group of your friends and go. You won’t be disappointed!