The Power Plant in Moss Landing proves to be a rare Covid success story.

In November 2020, after many restaurants nationwide closed permanently due to the ongoing pandemic, The Power Plant in Moss Landing did something unusual: It opened.

For a few months, until Covid restrictions waned in the wake of vaccines, the cafe was strictly take-out: coffee (made from beans by Acme Roasting in Seaside), smoothies and edible treats that included baked goods like pies by Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, and a variety of toasts made from Seaside-based Ad Astra Bread Co.

But the opening of the cafe only happened because another cafe that formerly occupied the space – Steaming Hot Coffee – closed in September 2020. Power Plant owners and business partners Chuck Drake and Sally Russell, meanwhile, had already leased the space adjoining the cafe with plans to open a plant-inspired retail store. Featuring a collection of botanically themed books and an apothecary with a range of tinctures, the space welcomes a relaxed pace of browsing, and has the feel of an indoor botanical garden.

Once the cafe space opened up, Drake, who works in Moss Landing designing sub-sea robotic drill rigs – not for oil and gas, but for research – jumped at the opportunity.

The name The Power Plant was inspired by the idea of juxtaposing the power plant across the street with a more sustainable form of power: plants that humans evolved with, symbiotically, for millennia. “It was kind of a subtle statement but I didn’t want to make it too obvious,” Drake says. Bringing caffeine into the mix adds another layer of meaning.

The cafe side of the operation is managed by Drake while Russell manages the store, and the kitchen is managed by Amber Brown, a Seaside native who got involved in the industry in 2014 when she started working at the Earthbound Farm store in Carmel Valley, which was just then adding a deli component. She worked her way into the kitchen, and later relocated to Sacramento, where she worked in some cafes and juiceries before finding a home in an independent health food grocery in downtown that also had a kitchen. When Covid hit, she says business in Sacramento’s downtown went dead – “We lost like 85 percent of our business” – and the market shut down. So she returned to the Peninsula in early 2021 and jumped at the opportunity to manage The Power Plant’s kitchen.

“I love the vision, I love the concept, I love being a part of something I can help grow,” she says, adding she would never work anywhere that’s not serving food she would want to eat.

The menu remains much the same since when she arrived. She makes everything she can in-house – things like hummus and tahini – and she’s added some small flourishes to existing menu items like capers to the lox toast. She also added an avocado toast – served on a pillowy slice of toasted Ad Astra sourdough – with perfectly ripened avocado slices topped with pickled red onions and “everything” bagel seasoning. It’s a delight, and one would be hard-pressed to find a better version anywhere.

Continuing the avocado theme, the BLAT, with turkey bacon on ciabatta, is also outstanding, but the bestsellers are the breakfast sandwiches.

There are plans in the works to update the menu, both for ready-made sandwiches and salads, but also food made to order. The team is also working toward a planned drive-through kiosk-like operation – there’s a lot of empty real estate in the parking lot – where those traveling along Highway 1 can roll through without even parking. Brown is currently working on the recipe for the breakfast sandwiches for the drive-through, and the hope is to get it going before summer.

Drake says that, aside from the recent months where inclement weather has hurt tourism, business has grown continuously, though he adds he couldn’t have done it without the gracious treatment of their landlord.

The continued success also has Brown excited. “What really impressed me with The Power Plant is it survived Covid,” she says. “That’s why I want to hang on for the ride and see where we can go with this.”

THE POWER PLANT is at 7990 Highway 1, Moss Landing. Open 7am-4pm daily, until 5pm Saturday. 318-0908, thepowerplant.store