Upper Crust Pizza

Where Customers are Family

By Maggie Caldwell

Upper Crust’s signature thick crust, Sicilian-style pizzas are a Santa Cruz tradition, and Ernesto Chavez, owner of the Soquel location, is understandably proud of the quality product he serves. “I try to make our customers like my family,” he says. “I feed my family with this food; we eat here. I won’t give my customers something that I wouldn’t feed my family.

Ernesto purchased the Soquel restaurant in 2004 after over a decade working at Upper Crust, doing every job from dishwasher to chef, and understands that quality of ingredients is the key to success. He and his staff start early, making everything from scratch. “The dough, pizza sauce, meat and marinara sauce — we make it all fresh. Nothing comes in a can,” he points out. And that freshness and quality also extend to the pizza toppings, “Garlic, tomatoes, pineapple, everything. We chop all our toppings by hand. We don’t every use canned or frozen vegetables, only fresh.”

The signature pizza is sold by the slice or by the whole pizza, with a myriad of fresh toppings to choose from. One of the most popular combinations is the Meat Lover’s Pizza with Italian sausage, bacon, pepperoni, and ham, another is the Gourmet Veggie topped with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes. Adventurous eaters enjoy Sicily’s Mt. Etna, a potent combination of garlic, jalapeno, pepperoni, and pepperoncini. They’re happy to make whole pies with thin crust to satisfy the preferences of their customers — and there’s more: “We have a 10-inch gluten-free crust now,” Ernesto says. “We buy the crust and cook it in the oven on a special cooking pan, so it doesn’t touch the surface of anything the regular crust came in contact with.”

Upper Crust is known for more than pizza, though. Hungry customers enjoy a savory Philly cheese steak sub, ham or veggie muffaletta served on Sicilian sesame bread, meatball sandwiches, as well as a tantalizing menu of pasta, including homemade lasagna with meat sauce and cheese ravioli  . . .  or they can keep it on the light side with a salad bar or antipasto and bowl of hearty turkey vegetable soup.

Upper Crust delivers to Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, and Live Oak. “We try to cover everything,” he explains. It’s also a popular location for parties – birthday, soccer, and other school and intramural sports. They also sponsor local sports teams as well as Harbor and Aptos High School varsity teams. “We try to do as best as we can for schools,” says Ernesto. Upper Crust supports Harbor and Aptos High School varsity teams.

Ernesto is a family man — his daughter and sons even work part time now helping the family business — and he treasures the support shown to Upper Crust by the local community. “I appreciate everyone who supports small business like me. We do the best we can to keep our customers satisfied.”

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Upper Crust Pizza lunch specials every day from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. • Dine-in evening specials from 5 – 9 p.m.: • Tuesdays: all you can eat pizza • Wednesdays: all you can eat pasta • Thursdays: baby back ribs

Upper Crust Pizza is located at 2501 Soquel Drive at the corner of Soquel and Winkle. Call 476-2333 to place an order for take-our or delivery. Visa and MasterCard accepted. Hours are Sunday – Thursday from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Friday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.