Dining
| Wine |
| Review |
| Edible-complex |
Angelina’s Bakery Deli & Cafe
Unseen Angel: Angelina’s Bakery, Deli and Cafe quietly does quality down-home fare and impressive cakes in North Seaside.
“It’s perfect!” cries a customer as he walks up to the counter at Angelina’s Bakery, Deli, and Cafe, drawing attention to the cake taking up all the available space on top of the pastry case. ...
EL CHARRITO
Top Tortillas: A look at – and taste of – the best corn and flour tortillas Monterey County has to offer.
Chart human history according to culinary milestones, and a few moments stand out. There was the introduction of cooking with fire 1.8 million years ago, crude stoves 250,000 years ago, and the transition from hunting ...
Deputy Proof
Fog’s End Distillery makes award-winning moonshine in Gonzales.
Craig Pakish hands me a glass of his signature 100-proof California Moonshine at 9:30am on an April Saturday. Sipping white lightning before lunch represents an unprecedented experience for me, but that is fitting, because precedence ...
Nifty and Thrifty
An amazing feat of wildly affordable cooking, plus a $20 food shopping showdown.
It might be the most inspired meal in Monterey County. It definitely belongs among the most heartfelt. And it certainly ranks as one of the thriftiest. It is Church on the Beach, the regular meal ...
Slow Boatin’ SOB
Rules are made to have exceptions. Here’s my exception to the buy-local rule.
Locavore fundamentalists might call it blasphemy, but there’s no reason a meal made with local foods can’t contain ingredients from the other side of the world. What’s wrong with imported oyster sauce on homegrown broccoli? ...
Greens Grazing
An honest attempt to digest three standout Monterey County square meals, vegetarian style.
For years it’s seemed that local chefs and restaurateurs have thought about vegetarians much in the same way as Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in Kitchen Confidential that they “and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans… are ...
Power Food
An insider helps harness the cloutiest events of Pebble Beach Food and Wine number six.
As a veteran Monterey County Supervisor, Carmel’s Dave Potter is used to being the most powerful dude in the room. But he’s not even the most powerful guy at family dinners, at least when it ...
Fast Food BFF
Here comes high-oleic soybean oil, the junk food industry’s new bestie.
Foods that are organic or otherwise more “natural” have reached unprecedented levels of public acceptance. But in the valuations and price action that represent truth on Wall Street, fast food companies are beating the tar ...
Get Your Goat
The globally popular meat is most easily found at local taquerias, in a peppery Jaliscan stew called birria.
Goat is a starring meat in all sorts of colorful and spice-loving cuisines, including Indian, Middle Eastern, North African, Mediterranean, Korean, South American, Mexican and Caribbean. So why is it so hard to find on ...
Bacon Blasphemy
Contemplating a life with less bacon isn’t such a painful process.
Looking back, the early bacon years of the bacon craze seem like a time of innocence. We took it for granted that any problem, culinary or otherwise, could be solved with various preparations of pig ...
Early Losses
Answering the penetrating question, does this breakfast make me look fat?
The institution of breakfast is rarely challenged. It ranks somewhere between sleep and oxygen in reputed health benefits, and supposedly supplies irreplaceable energy to get you going, primes your metabolic system, keeps your muscles healthy, ...
Volatile Mix
Stirring together a bootleg barkeep, a lost dog and the final Independent Marketplace 1.0.
The last-minute mission certainly seemed sexy enough at first: Play guest bartender for the last Independent Marketplace in Sand City, a Feb. 7 event which had the makings – fire-dancing, flash mob, acrobatics, Mundaka tapas, ...
Last Supper(s)
A tale of one food writer’s last treasured meals in Monterey County.
By the time this Weekly is in your hands I will be long gone, having exchanged Big Sur for the Big Apple, West Coast taquerías for East Coast pizzerias, the beaten Pontiac and Highway 1 ...
Dive Bar Boar
A blue-collar watering hole in Seaside teaches us a thing or two about wild boar and togetherness.
“Run! You son of a bitch, RUN!” screams a man at a television when a wide receiver catches the pigskin and goes in for the touchdown with defenders hot on his trail. Not too long ...
Crema Espresso and Wine Bar
Room for Crema: Crema Espresso and Wine Bar serves coffee, food and drinks in a place unlike any P.G. has seen.
From a pair of brand-new plush leather chairs overlooking Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove, you can nestle in and watch cars roll by at the easy pace of waves flopping on the beach. I’m sitting ...
Holy Food
Hanukkah revolves around miraculous oil, so we eat lots of it – some in donuts – to celebrate.
For proof that food is central to Judaism, look no further than the fact that its most famous holiday revolves around the deep fryer. There are other holidays on which food becomes part of the ...
Don’t Be a Tool
With gift-giving season here, the best gift for a cook might be food, not elaborate gadgets.
Based on the variety of ice cream scoops on the market – 1,529 from Amazon alone – one might conclude the world faces a crisis of improperly or inconveniently excavated ice cream. I think it’s ...
Just Squash It
The options for seasonal squash are both endless and endlessly edible.
It amazes me when people claim not to know what to do with squash. Because, other than pour milk over it in your cereal bowl, what can’t you do with squash? Can you fry it ...
Fresh from D’Vine
D’Vine Inspiration: How a new Salinas Valley greengrocer will make you feel like a kid in a (healthy) candy store.
San Marzano tomatoes are oblong, tubular, and considered to be one of the world’s best tomatoes for sauce because of their sweetness and low acidity. Before visiting Fresh from D’Vine, a new produce market in ...
Grapes, No Wrath
If sommeliers directed diplomacy, a good time might be had by all, feuding countries too.
The ’80s band Tears for Fears said it best: “Everybody wants to rule the world.” Which means not everybody gets along. Ask the Israelis and the Lebanese. Or the French and Germans. Relations aren’t exactly ...
Not Dead Yet
Organic is dead, long live organic: A sober analysis of all the produce controversy generated by Stanford scientists.
The way headlines broke around a recent Stanford study comparing organic and conventionally grown foods, you’d think organic had been left for dead. The New York Times, for example, announced that “Stanford Scientists Cast Doubt ...
Grape Caper
Exploring one local winemaker’s obsession with local grapes.
Winemaker Ian Brand’s favorite task is to drive down dirt roads and knock on doors whenever he spots rows of unfamiliar grapevines. With permission granted he “pokes around in the soil to see what’s going ...
Lokal
Crisp Character: Lokal Restaurant slathers unique personality on Carmel Valley’s plate.
Little about Monterey County’s new foodie outpost, Lokal, is business as usual. The rustic DIY aesthetic, servers swooning over the dishes and the cuisine itself all trickle down organically from its unorthodox founder/chef Brendan Jones ...
Quick-nics, Baby
Fast-but-fabulous ideas for gourmet-sandwich-lunch-in-the-sun.
Sometimes the Epicurean culture needs new terms to keep track of all the updates. Think about it: None of the now-commonplace terms like “locavore,” “gastropub,” “probiotic,” “slow food” – or even “sustainable” and “foodie” – ...
Monk-y Meal
A retreat to the Tassajara Zen Center kitchen yields few culinary tips beyond the best one: Cooking is fun.
For someone happy to subsist on mostly brown rice and steamed broccoli, Dale Kent is surprisingly eager to coax as many combinations as possible out of a four-foot shelf of spices and seasonings. Now an ...
Eaten Alive
Opening an understanding of the way Morro Bay Oyster Company works.
There are reasons the Pacific oysters from Morro Bay Oyster Company are tasty enough to earn the affections of an ABC of top Monterey County culinary outposts: Andre’s Bouchee, Bernardus and C Restaurant, among a ...
Cake Walk
Identifying the right ceremonial confection is a decision that lasts forever.
The word “wedding” tends to add a zero to prices. That goes for cakes, big time: It’s not unusual for a 100-serving confection to break $1,000. Local bakeries host private tastings for wedding cake as ...
The Mexican Eats
Weekly contributor Gustavo Arellano’s smart new book Taco USA defines Mexican-American grub.
Gustavo Arellano writes “Ask a Mexican,” a controversial weekly Q&A in which he answers, with pointed humor, various questions about Mexicans. (The syndicated piece has been discontinued in the Weekly’s opinion section in print but ...
