Eating Out, Culture Events, Championship Moments, Art Works

By Lauren Cercone | Marketing consultant; executive board member, Friends of the Salinas Public Library

10. Portobello’s broccoli salad turns up regularly on buffet tables around town and is immediately recognizable. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a job there just to ferret out the secret. (Yeah, good use of an MBA.)

9. Gianna’s Pies (available at Star Market on South Main Street). Perfect fillings and the best flaky crust—and that’s no mean trick, as good crust is a matter of technique as much as recipe. I am humbled.

8. Behind Royal Deli & Bakery’s humble façade is the pinnacle of thumbprint cookies. Not the typical chokingly dry and gummy variety, these are buttery rich with a soft, chewy filling. And three for a buck.

7. Even my mother loves the crab ravioli at Salinas Valley Fish House, and she’s a seafood snob from Boston. Grab the bread to sop up the tomato-cream sauce. (And try the Bananas Foster—not on the menu, but they’ll make it at your table if you ask.)

6. The sautéed mushrooms on the lunch buffet at Café Spada are satisfying in their earthy simplicity: a little olive oil, plenty of garlic, and a sauté pan. Warning: not good for days when you meet with clients or have a hot date.

5. The cake selection at The Grill in Creekbridge Village Shopping Center would be illegal in some states. They’re all fine specimens of Layercakus Americanus, with the textures and frostings of mythical birthday cakes from an idealized childhood. Triple-layers all around, too. 

4. Peninsula Pastries’ bread pudding must be a sin. “Bread” is a misnomer; they use leftover pastries (oh, the joy of hitting a vein of raspberry Danish). And they serve wicked huge slabs.

3. The chicken taco salad at La Costa Taqueria (in the old Roy’s Drive-In) will keep you out of Taco Bell. The spices rock—there’s a hint of cinnamon, and possibly some allspice lurking. Do your laps at the Municipal Pool first so you feel no guilt about the sour cream.

2. The salt and pepper fish at Eagle Restaurant on West Alisal Street.  No, wait—the chicken chow mein. Or the walnut shrimp. No, the eggplant in black bean sauce. Hell, anything Sam Chen serves makes it worth heading to Oldtown. 

1. Rosie O’s barbecue is open weekends only at Oldtown Deli on Main Street. If I weren’t married already, I’d marry the BBQ chicken sandwich, but I’d have to cheat on it with the cole slaw (it’s the pine nuts).