Surf’s up: Auburn’s Kitsch-en invites customers to play guessing game

There may not be another surfboard like it anywhere but Auburn.

There may not be another surfboard like it anywhere but Auburn.

A real beauty, it presents a stunning mosaic of black, white, blue, red brown and other colors. And to gawk at it, all you have to do is step inside the door of the Kitsch-en Restaurant just north of Safeway and look to the wall at your right.

But even legendary surfer Duke Paoa Kahanamoku’s eyes might bug out of his head at the site of a board that tempts one not only to hang 10 or goofy foot but to get down and gobble.

See, those are no ordinary colors, instead they are thousands of jelly beans.

Colleen Barry, owner of the Kitsch-en, came up with the idea.

“I thought it would be a really cool enhancement to the already wonderful establishment that I have run here,” Barry said.

Barry said the surfboard took about six weeks to complete, demanding undisclosed pounds of jellybeans and flavors ranging from licorice to coconut, from cotton candy to berryblue, cherry and root beer.

Barry pointed to a curiously mottled specimen of a bean that defied easy categorization.

“I think this is toasted marshmallow, although it looks like a puffed rice jellybelly,” Barry said.

Barry said the board will be the focus of a guessing contest.

“It will be a guess-how-many jellybeans are on the surfboard. The winner will get a free breakfast one time a week for a year,” said Barry.

The contest begins Feb. 1 and ends March 15. Barry will announce the winner at the eatery’s two-year anniversary March 18.

“We have cause to celebrate about now because we were established two years ago,” Barry said. “The surfboard was just an item that I wanted to have in here. I thought a surfboard would be a cool addition to the already festive look of the establishment.”