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PHOTO ESSAY: Visiting my brother and his family in Santa Cruz with a stop at Manresa restaurant in nearby Los Gatos

We headed to the boardwalk for lunch at the Picnic Basket.

This is one of the better BLT’s I’ve had: nice crust on the bread, Niman bacon, pungent greens like mizuna and radicchio, and whole grain mustard gave it some zing.

My brother’s tamale was prettier, but didn’t live up to the hype: a bit dry.

Swift Street Courtyard: Cheers from the Bonny Doon Vineyard tasting room

A stop at El Salchichero butcher nearby

Bacon burger?! How have I not thought of this before? 20% ground bacon, 80% ground beef (they could have upped the bacon portion if you ask me)

Our dinner quickly became a meat marathon: El Salchichero bacon burger and hot dogs as appetizer

Three types of steak… and a Lipitor?

We refreshed ourselves the next morning at the Westside farmers market with salad greens and these pretty flowers.

LTBB always comes packing heat. Click here to learn more about Latini and Faella pasta.

Fusilli with tuna puttanesca sauce and a local Pinot Noir

On the last evening, a long-awaited dinner at Manresa in Los Gatos

Amazing cocktails to start: (left) tequila, hibiscus, artichoke liqueur; (right) rum, nectarine, and mint

The menu is presented like this, so, apologies to those who like details, but I won’t be remembering every ingredient pictured!

I didn’t shoot every dish, but got the majority of them. Here, razor clams in chrysanthemum gelée.

Melt-in-your-mouth sardines with compressed watermelon and sorrel sauce

Butter-poached halibut with romanesco broccoli. Gorgeous, but needed a bit of salt. There was also a “tide pool” broth (not pictured) with uni, abalone, and foie gras — delicious.

This was amazing: roasted duck with plum and fennel yogurt

We were disappointed to learn the suckling pig was on the à la carte menu, not the tasting menu we were having. So we asked for it to be added. Hey, how many times will we be at Manresa, right?? Excellent, with pistachio pesto, eggplant, yogurt.

I didn’t catch everything going on here (popcorn, yogurt?), but the chocolate mousse was delicious, and the combination was just right.