If God has forsaken you and you happen to find yourself in our little burg here are some great places to try:

http://oswaldrestaurant.com/menus/bar.html The food is every bit the equal of the best of New York and San Francisco. Where I go on my birthday (Hint: this Saturday 9/1) for a fantastic Chocolate Souffle'.

http://thepennyicecreamery.com/ - The owners were featured in Obama's State of the Union speech this year. The ice cream is like *nothing* you've ever had before, and the flavors are out of this world. The Jack Daniels and almond flavor is my favorite. Oh, and like Elizabeth, I ship Obama!

http://www.mariniscandies.com/ A genuine old fashioned candy store with soda fountain and the freshest gummy bears you've ever had. They make much of their own candy, and when you go to the Boardwalk you can watch the salt water taffy pulling machine. P.S. They invented chocolate covered bacon.

http://www.donnellychocolates.com/ Famous all over the world, his guy's chocolate is unreal. It is so rich and flavorful there is no way to describe it. The place he makes it in is tiny, maybe 20" x 40" and there are huge blocks of different kinds of chocolate he's made stacked up all over.

http://gabriellacafe.com/ Cozy and romantic this is place for a date. Forget Valentines you have to book years in advance. The food is wonderful, the wine list is fantastic, the staff is extremely well trained, you will want for nothing.

http://www.ristoranteavanti.com/ Real Mediterranean food. Excellent is every regard you will feel like you are in Genoa or Barcelona. This is *the* *place* to take a big crowd of people for a great meal and a lot of wild and wine filled conversation.

Note: All the restaurants I have listed use locally grown organic produce picked fresh daily. They use Stornetta organic dairy products, and free range everything. It's true, Santa Cruz is a trashy backwater with not much going for it, but the food is really good.

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