Marlyn’s American Grill makes the view of Lake El Estero look even better.

The lake gets little love. Think about it. Dwarfed by its fancy “biggest ocean in the world” neighbor, Lake El Estero gets the short end. But it deserves more credit: Note the underrated fitness circuit, the beautiful fountain. Recognize its crucial role in the character of the community, making Sollecito Park, Dennis the Menace Park, the Monterey Skate Park, even the nearby beach, that much cooler—and Monterey that much more unique—by its presence. It’s a blue-collar crux of central Monterey area. And its glassy green surface allows reflective vistas unavailable elsewhere.

The classic American grill—where breakfast is the most important meal of the day, portions matter, and style is in the service, not the burre-blanc-pomegranate sauce—shares some of El Estero’s plight. Grills also have been overlooked in favor of the more dramatic and elaborate, prejudged for their lack of pizzazz.

But it’s the grill that keeps us everyday people satisfied. Blue-collar appetites will appreciate Marlyn’s American Grill and the lake views that it offers from the windowed cradle that once housed Anne Kelly’s by the Lake. (The management at the attached Monterey Bay Lodge wanted AK’s to offer dinner nightly, but they declined and left at the end of the summer). Owner-chef Manuel Mayora came in after working in the Monterey Plaza Hotel’s kitchen for eight years, renamed the place after his daughter, and set about focusing on “nice food and nice service.”

The extensive breakfast menu has enough options to fill the lake, with eight variations on eggs and things ($5.95-$7.75, with New York steak and eggs at $10.95), 12 different ways to do omelets ($6.75-$8.50), nine country skillets, six scrambles ($8.50-$8.75), six eggs benedicts, six different crepes, and 20 other pancake, French toast, combo and “light and healthy” options.

In one end of the plain-but-well-lit dining room, our deferential server Daniel told me to go for a skillet over the crepes, so I added mushrooms to a pre-set dish of potatoes, onions, diced Ortega chiles, and chopped sausage ($8.25 with English muffin). Ample jack cheddar brought the strong roster of hearty ingredients together, as did basted eggs on top. The rest of my breakfast club went light: Rosie had a yogurt sundae ($6.75), a layering of low-fat strawberry yogurt over basic granola, raisins and walnuts in a sundae vessel accompanied by a fruit cup (strawberry slices, tart apple slices, cantaloupe, grapes and oranges) and an English muffin. JC got a basic fruit bowl for $5.95.

A lunch visit landed a colleague and me in one of the unassuming booths with a panorama of El Estero. Like the breakfast menu, the lunch menu is big and customization-friendly, with eight different ways to build burgers and chicken sandwiches, 16 other “sandwich, etc.” options and six big salad choices. Service was spot-on for a workday lunch, despite a busy Friday bustle: Elapsed time between the smiling Daniel congratulating us on our decision to split a Coastside Cobb ($8.25) and a customized chicken sandwich ($8.25) and those dishes hitting the table was less than 10 minutes.

The Cobb was a slighty-atraditional mound of chopped mixed greens with a load of thin-sliced turkey breast, crisp bacon, red onion, black olive, blue cheese and trace amounts of tomatoes all topped by a thick layer of snowy shredded jack cheese.

We picked a winner from the chicken sandwich lineup, a bird with mellow Cajun spice, avocado and jack cheese, to which we added bacon that came out crisp. A small dose of tasty shoestring fries and an artisan bun helped.  

A dinner visit completed the sweep. Back overlooking the lake and a diverse menu ranging from Lakeside Meat Loaf ($12.95) to Chicken Marsala ($10.95 or $14.95), Pasta Putanesca ($12.95) to Rib-eye Steak ($16.95), Joy and I shared the Blackened Tilapia Salad special ($12.95) and the Barbecue Cheeseburger ($7.75).

A pair of beers (a Fat Tire, $4, and a Coors Light, $3.50; there are also three other beers on tap and a symbolic wine list) whet the palate for a cup of the smooth and satisfying chicken green chile soup of the day ($3.25/cup; $4.25/bowl).

When the main event arrived, the tilapia’s salad greens were forgettable, but the blackened fresh fish and ample avocado were good enough to merit their own delish dish—the two black-and-red-peppered tilapia filets started peppery through the crust and melted into a pleasant lingering that went great with the soft avocado.

The burger, while small for a self-respecting grill, was solid, with the onions and salty barbecue sauce strategically placed beneath the cheese.

On the walk home, we subconsciously strayed from the beachside Rec Trail for a walk closer to the lake.  

>MARLYN’S AMERICAN GRILL

55 Camino Aguajito, Monterey • 6am-9pm daily • 646-2002