Cakes And Ale: Watsonville

Scallops Dynamite at Miyuki in Watsonville.

Every year we go to the Mushroom Show in Santa Cruz, but this year Robin thought we should stay in Watsonville, 14 miles away, much cheaper, and a different scene. Last week I started researching the culinary scene there, and was pleasantly surprised to find so many highly rated restaurants. So Friday night we decided to try Miyuki, a sushi restaurant close to downtown Watsonville.

Some of the decor looked new, but mostly this looked like a place that's settled in. There's several other highly rated Japanese restaurants, and Robin says that Japanese families moved here many years ago to grow strawberries. I'd guess that Miyuki has been here since the 1960s, and they own the building. There's several marinas of some note (Santa Cruz, Monterey) where the freshest sushi grade fish can be found.

Miso soup.

Albacore, Hamachi, Tako, Unagi, Salmon roll, Unagi roll, Spicy Tuna roll, Gina roll (tuna, avocado, macadamia).

Scallop Dynamite: cut-up scallops and shittake, in oyster shells, in egg whites, oyster liquor, possibly Masago, baked. So exquisite.

Next day we wanted a snack before dinner, so we got a pork and chicken tamale, which were utterly sublime. This is one of those rare instances (like these other places in Watsonville) where they served home cooking--not many restaurants make tamales this good. The chicken has a nice round flavor, and the pork has a rich texture, as did the masa.

This is Delicia's Taqueria. There's so many highly rated Mexican restaurants, I just picked the one that definitely had soups, for Robin. Above you can see all the food I ordered: Ceviche, Chile Relleno Plate, Two Tacos.