PLEASURE POINT -- Not even the most astute Twenty Questions player could've narrowed down the lunch spot where I took Jason last weekend.
Does it have an ocean view? Yes.
Organic produce straight off the farmer's truck? On Saturdays, yes.
Top Ramen? Yes. Liquor refrigerators? Yes.
Are shirts and shoes required? Barely.
Point Market & Cafe, the humble corner store where Jason followed me on a bike Saturday during a breezy ride along the coast, might seem an unassuming destination for a quality meal. Trucker hats and sunglass racks greet visitors to this tiny store at the corner of East Cliff Drive and 32nd Avenue, where patrons can buy board wax with their burritos. But make no mistake: The kitchen at Point Market & Cafe is worth a stop in its own right.
Market manager Evelyn Von -- she goes by Evey -- was making small talk with the locals, most of whom she knows by name, on both my visits last week. A stack of laminated menus next to the cash register showcased five pages of food, from the popular Barrel Burrito, which uses eggs from Glaum Egg Farm, to a chicken pesto sandwich; from salads to shrimp a la diabla to tuna melt.
The bike ride gave us an appetite, so we skipped over the lighter fare and went straight to the burger [$6.50], adding cheddar for an extra $1, and the vegetarian breakfast quesadilla [$6.25]. Both were ready in short order on cardboard plates bowing under the weight of our lunches. We brought
them back to the indoor seating area, a 90-degree turn away from the counter.My burger came out on a toasted francese roll from Kelly's French Bakery, a welcome departure from a traditional bun, and shared the plate with a generous side of crispy potato wedges. The guys in the back -- both of whom have been around since the days of Elizabeth's Market, Point's predecessor -- shape the 1/3-pound patties by hand. [They also do turkey burgers and chipotle black-bean burgers, $7.99 each.] The homestyle hamburger was juicy and delicious, save a too-generous dollop of mayonnaise.
Jason's breakfast quesadilla, one of several options for vegetarians, is Von's own creation. Before it was on the menu it was her own breakfast, and she'd sneak bites of it between ringing up customers.
"Everyone always asked me what I was eating, so I put it on the menu," Von said earlier when I wondered aloud what to order.
The quesadilla lived up to the hype. Toasted tortilla envelopes a good inch of scrambled eggs, spinach, tomatoes, onion and avocado, enough food to please even Jason, a diehard omnivore. He used none of the Sriracha sauce that sits in bottles on every table.
We paired our lunches with drinks from the refrigerators, which carry not only brand-name sodas but also local names like Artisan Elixirs, the Santa Cruz organic soda company founded by Oswald bar manager Hans Losse. I had Artisan's Golden Ginger drink [$3.99], a sparkling mix of the spice and lemon, and Jason tried the curiously packaged Japanese soft drink Ramune [$2.50]. The beverage comes in a Codd-neck glass bottle sealed with a marble, which he pushed inside using a device on the lid; this releases the pressure of the carbonation and unlocks the marble, which gives a fun rattling sound with every swig of the crisp lemon-lime drink.
At little more than 1,300 square feet, which includes the kitchen and stockroom, Point Market & Cafe's indoor seating area can feel cramped, especially with the influx of beachgoers refilling their coffee cups from the adjacent Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. stations. To our right was an empty pastry case [the cafe is getting a pair of baking ovens, Von tells me]. A laptop playing Noah and the Whale sat atop an upside-down case of Red Bulls. But it's all part of the no-frills charm -- and objectors can sit outside, the real treat of a meal here.
On a return visit -- by car this time; street parking is easy -- I did just that, eating a pair of shrimp tacos [$6.25] and delighting in the people-watching opportunities this place affords: surfers, dog-walkers, tourists with camera straps around their necks, an unobstructed views of the Pacific Ocean.
On Saturday mornings Branch Out Farm even has a stand in front. The Soquel Hills farm approached Point Market & Cafe earlier this year with the idea, which was music to locavore enthusiast Von's ears -- and a perfect match for this quirky little market.
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More About Point Market & Cafe
'This place has changed,' said the customer in front of me in line last week at Point Market & Cafe. He's right: It has.
The former Elizabeth's Market on East Cliff Drive has been under new ownership since May 2011, when Hassan Ayyad bought the store and gave it a new name: Point Market & Cafe. He tapped as his manager Evelyn Von, whom he met when she ran a yogurt shop inside Grady's Market in Capitola, which Ayyad also owned at the time.
'We realized we're very similar and a good team,' said Von, who hopes to turn the market into a destination for affordable local fare.
Point Market & Cafe has just one other staffer, a young guy named Chris, and a pair of cooks who have been there since the Elizabeth's Market days. It's a small staff considering the market's extensive menu and steady stream of hungry surfers.
'We seem to sell everything on the menu,' Von said. 'We thought about shrinking it down, but we were like, 'What would we take out?' '
Rather than scaling back, Von and Ayyad are planning an expansion. Watch for a new juice and smoothie bar, more options in the coffee bar, and a new menu of housemade pastries.
-- Laura Copeland
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