Last weekend we decided to celebrate the warm weather’s late arrival with a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I’ve been going to the boardwalk for 30-plus years, and the thing I love best about it is that it hasn’t gentrified one iota.
This fact is most obvious in the boardwalk’s menu. While the Bay Area and Santa Cruz have gone organic, wholesome, or at least tasteful, boardwalk food remains steadfastly junk. About the most healthful item you can buy are garlic fries (just look at all that parsley!). Most of the food is appallingly fat-ridden, calorie-rich, and lacking nutrients: slushes, corn dogs, fish and chips, deep-fried artichokes, cotton candy. Even the latest additions—deep-fried cheesecake and Dippin’ Dots—respect the genre.
Not that I’m complaining. A good chocolate-dipped soft-serve cone is a thing of beauty. And a funnel cake with the works will actually sate a teenage boy—definitely worth the hour’s drive on a twisty road.
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Deep-fried stuff…yum, Mandy! The boardwalk sounds worth a re-visit, although I had been saving my cholesterol bust-up for the Mendocino County Fair where I hear a certain cookie (fried of course) is on the menu.
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