Tracking Santa Cruz County’s Best Grilled Cheeses
Suddenly I discovered I’m a massive fan of Emma Stone. Not for her Oscar Award-winning turn in La La Land, though that was something, or her intense role in Birdman, which was incredible.
I’m digging her wisdom. Unbeknownst to me, she drops pearls all the time, and I’m just getting wind of it.
They include, “I think a lot of people compare their insides to other people’s outsides” and “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.”
Then there’s my favorite mic-dropper full-stopper: “I’m into grilled cheese. Grilled cheese makes me feel beautiful!”
In a word: Word. On her next visit to Santa Cruz, I have her spots preordained. They both do belly-grunt-grade grilled cheese, even though their core competencies are actually something else.
At Far West Fungi, the star attraction is Moss Landing-grown mushrooms—maitake, morel, king trumpet, baby shiitake, shimeji, cordyceps and lion’s mane among the many, all CCOF certified organic, and not just fresh but dried and in powders and tinctures.
They also spawn plugs, liquid culture syringes and take-home mini mushroom farms that empower home growing.
Then there’s the merchandise, ranging from reishi earrings and branded hoodies to packaged goods like white truffle butter and spicy tree oyster mushroom jerky to homemade frozen soups and candy cap cheesecake and books like Mycelium Running and The Mushroom Hunters Kitchen.
I go for the truffle grilled cheese ($15). It’s simultaneously simple and complex, crunchy and soft, oozing and indulgent. The flavor symphony comes summoned by an interplay of blue foot mushroom butter, crimini, shiitake, black truffle tapenade, gruyere and Swiss on sourdough.
Far West Fungi, 224 Laurel St., Ste. A101, Santa Cruz; farwestfungi.com
The rare GC on its level appears in Capitola in an unassuming strip mall spot where the main event isn’t sandwiches, but cheese.
Cheese Shop 831 does a different…
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