Shadowbrook

About the Business

Specialties

Quirky dining rooms & views of Soquel Creek come alongside California cuisine & a wine list.

History

Established in 1947.

Founded in 1947, Shadowbrook has been known for "romance in dining" since the beginning. Continue reading to discover the interesting history behind this truly unique restaurant. The heart of Shadowbrook is a log cabin originally built as a summer home in the 1920s, and later enlarged by an English family, who added what is now known as the "Fireside Room," with its hanging balcony and Swiss chalet decor. Eventually they sold the home to another family, who, for unknown reasons, abandoned it a few years later. When the restaurant's original partners discovered the house in 1944, it stood in ruin. It took those entrepreneurs three years of painstaking work to restore the structure. Then they set about hacking a steep path out of the tangled underbrush, carrying every piece of furniture and equipment down the treacherous hillside.

Meet the Business Owner

Business owner information

Ted B.

Business Owner

Ted Burke was hired on as a summer waiter and bartender at Shadowbrook Restaurant and... he never left.  After managing from 1973-78, he and his partner, Bob Munsey, became co-owners of both Shadowbrook and Crow's Nest.  Just to list some of Ted's recognitions and achievements: "Outstanding Businessperson of the Year", Santa Cruz Conference and Visitors' first "Award of Excellence", California Restaurant Association's "Hall of Fame", "Restaurateur of the Year", "Men of the Century", and the list goes on...  Also as a leader of the community, his significant involvements include: Chair of Santa Cruz Business Council, past President of Dominican Hospital Foundation, Director Emeritus of National Restaurant Association in Washington D.C., and more. Ted lives in Santa Cruz near the Yacht Harbor and enjoys golf, gardening and his four children, Joslyn, Natalie, Kelly and Elliott and grandsons, Grayson and Hudson.