Tasty food without nasty chemicals: Red Restaurant and Bar

By Maggie Beidelman

Tucked away off the downtown Santa Cruz strip lies a plush, second-story organic food restaurant that will bring your taste buds back to the farm.

Walk into Red Restaurant and Bar, a dimly-lit cocktail-style lounge with decor true to its name, and you'll expect high prices for small portions.

Don't judge this restaurant by its lavish appearance. The menu's ambrosial fare, made with local organic ingredients, makes for a very affordable and satisfying meal. Not to mention, it's the best food this side of the bay.

The grilled pizzeta with artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers, grilled eggplant, kalamata olives and feta cheese is too filling to finish, too delicious for any watering mouth and too good of a deal at $8.

The fusion of American and Mediterranean cuisine features marinated skirt steaks and garlic sweet potato fries, red dragon mustard ale cheeseburgers with caramelized onions, figs wrapped in prosciutto -- basically everything you consider gourmet, but made with even better ingredients and for an even better deal. Vegetarians are at home here, too.

A nice dinner for two, including cocktails like the Molly McV or a perfect cognac sidecar, might cost around $30. For a classy dinner with incredible food in the Bay Area, that's not bad.

The atmosphere is especially stimulating: red carpet layers the stairs to the restaurant, which sits above the historic Santa Cruz Hotel at the corner of Cedar and Locust Streets. Fully-functioning fireplaces and funky red lights, late-night wine specials and plates to share attract a large crowd of youthful foodies -- that is, those interested in the sensual experience of food.

Next time you get to downtown Santa Cruz and need some nourishment and good taste, skip the usual Pizza My Heart and head to something a little closer to the farm.

Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.