Bookstore and restaurant ‘Bad Animal Books’ opens Wednesday downtown | Lifestyle - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Elaine Ingalls, News Reporter- Santa Cruz Sentinel suggests, Co-owners aim for a Dionysian experience complete with wine, food and books.

Andrew Sivak and Jess LoPrete are reflected in a light fixture at Bad Animal Books, their new full-service restaurant and independent bookstore on Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz that opens Wednesday.
Photo: Shmuel Thaler — Santa Cruz Sentinel

In a world where a Wi-Fi password is one of the first thing a store customer asks for, the new downtown Santa Cruz bookstore Bad Animal Books is going for a Dionysian “pleasure experience” with wine, California-French cuisine, antiquarian books — and no Wi-Fi.

“In the digital age, we think it’s really important to rediscover respect for the book as a physical object and something beautiful that deserves to be preserved and valued for an object,” said co-owner of Bad Animal Jessica LoPrete.

Co-owners and residents of Bonny Doon, Jessica LoPrete and Andrew Sivak met when LoPrete was on the high school debate team and Sivak was her coach. They reconnected at Claremont McKenna College when LoPrete was studying philosophy as an undergrad and Sivak a Master’s degree in cultural studies. With a shared love for entertaining, good wine and books, they became business partners and opened a combined bookshop and restaurant.

Bad Animal Books will primarily sell used books, but will also offer new material. Customers won’t experience buyer’s remorse, according to Sivak, because the books will be priced to beat the internet. The store will also buy books from the public for cash or trade...

Todd Parker, former sous chef at Manresa in Los Gatos, and other members of the kitchen staff will prepare classic French dishes with a California twist, such as rabbit pâté, rye Parisian gnocchi, mussels with fava beans and a French caramel tart. Ingredients are local, from farms and farmers markets within 100 miles of Santa Cruz. Sivak said the dishes are wine-centric and meant to be shared. The natural wine the store serves is on the wild side: it’s fresher, brighter and more expressive, according to LoPrete. They are low intervention wines made by small production farmers using organic and other methods with little additives, she said. The bar will also carry beer, cider, and a small selection of nonalcoholic beverages.

With a focus on the humanities, a bar and restaurant and competing prices, LoPrete and Sivak believe they will stand out. The bookstore will sell classic and modern literature, philosophy, memoir, art history, theology and more. Inventory is from buying people’s libraries, library sales, thrift and antique shops and from Logos. 
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Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel