Many things make Cafe Cruz the perfect restaurant: International dishes are prepared in a copper-backed, open kitchen; food is largley organic and local, fish is from sustainable sources; breads from Gayle's Bakery in Capitola; and coffee blends from The Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. Taco salad, pasta, seafood and meaty favorites taunt you from the menu--steak with baby spinach polenta, roasted mushrooms, roma tomatoes and sweet onions in a Parmesan Marsala wine sauce. Yum!
An adobe fireplace warms the bar around which artist Terry Wells' work hangs on the walls. White-tablecloth seating under heaters is plentiful in a plant-lined, open-sky courtyard and in the covered patio with a jungle waterfall. Stunning personages greet visitors and lead them to tables around the busy, breezy restaurant.