Just over Monterey County’s border, at a place called E’s Ranch Milk Mexican Grill & Craft Beer House (722-3662), visitors can load up on French fries con todo (beans, crema, cheese sauce, avocado and jalapeños), big breakfast burritos, basic groceries, 12 flavors of Marianne’s ice cream, 18 craft beers on tap – and gas for the family van.
Fill ‘er up has never involved so many possibilities.
No milk, though. At least not like back in the day, when the name reflected its history as a drive-through milk barn and the logo of a cow jumping over the moon made more sense. There are other good signs besides the lunar cow leap: lots of locals lining up before the clock strikes noon, servers that multiply to answer the rush, a generous homemade salsa bar, big drink coolers that run the length of a long back wall, $2 Michelob Ultras, beer bucket specials all the time and a TapHunter account that updates brew lovers on what’s flowing at any given moment, as it changes constantly.
As this goes to press, they are pouring the likes of triple-hopped Port Mongo, Green Flash Passion Fruit Kicker, Knee Deep Tanilla, Hermitage Myles Perry farmhouse saison and graham cracker-laced High Water Campfire Stout. (Pints are around $6, and a buck off at 3-7pm weekdays for happy hour.) Irma and Lazaro Olivares of Aromas, own the business and remodeled the bar-restaurant a year and a half back. Their daughter Jasmine manages the store while her brother Demetric curates and stocks the beer. “We’ve tried to make it something Watsonville needs,” Jasmine says.
My group loved the carne en su jugo soup (which translates to “meat in its juice,” $7.99), wet super burrito ($6-$7.50) and a sampling of fish, carnitas and al pastor street tacos (four for $5-$6) ordered from basic menus posted informally along the corrugated tin counter/bar. I also dug the chance to try my first Elkhorn Slough Brewing Co. on draft, a potent and balanced Goose Blind IPA. There would soon be more where that came from, and more beers that honor ESBC’s tagline, “May the funk be with you.”
Husband and wife Michael Enos and Julie Rienhardt take a backyard ethic into their beer-making, cultivating yeasts from their apple orchard in wild ales like the rye-whiskey-barrel-aged, slightly sour, dark red Three Letter Acronym and the Belgium-hopped pale ale with a tart touch of citrus ($10/five-beer tasting flight; there’s also growler service).
They’re aided by Matt Burnes in transforming a Watsonville warehouse space at the end of an industrial strip into a laid-back production facility/hangout. I visited last week for the first Thursday they’ve raised the garage door at 65 Hangar Way for tastings. (Hours are 4-8pm Thursday, 1-8pm Saturday-Sunday, with 4-8pm Monday-Tuesday coming in February)
This Sunday, Jan. 22, ESBC celebrates its first anniversary with a 4-6pm “Where the Wild Things Are” tasting featuring its wild beers and food from Ate3One food truck ($45 for first 40 RSVPs). It also marks the debut of the patio. The focus on the wild beers offers a window into the homesown approach.
“Wild yeast works slow, so this is a long-term experiment,” Enos says. “We don’t try to over-analyze, it’s just what came from the lifestyle of doing what we love: using our produce we grew or got from friends to ferment things.”
As Santa Cruz continues to boom with new – and worthy – artisan breweries and bottle houses, ESBC and Corralitos Brewing Company, just a mile up the street, demonstrate Santa Cruz County’s southern corner has a real role to play in the burgeoning scene.
Just around the corner from ESBC on Aviation Way appears another family-owned local treasure that, like the other two discoveries, enjoys a downhome charm evident from when you first step in.
At ESBC it’s owed to a small bar made of reclaimed woods, mix-and-match chairs and a “California Dreamin’” state flag. At Ella’s at the Airport (728-3282) it’s born of fuselage furniture in the lobby and friendly locals taking a leisurely lunch at the bar followed by a little dice rolling.
The original and unassuming Cafe Ella (722-0480) has been a fixture in Watsonville’s East Lake for a decade with jalapeño cream cheese waffles ($4), panzanella salads ($5.50-$7.75), rotating soups ($3.75-$5) and pastrami panini ($7.75).
The second spot turns 2 in March, and keeps with the salad-soup-panini stuff, plus pizzas, pastas and sandwiches like the pulled pork on brioche ($14) and tri-tip on ciabatta ($13). Oh – and “BBQ blue” wings ($9) and “wings over Watsonville” ($9) to honor the area’s longest runway, visible out the windows, over the patio seating.
I slurped up a cup of the rich and Parmesan-cheesy signature tomato-basil soup with a half Greener Me roasted veggie panini ($9.75 combo) plus a ramekin of the namesake slaw with lemon zest.
I took an “Elijah Love” pizza ($16) on housemade dough home, where its combination of grilled chicken, chopped applewood bacon, rainbow chard, Fuji apple, gruyere and créme fraiche were even better with a crispier reheated crust.
The full bar includes 10 beer taps including (on this day) two solar-powered Discretion Brewery choices out of Santa Cruz and ESBC’s Tractor Race American pale ale, at discount for the 3-6pm daily happy hour.
Next to the bar a globe is mounted into the wall. I gave it a spin and it landed on California, and – to the right eye – Watsonville, a reminder-of-sorts that right now it’s a tasty place to be.
~ QUICKBITES ~
- The huge restaurant space in downtown Monterey that was once El Palomar, and most recently The Other Side Cantina, has a new occupant. Kabana Restaurant and Bar has taken over the high-ceiling property between The Great Wall and Parker Lusseau, around the corner from The Wild Plum.
- After 25 years, Old Town Deli and Café at 343 Main in Salinas is now Gordon’s Café and Catering (422-4133), with a new dinnermenu, beer and wine.
- Big Sur Foragers Fest proved a success despite a relocated home base, road closures and other plot twists. Check out the blog for its top tastes.
- Sad news in Carmel: La Bicyclette (622-9899) line cook Jacob Dinoto died unexpectedly this month at 24 with a heart issue, leaving behind a wife (Mackenzie), 2-year-old daughter (Bella) and a baby on the way. “Jacob was a talented young cook with a great sense of humor, awesome attitude and a passion for food,” GM John Gehrman says, “most assuredly a head chef in the making.” There has been a GoFundMe page established to help support his family.
- Culinary Round-Up happens Sunday, Jan. 22. More on p. 26-27.
- The uncanny cats at Nacho Bizness are scheming a neighboring business called Wrap Game, with items named after deceased rappers like Tupac and Biggie, plus chef-driven specials from the likes of Todd Fisher.
- Sal Jimenez, who owns Bankers Casino, bought out his partner (Mike Hackett) at Hacienda Mexican Grill (424-6400) on North Davis in Salinas. Now he’s remodeled to make it more of a sports bar; deals like two-for-one margarita Wednesdays continue.
- Russell Joyce is aiming to open his new wine tasting venue at 1 East Carmel Valley Road Feb. 18 with a 2016 Rosé release party.
- Pizza My Heart (656-9400), the micro-chain that has a spot in Monterey (and a superlative pizza named after Big Sur) delivered a pizza by skateboard Wednesday, defeating the traffic jam in Los Gatos caused by mudslides on Highway 17.
- J.R.R. Tolkien: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”