Like Americans, the French tend to adore les petits chiens. Everywhere from bars to four star restaurants haute cuisine allow pooches and their peeps to dine alongside one another for what inevitably turns out to be a rich cultural dining experience. I mean, who doesn't want to chew on a piece of 100 euros-a-plate coq au vin while Fido's slobber drips down your leg? I know I do! There are entire lists of restaurants on Google, pointing out all the dog-friendly cafés spotted throughout le pays de France.
Luckily for me, I adore animals just as much as the French do, which is why I searched high and low for a four-paw-friendly dining experience right here in Santa Cruz. What I found was The Harbor Cafe: a total Santa Cruzian brunch place with doggy menus and bottomless mimosas on Fridays. And you know what? Dog-friendly restaurants are really onto something. The clientele tends to be full of dog lovers (re:nice people), the waiters tend to be nicer to you if only because they're scared of being attacked by your dog if they make a false move, and the poochies inevitably become attention whores who adore the entire experience.
Gearing up for France, my mom, me, and three of our dogs decided to hotfoot it over to the Harbor before closing so we could feast on orange juice, champagne and bacon (for les chiots). Dogs, sun, and mid-afternoon cocktails: the perfect mother/daughter salute to Santa Cruz sunshine and dreams of a dog-friendly France.
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