The hippy in me has always been attracted to Santa Cruz and it’s laidback, eccentric reputation. Our stop there during this road trip only wet the appetite, because we were there for only a blip. Just enough time to get some eats.
I’d took down notes from a friend of friend before we left LA, stored them in my iPhone, and now I put them to good use. When we arrived in town, we were exhausted from a long day of driving. We didn’t want to deal with anything fancy, so we headed to El Palomar Restaurant. El Palomar has a nicer sit down restaurant in front, but we bypassed that and went straight to the bar way in the back where they also have a taco bar.
To be honest, the tacos were ok, but nothing special. What they do have is a happy hour with good prices. We had dinner and beers for very little cash - I think about $20 altogether. However, with cheap prices come big crowds, so beware that this place gets packed leading to long lines and curt, overwhelmed bartenders. The flip side to this, though, is that this place has fantastic people watching. There was a fantastic cross-section of Santa Cruzans; students, bikers, hippies, punks, and professor-ly intellectuals were all congregated at this bar.
One note we learned from people watching over the course of one evening is that hoodies are la mode de rigueur for men of all ages in San Cruz. Be it hemp stripes, plain cotton, or sporting your favorite band logo, Men, bring your hoodies, one and all.
I borrowed this hoodie image from this site.
Before hitting the road again the next morning, we grabbed brunch at The Saturn Cafe, which bills itself as “your favorite space-age, vegetarian diner.”
This restaurant’s bathrooms dare to ask not “Men” or “Women,” but rather the all more revealing question“Alien” or “Robot?”
Badass Blue Babe or Battling Blonde Bombshell, how to decide?
As for the food, well , burger-loving Greg has a tendency to turn his nose up at all veggie restaurants. There were no complaints here – especially once he got to dive into his super creamy and delicious milkshake.
I have to say, our waitress was also very nice. We went during an off-hour, so the place was pretty much empty, which gave her time to talk to us, but she took time out to tell us her favorite camping spots in Big Sur – our next stop. Sadly, as we shall see, it was to no avail.
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