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Santa Cruz is getting a new fine dining restaurant with a focus on its coastal environment, wood-fired cooking, and steak: Alderwood Santa Cruz opens tomorrow at 155 Walnut Avenue.
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Executive chef Jeffrey Wall moved to the area earlier this year to start working on the new restaurant after opening Atlanta’s Kimball House and Denver’s Hearth & Dram. He brings French influences to Alderwood, along with an appreciation for the local bounty, with a menu highlighting local vegetables (roasted hen of the wood mushrooms meet celery root and ice wine vinegar) and seafood (grilled rockfish is served with morel and truffle ragout) alongside a large selection of steaks. The current menu includes 16 different steaks, including dry-aged, grass-fed, and Japanese options, available with classic sauces like bordelaise and au poivre — plus luxury additions like foie gras and lobster. There’s also an extensive raw bar with more than a dozen oysters and traditional caviar service.
“We want to become part of the fiber of Santa Cruz and are creating Alderwood Santa Cruz to serve as a gathering place for the community,” says Wall in a statement. “This is going to be much more than just a place of business — we aim to be a hub for everyone, from those wishing to enjoy happy hour, to serious diners looking for a full meal experience, to the late-night crowd.
Alderwood, which takes over the Erik’s Deli space, was designed by Atlanta’s Square Feet Studio. The 79-seat restaurant includes a bar, a dining room, and a chef’s counter facing an open kitchen with a wood-fired grill. The cocktail list largely reads like spins on classics — the old fashioned includes sassafras and rum, the gimlet features sorrel, and the chartreuse fizz is enlivened with pineapple, lime, and fennel.
Alderwood Menu by on Scribd
Alderwood will be open for happy hour and dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to midnight.
- Alderwood Santa Cruz [official]
- Steaks, Oysters and French Food Coming to Santa Cruz [Edible Monterey Bay]
