Lily Belli is a food and drink correspondent at Lookout Santa Cruz. With over a decade of experience reporting on Santa Cruz County’s vibrant food culture, she covers a range of topics including food production, organic farming, and restaurant innovation, while also exploring trends in the agriculture and hospitality industries. Lily's work has been featured in Lookout Local, and she brings her passion for local food and community to her writing.
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Santa Cruz, United States (Local)
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Lily Belli focuses on local food and beverage events, restaurants, and breweries in Santa Cruz County. Her articles are centered around event coverage, seasonal features, lifestyle topics such as house & home with a primary focus on food & beverage.
Considering her emphasis on local culinary experiences and events, outreach to Lily could include promoting upcoming or ongoing food-related events in Santa Cruz County or pitching stories about unique dining experiences or new restaurant openings in the area. Additionally, if you have expertise related to the local culinary scene or trends in Santa Cruz County, it may be of interest to her audience.
Given that she covers specific areas within California (Santa Cruz) extensively while also touching upon broader U.S.-related lifestyle themes occasionally; targeting pitches relevant to these geographic locations would likely resonate well with her readership.
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By: Lily Belli
Bookie’s Pizza, an acclaimed Detroit-style pizzeria founded by chef Todd Parker, will relocate to a larger restaurant at Anton Pacific on Pacific Avenue, becoming the first retail tenant in the mixed-use downtown Santa Cruz development. The move marks an early milestone for Anton Pacific’s commercial leasing as developers work to fill new ground-floor retail spaces.
By: Lily Belli
Homeless Garden Project is one step closer to owning its longtime Natural Bridges Farm after years of regulatory hurdles, with a key zoning decision this week that, if approved, would clear the way for the nonprofit to purchase the 4-acre property and begin construction on a permanent home as early as 2027.
By: Lily Belli
A big next step for Homeless Garden Project, a move downtown for Bookie's Pizza, renowned culinary minds joining forces at Bookshop Santa Cruz – find all that and plenty more in Lily Belli's Tuesday newsletter.
By: Lily Belli
Homeless Garden Project cleared the final major regulatory hurdle to purchasing the 4-acre Natural Bridges Farm it has leased on Santa Cruz's Westside for three decades, paving the way for the nonprofit to establish the first permanent home in its 36-year history.
By: Lily Belli
Long before Martinelli’s canceled contracts with some local growers this year, the Pajaro Valley’s apple industry had been in steady decline, squeezed by competition from Washington state, shifting consumer preferences and the lure of more profitable crops. Now, as orchards are ripped out across the region, farmers and industry leaders are searching for new ways to preserve one of Santa Cruz County’s oldest agricultural traditions.
By: Lily Belli
Former Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane is spending July visiting 100 ice cream parlors across California to celebrate National Ice Cream Month and fulfill a longtime dream. Along the way, he's discovering inventive flavors and raising money for immigrant-focused nonprofits, and returned to Santa Cruz for a National Ice Cream Day crawl.
By: Lily Belli
In her Tuesday newsletter, Lily Belli notes the latest challenges for apple growers across California, multi-front litigation for a Watsonville berry giant and Don Lane's quest to visit 100 ice cream shops around the state this month.
By: Lily Belli
The inaugural Black Smoke Invitational will bring celebrity chefs, pitmasters and live-fire cooking to Moss Landing on Sunday, pairing a barbecue competition with cooking demonstrations, unlimited tastings and live music. Organized by House of Black Smoke, the festival aims to showcase California's evolving barbecue scene while raising money for a nonprofit that supports hospitality workers.
By: Lily Belli
After two decades with different owners, the Casalegno family is uniting the historic Santa Cruz Mountains country store and family farm, reopening the nearly century-old landmark this fall. Matt and Marissa Kotila hope to preserve the store's legacy as a community gathering place while building a new chapter centered on agriculture, local food and neighborhood connections.
By: Lily Belli
Big plans at Casalegno's in the Soquel hills, La Placa Family Bakery closes in Ben Lomond and prepares to reopen as La Placa Italian Cuisine on Mount Hermon Road, upcoming festivals and more – it's all in Lily Belli's Tuesday food & drink newsletter.
