Olive & Ash (831) 555-0194

Fire-Kissed. Coast-Raised.

Neapolitan pizza built for the California coast. Oak-fired at 900 degrees, served the moment the leopard spots appear.

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From the Oven Tonight

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An Oven Built Before We Had a Restaurant

Our Story

An Oven Built Before We Had a Restaurant

Serena Bautista grew up along the Monterey Bay, where the smell of salt air was as familiar as her grandmother's bread cooling on a wire rack. Marco Ellroy spent eight years on restaurant lines in San Francisco, cooking everything well and nothing that truly satisfied him.

They met in Naples in 2018, two Californians with fermentation notebooks and strong opinions about cornicione. They ate at forty-seven pizzerias over eleven months. They argued about hydration ratios and oven-floor timing and the specific way a crust sounds when you fold it. Marco apprenticed under a third-generation pizzaiolo in the Quartieri Spagnoli for four months. Serena reverse-engineered a cold-ferment schedule calibrated to the humidity of the Santa Cruz coast.

They came home in 2019 and built the oven first — a four-thousand-pound dome of refractory brick, fed by coast live oak from a family grove twenty miles inland. Finding the restaurant came later. The oven was always going to come first.

Olive & Ash opened on Cedar Street in March 2021. The dough formula has not changed. The oak source has not changed. The oven has never been turned off.

“We spent a year in Naples destroying flour. That was the only way to learn.”

— Serena Bautista, co-founder

From the Source

Every ingredient we use has a provenance worth knowing — we built our sourcing philosophy around the conviction that great pizza begins long before the oven.

  • Caputo Tipo 00 Flour

    Caputo Tipo 00 Flour

    Mulino Caputo, Naples, Italy

    Milled from soft winter wheat to a superfine grind that opens into a silky, extensible dough. The 48-hour cold ferment unlocks a depth of flavor no same-day method can match.

  • San Marzano DOP Tomatoes

    San Marzano DOP Tomatoes

    Volcanic foothills of Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy

    Grown in mineral-rich volcanic soil between Vesuvius and the Apennines, these plum tomatoes carry a natural sweetness and low acidity that no other variety can replicate. We crush them by hand.

  • Fior di Latte Mozzarella

    Fior di Latte Mozzarella

    California Coast Creamery, Petaluma, CA

    Made fresh daily from whole cow's milk by a small creamery north of San Francisco. Pulled at peak moisture so it blisters and browns at 900 degrees without releasing water onto the crust.

  • Cobram Estate Olive Oil

    Cobram Estate Olive Oil

    Woodland, California

    A California-grown extra-virgin with a grassy, peppery finish that stands up to the char of the oven. We finish every pizza with a thread of cold oil poured from the spout — never from a bottle held high.

The Kitchen, the Flame, the Plate

What Guests Are Saying

Reviews from google

“I lived in Naples for two years. This is the closest I have found in California. The cornicione on the Margherita has that exact right amount of char and air. Unreal.”

★★★★★

Lucia F.

Featured In

  • Eater Bay Area
  • Bon Appetit
  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • Coastal Living Magazine
  • Pizza Today

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Hours and Location

418 Cedar Street

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Day Hours
Mon Closed
Tue 17:00 - 22:00
Wed 17:00 - 22:00
Thu 17:00 - 22:00
Fri 17:00 - 23:00
Sat 17:00 - 23:00
Sun 17:00 - 21:00

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Private Dining and Catering

Planning a private dinner or an event with wood-fired pizza? We handle parties of eight to sixty. Fill out the form and we will get back to you within one business day.

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