CAPITOLA

New Grocery Outlet location opens June 19

Bargain chain Grocery Outlet is opening a new Santa Cruz County location, 1210 41st Ave., at the former site of New Leaf Community Markets. The store opens its doors at 8 a.m. Thursday and the first 100 shoppers will receive a Bliss Buck gift card for mystery amounts ranging from $5 to $500. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is at 10 a.m.

Customers will receive one free reusable bag with their purchase through opening week, while supplies last. They can enter to win $1,000 in free groceries from June 19 through July 18.

Grocery Outlet is keeping its Santa Cruz and Watsonville locations, each independently owned. The Capitola owner and operator, Renee Johnson, is donating $1,000 to the Capitola Foundation in honor of the opening.

Pleasure Point Street Fair offers food, drink vendors

The 11th annual Pleasure Point Street Fair, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, is on Portola Drive between 41st and 38th avenues. There will be a beer garden and over 100 vendors selling arts, crafts and more. Food businesses appearing include Shockwave Food Truck, Dani O Bakeshop, Shaka’s Chicken and Waffles, Pointside Meat Shop, Taqueria Jalisco and Copos Bros. Loaded Sno Cones.

Admission is free. This year’s nonprofit beneficiary, the Live Oak Education Foundation (liveoakedfoundation.org), will receive a portion of fair proceeds. There will also be a hot dog stand (including vegetarian options) and a spin wheel where all sales directly benefit the foundation.

The Pleasure Point Business Association presents the event, which has live music on two stages and kids’ activities. View details including the music schedule at pleasurepointstreetfair.com.

New pie from Beckmann’s Bakery

Local business Beckmann’s Bakery launched a new pie flavor: blueberry. Small (6-inch) and large (9-inch) blueberry pies are now available at all the county farmers markets that Beckmann’s attends: Tuesday in Felton, Saturday in Scotts Valley and Aptos and Sunday in Live Oak.

The blueberries are sourced directly from a farm in the Pacific Northwest. “We shied away from making a blueberry pie for many years because we could not find fruit to our standards,” says staff member Scot Adam, who developed the pie recipe. “We would not have taken on the project without these specific berries. I wanted the final pie to be barely tart, not too sugary, to hold a perfect cut on a plate and to explode with blueberry flavor. Fifteen test recipes later it is ready!”

Dessert, cocktail specials at Makai

Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery (49A Municipal Wharf, 831-466-9766, makaisantacruz.com) is offering a few special dishes and drinks this month.

The restaurant traditionally rotates its desserts monthly, including creating one treat based on a cocktail. The May desserts were so popular, they carried over into June. Customers can order the 1944 Cake, reminiscent of a Mai Tai with notes of lime, toasted almond and rum-soaked citrus, until the end of the month. Also available: Pele’s Peanut Peril, which features devil’s food cake, molten peanut butter chips, whipped peanut butter fluff, hot fudge and more.

Oaxacan Academy is June’s new cocktail. Ingredients include absinthe, Licor 43, Alambique Serrano “Cartier 30 rum,” sweet-spicy falernum and a float of mint-lime oil. Makai’s featured rum this month, which you can buy as a 1.5-ounce pour, is Transcontinental Rum Line Guadeloupe 2013.

SANTA CRUZ, MONTEREY COUNTIES

National magazine highlights local home cooks

Homecooked, a quarterly, ad-free print magazine based in Oregon, tells stories about home cooks across the U.S. The newest issue is focused on Monterey Bay and features recipes and stories from the people behind local businesses like Watsonville’s Annieglass and Pacific Grove’s Happy Girl Kitchen. It also includes articles about local individuals like Soquel resident Taylor Reinhold, a muralist who is Annieglass founder Annie Morhauser’s son.

The magazine is for sale nationwide at Barnes & Noble stores and people can purchase copies online at homecookedmagazine.com.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

Burger Week begins Wednesday

Bay Area Burger Week starts Wednesday and lasts until June 29. It features restaurants in several counties including Santa Cruz and Santa Clara. More than a dozen participating restaurants in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Felton, Scotts Valley and Aptos are offering specials throughout the event. These include Pono (Santa Cruz and Capitola locations), Riva, Hula’s, Churchill and Beers and Parish Publick House (Santa Cruz and Aptos locations).

Highlights from two downtown Santa Cruz eateries: Pana is offering a “BAE — burger arepa experience” for $15.75 and Hook & Line is doing a fish burger (breaded sole and more) and a Marin Sun Farms burger, each for $18. Learn more at bayareaburgerweek.com/restaurants.

SANTA CRUZ

Church BBQ, beer tasting on tap

Messiah Lutheran Church is holding a summer BBQ and beer tasting 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the church (801 High St.) and invites community members to attend.

“Come enjoy a family-friendly barbecue with all the trimmings. Admission is free, but we will accept voluntary donations,” says event co-organizer Jonathan Mueller. Adults 21 and over can sample five Shanty Shack beers and ales. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP at 831-423-8330.

SANTA CRUZ

News from Gabriella Café

Recent menu highlights at Gabriella Café, 910 Cedar St., include local sea bass, gem lettuce from Dirty Girl Farm, globe artichokes and Brussels sprouts from Rodoni Farms and mussels from Stagnaro Bros. “Don’t miss the new wines from Ian Brand,” says owner Paul Cocking. Also, Gabriella is now open Tuesdays for lunch and dinner.

Top-selling brunch dishes, available 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, are currently waffles with local fruit and chilaquiles. Gabriella Café serves Tazzina coffee, which recently released new blends.

Make reservations at 831-457-1677 or gabriellacafe.com.

Quick Bites, compiled by Tara Fatemi Walker, is your weekly helping of Santa Cruz County restaurant, food and drink news. Send items to sentinelfood@gmail.com (Sunday 7 p.m. deadline for that week’s column). Want local food and drink news as it happens? Follow the Sentinel’s food crew on X @santacruzfood.