Ale Tales
Carmel Valley ‘Beer Geek’ publishes Teachings From the Tap: Life Lessons From Our Year in Beer.
The Geeks had it good. Carmel Valley’s Merideth Canham-Nelson and Chris Nelson had mastered the complicated equation of finances, travel tables, buzz management and day jobs – as a clinical social worker and beer-tender/web designer, ...
Chain Reaction
Braving three on-fire Salinas franchise restaurants that opened in the last month and a half.
Part of it is the 5-foot-4-inch pink pig mascot hamming it up in the entryway at Famous Dave’s. Part of it is the wait for a table at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse: Even though the ...
’Choke Artists
Wildly creative home artichoke recipes – from chips to cakes – and a peek at the passion behind them.
They email things like “I am infatuated with the ritual of dressing up and then gradually undressing a beautiful artichoke, devouring it layer by layer.” They say things like, “They’re fresh, they’re here, they’re happening.” ...
Braising Bravery
Embracing the delicious beauty of treating meats with coffee and wine.
Coffee and red wine are two of my favorite beverages to drink with meat. Given how much I like braising, it was only a matter of time until I tried braising meat in a mixture ...
Unholy Groceries
Kosher shopping and cooking for Passover presents a challenge of Biblical proportions.
Jewish guilt is often a leading reason Jews observe holidays. But good food is a worthy reason itself, especially come Passover, the springtime agricultural festival that’s about storytelling, food and, oh yes, wine – the ...
Scrappy Tastes
Confessions of a Fearless Cook finds flavor in creativity, courage and humor.
Rookie cookbook author and one-time Weekly food columnist Terry Fisher calls herself “fearless.” It’s a pretty big claim to make, let alone to place in the title of her new-but-long-time-in-the-making cookbook. But the Gonzales nurse ...
Taste of Vietnam
Sporting Chance: Taste of Vietnam banks on authentic tastes and a feel uncommon for Southeast eatery.
Seaside’s Taste of Vietnam, which opened last September in the Fremont Boulevard spot formerly occupied by China Chili, is making a play at a new type of fusion: an authentic Vietnamese restaurant that doubles as ...
Bacon Sprouts
Bringing out the best of Brussels sprouts and love for bacon vinaigrette.
Brussels sprouts with bacon is hardly a new idea, but the combination has taken off lately. The pair has become a menu meme, a darling of online recipe searches and food TV. Given the recent ...
Against the Grain
A handful of heady restaurants give Monterey County hope – and flavor – without wheat.
Imagine your diet without cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch or pasta for dinner. Those with an allergy or intolerance to gluten, the primary protein in wheat and similar grains such as barley and rye, ...
Food Fright
The year’s biggest food news – much of it spooky – changed our personal habits.
Every December for the last nine years, the Hunter PR firm has announced the results of a survey of Americans’ top 10 food news stories of the year. The list says as much about the ...
Top Nog
To take the holiday party to another plateau, apply the power of ‘pouring custard.’
When several packages of viscous fluid showed up on the luggage scanner, security agents at Charles de Gaulle Airport asked me to explain some items in my checked bags. “Crème Anglaise,” I said, reciting one ...
Mixed Company
Carmel Food Company succeeds with tastes, underwhelms on value.
When we heard Carmel Food Company’s Chef Sven Hoffman hailed from the famed Auberge du Soleil in Napa and trained further in Germany, we were eager to taste his food. That eagerness would grow, as ...
Squashing It
Three ways to make cooking with winter squash more glory, less chore.
Winter squash – along with turkey, eggnog, and perhaps your crazy aunt Bertha – has a place at most holiday tables. But unlike the others, there is a seasonal reason for the inclusion of winter ...
Spiritual Tofu: Mon Chay’s unique take on vegetarian Vietnamese earns monk-like devotion.
I don’t know exactly why it is, but there is something about Buddhist monks preparing my meal that makes me happy – and hungry. Maybe it’s the fact that my food will be consciously selected, ...
Label Fables
Changing the genetically modified game starts with in-demand truth-in-packaging.
In recent years, several polls have shown that about 90 percent of Americans support the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms. That’s about as close to a consensus as you’re going to get ...
All Hail Kale
Chewing on a range of tasty ways to enjoy the nutrient-rich green.
These days, it can be hard to get my head out of the dreamy tomato clouds long enough to think about the hardy crop staples we need to be planting for a winter-long harvest. But ...
Mixed Greens
A search for a standout Peninsula salad yields up-and-down outcomes.
Ah, Monterey County: replete with greens, so-called salad bowl of the world, seemingly the perfect place to feast on a heaping helping of arugula with fresh toppings and a from-scratch dressing. Right? Alas, it’s not ...
Salsa Season
Keys to a jarring experience from a special character named Roy.
I learned the ways of canning salsa from a used-car salesman named Roy. He looks like Willie Nelson, bandana and all, and speaks with a southern twang thick enough to get your truck stuck in. ...
Tomato Secrets
’Tis the season for a local farmer to reflect on one of her favorite things, its top types and a righteous recipe.
The best part of the summertime Caprese salad was once considered deadly. In an age gone by, the most vegetable-y fruit was actually seen as an aphrodisiac. And, at one time, they worked as a ...
Sweet Death
Sugar is not only making America fat, it’s poisoning the people.
New figures released by Trust for America’s Health paint an increasingly fat picture of the U.S. Twenty years ago, not a single state in the union had an obesity rate higher than 15 percent; today, ...
The Seedy Side
How the Ninth Ward is using gardens to sow unlikely hope in New Orleans.
In the syrupy charm of New Orleans’ garden district or the debauchery of the French Quarter, you might think the city has recovered from the trauma of Katrina. Streetcars are running, music is playing, and ...
El Callejón
Ambitious Eats: El Callejón in Oldtown Salinas does seafood and nightlife quite nicely.
“Aim for the moon,” W. Clement Stone said. “If you miss, you may hit a star.” The famous businessman and self-described “main promoter of a positive attitude” may have died well before El Callejón opened ...
The Other Offal
Borrowing from the “waste not” school of animal parts works for veggie lovers as well – and saves cash.
The preparation and consumption of animal offal has become trendy in recent years. From headcheese to braised pig feet, there are many ways of turning animal innards into delicacies. And while plant offal hasn’t exactly ...
Sow Special
The Garden Party gives home growers crucial aid in cultivating organic vegetables and herbs.
Helaine Tregenza has done it again. Guru of the home and commercial garden installation business The Raised Bed, and previously a main player behind the sorely missed Elkhorn Farm & Mercantile in Moss Landing, the ...
Styrofoam Slap
Local cities have been slow to enforce their polystyrene bans. So the Weekly invites you to do the job.
Our readers voted it the Best Green Trend of 2011: replacing polystyrene take-out containers with Earth-friendlier materials, like cardboard and Taterware. As trends go, it’s a pretty hot one: The cities of Carmel, Pacific Grove, ...
Mi Pueblo Food Center
Big Dealin’: Mi Pueblo does Latino grocery extra-large and affordable.
The scale of the 20,000-square-foot Mi Pueblo Food Center is overwhelming, and assaults several senses. The bustle of eager attendants and dozens of customers creates a bee-hive hum while mariachi and banda music plays in ...
Sweet Dream
A superlative and authentic French outpost, Provence Bakery, finds a surprising place in Prunedale.
The bakery buzz is all around town: French brothers Greg and Guillaume D’Angio have opened an authentic bakery at the Prunetree strip mall on San Miguel Canyon Road in Prunedale. In the same parking lot ...
Hops From Heaven
The Moses brothers lead locals to a frothy promised land with Post No Bills, Monterey Beer Festival.
For locals who have discovered the pleasures of small-batch beer, there is good reason to add a few hops to the step: Two seminal, suds-lovers’ events – the opening of Post No Bills in Sand ...
Middle Ground
A week’s tour of the Peninsula’s Middle Eastern offerings yields a satisfying experience.
Middle East politics can be fascinating, but they can also be unnerving. Not so with the region’s food. To explore the local restaurants that prep authentic Middle Eastern cuisine as enthusiastically as some debate its ...
The Monk Menu
Three meals in a monastery prove deliciously enlightening.
Tassajara tenzo (or head cook) Graham Ross, one of the five now-legendary monks who turned back mid-evacuation to plunge into the path of the Basin Complex fire in defense of the Mountain Zen Center property, ...
New Moonen
A sustainable stalwart keys a hopeful and historic 10th annual Cooking for Solutions at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
“The bluefin tuna is done,” says Rick Moonen, with uncharacteristic pessimism. Though a man of unabashed hope, the sustainable seafood chef knows his science, and appetites: The most optimistic estimates put the Atlantic bluefin population ...
Into the Woods
Wandering into the storied cork trees takes a wine lover to a surprising place.
As global wine production has surged over the last two decades, there has been much ado about cork: Is it worth the slight risk of taint? Are trees getting cut down? Does the industry support ...
Oh Mama
Cabo Blue Taco Shack’s matriarch gives downtown Monterey authentic Mexican.
I should have been born Mexican. I love the burn-so-goodness of a jalapeño, make my own tamales from scratch and perpetually seek the best chile relleno the country has to offer. As I set my ...
Fourth Dimension
As it enters its senior year, Pebble Beach Food & Wine defies conventional description.
So there’s this little party coming to town next weekend. Maybe you’ve heard of it. OK – there’s no real question whether you’ve heard of Pebble Beach Food & Wine unless you’ve been hidden from ...
Criminally Good
How to indulge seven friends with seven paired courses for a steal.
You don’t need to spend $300 per person to have a great food and wine pairing. Besides, sommeliers can be snooty, driving drunk is dumb and dangerous and, economically, times are tougher than a cell ...
Proof Pudding
Approaching pumpkin from a different angle is the best way to celebrate squash.
Pumpkin pie is misunderstood in many ways. To name a few: it doesn’t need to be sweet, it isn’t only for the holidays, and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t even have to exist. ...
China Delight
Fine China at the Crossroads: China Delight proves a fresh find for fabulous lunches at the mouth of Carmel Valley.
Even though it’s been a couple of years since China Delight lost its lease and moved into a new space on the opposite side of Crossroads, patrons are still discovering that the restaurant moved. For ...
Julia's
Vexing Veggie: Julia’s in Pacific Grove gives vegetarians and vegans hope, or at least a little.
Though vegetarianism has been embraced by an ever-increasing number of our populace, one thing remains sadly the same: Herbivores face a dining-out dilemma. Sure, the rabbits among us can focus on a few things at ...
California Star Seafood
Lifetime local fisherman Ron Aliotti smokes up some serious fish for area farmers markets.
Carmel native Ron Aliotti knows as much about fish as Eric Schlosser knows about fast food. As a kid, he worked down at Fisherman’s Wharf, filleting fish for local party boats and occasionally working as ...
Redwood Revisited
The new chef at Fernwood’s Redwood Grill gives Big Sur new flavor that’s well worth a nibble.
Big Sur’s Fernwood is many different things to many different people. It’s the favored longtime watering hole for Big Sur locals. For tourists, it’s an affordable option for campsites, cabins or motel rooms. It has ...
Jarring Experience
Testing out a Happy Girls Kitchen class proves pickling can be (very) powerful.
Behold the power of the pickle. It provides a snapshot of seasonal flavor, a moment preserved in time – and a jar – and the delicious promise of future enjoyment. That preservationist power doubles as ...
Petals and Pastries
Adorably Edible: Pastries and Petals’ sensual from-scratch treats make a cute home in Carmel.
In the heart of tourist town U.S.A., it was the locals Jeanne Johnston was after, people who would come back to P&P over and over again and spend as much time there as they’d like. ...
Divine Swine
Butch Francis rides Cowboy Sausage to powerhouse farmers market popularity.
On an average Monday afternoon, you can find Butch Francis up to his arms in boneless pork shoulder. The 67-year-old former truck driver uses Catering Magik’s Marina kitchen to chop, season, double-grind and stuff the ...
Tasty Trends: 2011
The Weekly’s food freaks assemble a watch list for the eats ahead.
