Editor Pick
Cafe Limelight
- March 22, 2007
- Rated 5 of 5 by
Tana B. from Santa Cruz, California
Testify, sistah! Paninis. That's their forte.
We tried the applewood smoked ham with cheddar (his) and turkey with brie and pesto (mine). They are just perfect in density, gooeyness, interesting flavors, and crisp factor. The salads were probably bagged greens, but with homemade vinaigrette and other pleasant elements (like red bell peppers)... nothing fancy but perfectly wonderful. Very satisfying for about $8-$9 a plate.
He had Pelligrino and I had a glass of Husch Sauvignon Blanc ($7.50 for a not-chintzy pour).
It was so good that I went back tonight with my family. We had the ham and turkey sandwiches, and upgraded to Caesar salads (homemade dressing, huge curls of shaved Parmesan on top) for an extra $4/person. Those came with panini-pressed slices of baguette, brushed with garlic and oil, and they were good, too.
We tried a new wine, Bargetto Lodi Tempranillo, a mere $22 a bottle: what a deal. Very, very tasty red wine (jammy, solid, fragrant, smooth!), and we came home with half the bottle. We also came home with half of our sandwiches, because we were all stuffed. About half of the salads are here, as well.
The cost for three of us with an entire meal left over (possibly two - with Caesar salads!)? $65 before tip.
For three people.
For dinner.
In a nice room with lovely jazz vocals and ambience, and the truly gracious hospitality of Billy, who is from South Carolina (he's got an accent so thick you could spread it on bread, and being a native Southerner myself, I asked for a biscuit), and his partner, the chef, Farouk. These are very talented, very caring young men who have created a little bubble of their own: you step out of Santa Cruz into their world.
A couple other notes:
1) It's next to the parking garage, and parking is about a dollar for a meal. There is also metered parking in the streets. Good luck on Wednesday, though: hello, farmers market (where Cafe Limelight buys the peanuts for their organic, housemade peanut butter). No, I am not making that up.
2) They do a High Tea every now and again, and have an assortment of teapots that have been donated by little old ladies and other artsy sorts who love what they're doing at CL. Your only chance of finding out about those is being a regular who gets the insert with the bill in the binder. Personally, I like that touch, as opposed to being one of the people who cut to the front of the line with the Bat Phone at the French Laundry... but I may slip them a dollar (heh) to clue me in for the next one. Apparently they fill up a month in advance.
The repeat clientele, Billy says, is 90%: I have no reason to doubt this. He also says, "We touch all your food with love. And you absorb all that positive energy." And I have even less reason to doubt that.
LOVELY.
From journal Santa Cruz, California