Ayoma Wilen felt humbled to be named one of the Best Chefs of 2013 from Best Chefs America. Wilen, the owner of Pearl of the Ocean on Water Street, also beams when she talks about being on the cover of Santa Cruz Weekly’s dining guide.

On paper things look good for the future of Santa Cruz’s needle exchange program, which the city basically punted to the county earlier this year, allowing county health officials to oversee the program outside city limits and come up with new regulations.

Chef Steve Elb has been coming to work in the same place for 29 years.

Masood Madani named his biggest burger after himself. The rest he named after towns in the San Lorenzo Valley.

Caitlin Parker opened Firefly Café in 2006, moving it to its current location a year later. But she says it never gets old when somebody calls one her bagels their favorite ever.

After a four-game undefeated playoff run, the Santa Cruz Warriors wrapped up their monumentally successful season over the weekend by letting it fall apart in the championship with they problems that had plagued them for weeks— easy missed shots and turnovers.

“It’s great, now that it’s in full-swing,” Tony Mills of the band Big Baby Guru says Saturday afternoon, gripping a red Solo cup of lager. “We’re on a fast learning curve.”

Several thousand people this past week have watched a homeless man’s face hit the sidewalk on Pacific Avenue. A Santa Cruz Police officer was arresting him for public intoxication early in the morning on Monday, April 22, as activist Brent Adams filmed the incident with a video camera.

If Gregory Magnusson is any indicator, you don’t need to travel to Germany—or even drink—to work at a German restaurant.