Even as some of the best and most inventive chefs in the world come to us every year for events like Cooking for Solutions and Pebble Beach Food & Wine, descending from major urban hubs ...
Pier Pressure
The food, if not the ’tude, inspires a visit to hidden Bay View Deli & BBQ.
Most people that arrive at the Coast Guard Pier in Monterey are either fishing, diving or lost. On a typical day, the vast, vacant parking lot feels more like the deck of an aircraft carrier ...
French Kissed
A new chef team makes an old favorite even Frenchier.
Julia Child’s description of her first encounter with French cuisine went something like this: “After one taste of French food… I was hooked. I’d never eaten like that before; I didn’t know such food existed. ...
Habanero’s Grill & Cantina
Habanero’s Grill & Cantina’s atypical approach works in downtown Monterey.
Sibling rivalry is nonexistent in Dennis Barwick’s family – his food and entertainment family, that is. Habanero’s Grill and Cantina, which opened on Sept. 17, joins sister establishments Bellagio Pizzeria (404 Tyler St.) and Luxe ...
High Resolution
Showing how a table beer tap and bull ride are relevant.
In 2011, I will not go to the gym everyday, eat healthier or scale the seven highest summits in the world. I will, however, solemnly resolve to share with you things you should know. There’s ...
The Bakery Station
Fuel for Life: The Bakery Station gasses up Salinas on fresh java, pastries and sandwiches.
On an island once reserved for gas pumps, newspaper stands sit beneath an historic overhang’s classic Airstream curves. Above, a ’50s-style sign with a Mrs. Cleaver look-alike declares “Now Baking Daily.” Stepping into The Bakery ...
Crab + Bacon = Yum
Two of the best things to put in your belly and more to munch on.
‘Tis the season. For crabs. Last week insider sources tipped me off to a cracking deal on fresh crab. So I promptly appeared on Wharf Two Friday afternoon to pick up 11 from a lady ...
Tricky Dick and Me
Excellent Italian for Nixon, a fishy iPhone app for you.
Richard Nixon and I never had much in common. With the help of one of the most memorable personalities in Pagrovia, that’s changed. The other night at Alberto’s (373-3993) at the top of Forest Hill, ...
Half Baked
Food safety and school lunch gets a hard look from Congress.
Rarely in our history have food politics so dominated the national spotlight. Two food-related bills are currently circling the legislative drain, and their backers are running out of time to get them signed by the ...
Sip It Up Señor
A wine-bar rebirth, new talent at 1833 and Cibo turns 20.
Terranova Fine Wines (333-1313) is back. And, in a word, better. They now offer over 30 wines in self-service pours of 1, 3 and 5 ounces, with prices differing depending on the size and the ...
Sakana Sushi Bar
Roll Play: Sakana Sushi gives downtown Monterey a cozy and creative spot for special rolls.
Good things come in threes, so they say. With International Cuisine in Pacific Grove and Dametra Cafe in Carmel well established, Monterey’s Sakana Sushi Bar now joins the Nimri family trifecta. Youngest brother Fadi Nimri ...
Toast
Toast gives Carmel Valley an informal slice of fine French countryside.
Warm sun soothes the comfortable patio. Flowers along its edge quietly radiate calm and add color to the buzz of pleasant conversation. In the background, oak-brushed ridges sweep into the distance with an easy grace. ...
Working Classy
White trash taste testing and festive events for everyone.
A lover of things trashy left a box at my desk the other day. It had a handle. It also had five Mexican beers and a 5-ounce bottle of tequila inside. But these, my friends, ...
French Lesson
A hidden spot for great crepes and more from the local menu.
Chef conversation floated about the closet-sized kitchen in fluid French. Autumnal sun lightly baked customers eating al fresco along the sea. Authentic buckwheat crepe batter sizzled, its savory scent all sensorial seduction. This wasn’t France. ...
Noodle Bar Restaurant Two
Noodle Bar’s second station adds smoothies, space and “local favorites” menu.
The owners of the Noodle Bar Restaurant knew they had a good thing going after opening their first shoebox spot in Seaside a few years back – people routinely lined up for a sought-after spot ...
