breakfast

Breakfast with Santa!

November 17, 2015 by Seb Frey

Here’s a new twist on a holiday tradition: breakfast with Santa is coming to Aptos Village Park on Saturday, December 5th, at the Lions Clubhouse. The event begins at 10 AM and ends at 1 PM.

This is a fundraiser to support the new restrooms and concessions building for the Polo Grounds park. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children under 12. Please bring your camera to take pictures with Santa!

This will be a wonderful event for families and children. The Polo Grounds is desperately in need of restrooms and a concession stand. Show your support for our community and our kids this Saturday December 5th!

We’ve created a Facebook Event for Breakfast with Santa – please invite your friends with kids, let’s make a great showing of support for this project, and spread some holiday cheer!

A Chat with the Owner of Flats Bistro

June 5, 2015 by Seb Frey

Jeanne Harrison of Flats Bistro and Cafe Rio

Seb Frey with Aptos Community News ambled down to the new Flats Bistro in Aptos to have a chat with the owner, Jeanne Harrison. We wanted to talk about Jeanne’s new venture, and she shared quite a bit.

We talked about their newest menu item: breakfast pizza ($14). According to Jeanne, It’s like having sourdough toast with either bacon or sausage, an egg done over-easy, some spinach and a little bit of cheese.

Most people order the breakfast pizza in the morning, but you can get it any time of day; it’s been a very popular menu item. The breakfast pizza crust has a very nice flavor, it’s super thin and crunchy. Their crust uses a 100 year old starter for the sourdough, and that could be the reason the crust in their pizzas is extra tasty.

Listen to the Discussion

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Their 60 inch pizza oven was made by Mugnaini, a renown pizza oven maker based in Watsonville. The oven runs 650-700 degrees, and in an oven this hot, it’s really difficult to make some specialty crusts. They tried to make a cauliflower crust but it just fell apart in the oven.

Flats Bistro is proving to be fertile ground for Jeanne’s culinary experimentation. For example, she says she’d never really made pizza before she got the idea for Flats Bistro. On the day we visited, she had just added something new to the display case: stuffed Portobello mushrooms with garlic, onion, gorgonzola cheese and a breaded topping. Every morning they have bacon and egg croissants for $5. On Saturdays and Sundays they do biscuits and gravy, and also offer ham and egg sandwiches with that.

They are working on a gluten free pizza crust, but so far they have been unsuccessful. She has tried 5-6 gluten-free crusts and they “taste like cardboard.” If anyone knows of a great gluten-free pizza crust recipe, she’d love to have it!

They make all the food and pastries right next door at Cafe Rio, starting at 5 or 6 AM. All the cookies, cakes, desserts, and salads are made on site. But they have no plans for breakfast burritos because, Jeanne says, they love their neighbors, and don’t want to take anything away from Pixie Deli which has been selling breakfast burritos for years. They don’t deliver yet and don’t offer catering, but this is something they may look at doing in the future.

The bistro has been open for only two months, but already they are enjoying incredible success and a growing clientele. They’ve been doing an Instagram campaign to promote the bistro, and the campaign ends today, June 5. Just tag a photo with #FlatsBistroAptos showing one of their coffee cups for a chance to win a Flats Bistro hoodie.

One for the road! #flatsbistroaptos #aptos #coffee

A photo posted by Sebastian Frey (@sebfrey) on May 29, 2015 at 9:40am PDT

#FlatsBistroAptos on Instagram

Best of Good Times 2015 in Aptos

March 31, 2015 by Seb Frey

Good Times Magazine is back with its Best of Santa Cruz Issue for 2015. Unsurprisingly, the Best of Good Times 2015 in Aptos is a long list. Congratulations to all the Aptos winners – the recognition is well-deserved!

The Best in all of Santa Cruz

Best Farmers Market: Farmer’s Market at Cabrillo

Best Place of Worship: Twin Lakes Church

Best Indian Cuisine: Ambrosia India Bistro

Best BBQ: Aptos St. BBQ

Best Mediterranean Cuisine: Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine

Best Carpet Cleaning: Connoisseur Carpet Cleaning

Best Children’s Day Care: Simcha Preschool

Best Insurance: Rovai Insurance

Best Laser Hair Removal: Laser Hair and Skin Solutions

Best Running Store: Fleet Feet Sports

Best Swim School: Seahorse Swim School

The Best in Aptos/Soquel

Best Mexican Restaurant: Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant

Best Patio Dining: Bittersweet Bistro

Best Seafood: Café Rio

Best Sushi: Kauboi Japanese Grill & Sushi

Best Burrito: Los Gordos Mexican Restaurant

Best Breakfast: Red Apple Café

Best Burger: BURGER.

Best Date Night Restaurant: Bittersweet Bistro

Runners Up

Best Restaurant Aptos/Soquel: Café Sparrow, Bittersweet Bistro

Best Men’s Shoes: Aptos Shoes and Apparel

Best Pet Store: Aptos Feed

Best Women’s Clothing: Aptos Shoes and Apparel

Editor’s Picks

Best Convenience Store/Gas Station: AJ’s Market

Best South County Breakfast Burrito: Palm Deli

Cafe Sparrow

February 24, 2014 by Seb Frey

Cafe Sparrow is located in Aptos Village, in one of the oldest buildings in the county, which once served as the post office and general store for Aptos. The building is so old in fact that the sidewalk in front of the building is made of wood, not concrete. And the sidewalk is where you will often have to wait if you go for breakfast on the weekends, as this place often has a line out the door at those times. Fear not, though – they’ll give you some of their coffee to drink while you wait.

As you take your first sip of that coffee, the first word that’ll pop into your head is “Mmmm!”. That’s a taste of things to come, because everything at Cafe Sparrow is a cut or two above of most any other restaurant in town. The restaurant bills itself as “Country French Cooking” but of course the menu uses a lot of local ingredients and flavors to terrific effect. They also have nightly dinner specials, and a weekend brunch special as well.

If ever you’re in Aptos and feeling peckish, Cafe Sparrow is not to be missed. You’d do best if you made reservations, as there can be a wait for a table, especially at peak hours. They have a modest wine list of imported and domestic wines, and charge a $20 corkage fee for those who prefer to bring their own.

Tip: for Sunday brunch they have bottomless mimosas for $8.50. Can’t beat it for a nice Sunday buzz.