Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Kim Wright, manager of Erik's Delicafe in Los Gatos, offers the popular 'Pilgrim's Progress,' a sandwich featuring turkey and avocado.

Erik's offers food that is 'fast, fresh and delicious'

By Suzanne Cristallo

In 1971, Erik Johnson came to Santa Cruz to open his own small business. Two years later, he opened Erik's Delicafe in Scotts Valley, making room in the 650-square-foot restaurant for his father's antique potbellied stove, 100-year-old barn-wood paneling and a variety of "extremely hardy sandwiches."

Within a year, he doubled his floor space to accommodate his growing business. Today, he runs a fleet of refrigerated trucks out of a commissary in Santa Cruz every day to take fresh salads, sandwich meats, just-baked breads, soups and dairy products to 23 stores around the Bay Area; 13 are franchised and 10 are company-owned.

The Los Gatos company-owned cafe next to George Brown Fitness Center on Los Gatos Boulevard attracts a full spectrum of neighborhood residents, including the fitness-conscious seeking sustenance after their grueling workouts and those less-driven customers wanting a leisurely cup of coffee on the patio with their newspaper.

"It's fast, fresh and delicious," says manager Kim Wright of the food she serves, quoting the company motto.

Wright, 39, has been with Erik's since the day she arrived in the area from Portland, Ore., in 1990. A loyal employee, she is firm in her belief that her employer's standards for fresh food are the highest she's ever seen. "And I've been working in restaurants since I was 15," she adds. "Nothing is held overnight. Erik is adamant about that."

Wright enjoys being a part of the food industry, not only because she likes working with customers and the 13 employees she supervises, but because she feels a certain satisfaction from the balance her field gives to the occupations the rest of her family holds.

"You can rent a car from my sister, take it to my brother for repair, buy clothes from my mother, have your carpets cleaned by my father and eat with me!" she says.

Ordering sandwiches at Erik's is a journey into rhetoric as well as the old railroad way stations its decor suggests. Each title is loaded with meaning, along with its loads of tomatoes, onions, sprouts, lettuce and Erik's "secret goo."

One popular choice is the REO Speedwagon. A reference to the Reading, Erie, Ohio Railroad that train buffs will appreciate, it's a combination of ham, turkey and jack cheese on sourdough bread. There's also the Pilgrim's Progress--turkey and avocado on nine-grain bread, and Abbot's Habit, consisting of roast beef, mushrooms and Swiss cheese on sweet French bread and named after Chuck Abbot, developer of the Pacific Garden Mall in Santa Cruz. The Marrakech Express is named for the white pocket bread made from a 2,000-year-old recipe that Erik fills with pastrami and jack cheese. It's also reminiscent of a trip he took to Morocco in 1969.

The tab runs from $3.95 to $4.75. Beer, wine and soft drinks can accompany the sandwiches. Among the many dessert selections are blackberry bread, chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake with walnuts.

Erik's Delicafe, 15495 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 395-6363.

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