Nightclub Sandwich
A revolutionary-minded restaurant-bar-club opens in old Doc’s.
A split personality never sounded so sexy. Luxe Lounge (643-1100) is suddenly open in the Monterey venue that was previously Doc’s – and yes, it enjoys several identities. By day (starting at 11am), owner Dennis ...
Pensi Pasta
From raviolis to spreads, Pensi Pasta’s Evette Lecce knows how to deploy the seasonal squash.
It is only fitting that Evette Lecce, owner of Pensi Pasta, grew up on Monterey’s Spaghetti Hill. By now she has been in business for 13 years as one of only a handful of local ...
Really Fat Burger
A heart-attack hamburger and lard-cooked fry reply to healthy food trends finds traction.
The burgers are free – all day, every day – at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Ariz. The only catch is you have to weigh at least 350 pounds. The fake nurse who weighs ...
News Nibbles
Hefty developments in lil’ digestible nuggets.
It’s like the San Francisco Giants sending Tim Lincecum packing on the cusp of the World Series. OK, maybe Kung Fu Panda. Whatever the case, news that Coastal Luxury Management and restaurant chief Gary Obligacion ...
Fishy and Flavorful
Viva Las Vegas, election food fun and super flavor on the South Coast.
Hope reported for duty in a strange place last Saturday. It turned up in the heart of the Monstrosity the Mob Built, the Disneyland of Skin, the Elvis impersanator oasis known as The City of ...
Happy Girl Kitchen Co.
Tickled by Pickles: Happy Girl Kitchen Co. opens in Pacific Grove.
Summer’s end always sends me into mourning. Goodbye heirloom tomatoes in all their sun-ripened goodness. Farewell ruby red strawberries with hints of honey and perfume. Adios peaches. This fall, however, I’m not hanging my head ...
Higher Bar
A remade sports bar, a nice new sushi spot and Big Sur Food & Wine.
The Phillies and the Yankees aren’t going to the World Series, but the Giants are. Warriors coaches and star players aren’t warring with one another. The Niners, fathers of the West Coast Offense, can’t complete ...
Nielsen Brothers Market
Market Matters: Nielsen Brothers Market celebrates 80 years of excellence in Carmel.
Many people on the Peninsula don’t get to Carmel enough. Perhaps the parking and traffic seem daunting. But by not spending more time in this quaint-slash-fascinating town, we don’t enjoy the sense of community that ...
Sheep Shape
An icon lives, fresh and healthy delivers and Big Sur rocks.
Not long ago, Clint Eastwood knelt low over “No. 36” – one of Mission Ranch’s iconic sheep. When my colleague asked me if I heard what happened next to the sheep with the shattered leg, ...
High Frying
Flanagan’s Irish-American pub brings a much needed watering hole - and excellent fries - to the Barnyard.
In this age of foodie-mania – where pig heart, foie gras and soft-boiled quail eggs reign – we tend to forget about the simple foods we will always love. Like good old French fries. I’m ...
Bellagio’s
Bellagio’s pizza is the first of a three-part epicurean/entertainment powerhouse.
I bet y’all thought the Weekly was expanding to Sin City, but nope. Bellagio’s is a new pizza restaurant in downtown Monterey. It’s part of a hybrid actually, with a Mexican bar/restaurant next door named ...
Bye-Bye Bacon
The local food world makes some painful farewells (and two hell-yes hellos).
When a man defeats a horse in a 50-mile race, you know he’s up to a challenge. So that tells you how hard it is to keep a small organic livestock farm afloat. One-time horse-versus-human ...
Nugget Up
How a Midwestern McDonalds turned into a harvest of local info.
I saw a vaguely terrifying sign last month during a trip to the Midwest: 50 McNuggets for $4.99. I swore to transform terror into inspiration. Hence, a different collection of nuggets follows: a dozen-plus of ...
CAFÉ FINA - DOMENICO’S
The Mercurios work farm-fed magic at Cafe Fina and Domenico’s with special dinners.
You can covet the matchbooks from all the world’s great restaurants that have accepted your card, but I’ll bet there ain’t a tableful of you who has spent four hours in two buildings consuming eight ...
