Dining
| Wine |
| Review |
| Edible-complex |
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Goat For It
Chili from God, Harvest party from heaven, Aquarium chef from Mustards.
It started with potluck, turned a corner with an insomniac e-mail from an intern, and ended in tastebud heaven. Weekly intern Daniel DeCamp brought along his chili to a potluck at my place. It was ...
Quince Quotient
Simply Quince by P.G.’s Barbara Ghazarian is a pioneering book for a pioneering fruit.
Quince may well be the most under-appreciated fruit in this country, which is surprising since the Pilgrims considered it essential enough to cultivate less than a decade after settling in Massachusetts. By 1720, quince was ...
Oh Baby
Eating out with a new little one is far from impossible. Here’s how to do it richly.
As a new mom, I’ve had to make a few lifestyle changes. I’ve convinced myself that sleep isn’t necessary. I’ve concluded that spit-up on my sleeve builds character and that my diaper bag makes a ...
Pocket of Change
Counting on the eternal constant and a wealth of fun foodie events.
Apparently somebody sneaked a few boullion cubes of change in the soup of the day. This week I bumped into or spoke with several key industry players and found new movements bubbling up with each. ...
So This Is Reality
Why reality TV, California wines and heirlooms don’t suck.
Last week, in front of a national television audience on ABC, 28-year-old Jesse Kovacs rolled around on a yellow Lamborghini, making out with a vapid co-star. In this week’s last episode, he was voted off ...
Perfect Pairing
The Highlands’ Paul Fried and Matt Bolton combine talents to deliver an impressive wine dinner series.
With few exceptions, when it comes to ultra-premium, multi-course menus paired expertly with notable wines from around the world, the distance between Monterey and the Michelin-starred chefs and wine cellars of San Francisco and Napa ...
Perfect Pairing
The Highlands’ Paul Fried and Matt Bolton combine talents to deliver an impressive wine dinner series.
With few exceptions, when it comes to ultra-premium, multi-course menus paired expertly with notable wines from around the world, the distance between Monterey and the Michelin-starred chefs and wine cellars of San Francisco and Napa ...
Something Brewing
Cannery Row Brewing Company earns full houses with great tastes at fair prices.
Who’d be crazy enough to open two restaurants in the same year? Robert Weakley and David Bernahl of Coastal Luxury Management – that’s who. The buzz generated by their nascent Cannery Row Brewing Company is ...
Of Bel Air and “Bacon”
The Bakery Station opens, plus teacup pot-bellied pig pandemonium.
One kind staffer brought in two white boxes filled with little jewels the other day: mini apple, banana nut and blueberry crumb muffins, still warm and yum yum. With them came welcome news. The Bakery ...
So This Is Reality
Why reality TV, California wines and heirlooms don’t suck.
Last week, in front of a national television audience on ABC, 28-year-old Jesse Kovacs rolled around on a yellow Lamborghini, making out with a vapid co-star. In this week’s last episode, he was voted off ...
Harvesting Happiness
Here comes al fresco excellence, fair fare and Michelin-starred chefs.
Last year, the inaugural Food&Wine Harvest felt like the one and only Monterey Music Summit, only with rock star chefs like Tyler Florence and Stefan Richter replacing rock rock stars like Michael Franti and The ...
Hearting Hearty
DownUnder Deli does authentic Australian, good wine values and filling specials in Mid-Valley.
You can find great Jewish delicatessens in New York, and there’s Canter’s in Los Angeles, but most everywhere else that “deli” appears above the door, the proprietors are clueless about what the word means – ...
Due East Feasts
Food-travel teachings and Indian-summer opportunities.
Michael Symon has a James Beard Foundation award, one of the most dominant Iron Chef win-loss records Kitchen Stadium has seen, and a brand-new Cooking Channel show, Cook Like an Iron Chef. The guy’s gastro ...
Digging In
Myra Goodman’s new Earthbound Cook burrows deeper than delicious food.
The first recipe Myra Goodman ever fashioned does not appear in her second splendid cookbook, The Earthbound Cook: 250 Recipes for Delicious Food and a Healthy Planet, which was released in stores this week. Nor ...
On a Roll
A beautiful food truck drops it into drive (and a trunk full of other nuggets).
As the booming boutique food truck trend delivers great grub to every big city nook from Atlanta to L.A. – Argentine meats, gourmet grilled cheeses, falafels, waffles – I’ve been patiently tracking our best candidates ...
Pico de gallo
Little Pico de Gallo serves big burritos in a tucked-away place.
Come bien, bebe bien, vive bien. “Eat well, drink well, live well,” the Pico de Gallo placard says. Owner Hugo Lopez-Zarazua makes this happen, or at least the eating and drinking part. Note the guacamole, ...
Mini Marvels
Small farmers and local chefs sow our souls – plus secret dinner and the 49ers.
Truly eating locally is neither easy or cheap or simple, but it can be immensely satisfying and flavorful, as I learned when I did it for 15 days. (But man I missed Tapatío, tortillas, bread ...
TusCA
TusCA’s new chef builds upon a beautiful thing.
Most travelers know that hotel restaurants don’t always set the finest tables in town. Some hoteliers believe that they will fill enough seats with business folks who have spent too much time in the air ...
Sweet Skills
Sierra Mar’s Jamie Jarrard offers an exclusive peek into what makes her treats soar.
Noon in the kitchen at the award-winning Sierra Mar at Big Sur’s Post Ranch Inn – rated first in California for cuisine in the 2003 Zagat – may appear to the outsider as a whirlwind ...
Blessed Bestness
Wine dinners from Bernardus approach ambrosia and PigWizard gets legit.
The primary difficulty with assembling a dream-team wine dinner is that it brings with it fantasy-scale expectations – and, inversely, an accompanying margin for error the size of a shard of Himalayan sea salt. Most ...
The Good News
Appetizing reports from Salinas to Carmel to Cannery Row.
First, three-pronged Salinas excitement: The National Steinbeck Center opens easily its most ambitious and diversified Steinbeck Festival outing ever – its 30th annual – on Thursday, Aug. 5, with a world cuisine highlight reel directed ...
Quinoa Sushi and Such
The Homesteader’s Kitchen makes healthy hippie cooking tasty and accessible.
I admit. I’m a whole foods virgin. I’ve never sprouted alfalfa seeds. I’ve never made spelt flour pie crust. Yet, I find Robin Burnside’s The Homesteader’s Kitchen (Gibbs-Smith, August 2010) intriguing. Burnside’s approach to food ...
Chopstix
Chopstix packs ’em in for bubble teas and sturdy Vietnamese at bargain prices.
You either love ’em or hate ’em. I’m talking about those chewy, coffee-colored, gelatinous orbs known as boba or pearls. I, for one, love them. So I was thrilled to find out that boba drinks ...
Tasty Eight
Indispensable insights for local people who eat.
I get it. You’re busy. And late for your bikram. Just for you, the Weekly is going to save you time with a streamlined list of what you need to know: 1. Smarter organic shopping ...
Frontier Food
Sniffing out new salad bars at Jersey’s and secret root-beer floats at In N Out.
In the name of chain warfare, there is a weapon available against the Subway onslaught that waits cocked and loaded between Verizon and Marshall’s in Sand City: locally-owned Jersey’s Subs (899-7677). I’ve been meaning to ...
Frutti De Mar Grill
Loving the mini sensation next to a Marina laundromat, Frutti De Mar Grill.
You’ve probably driven by it unknowingly, given its humble hideout between an industrial-sized Vietnamese market and a laundromat in an unassuming, pink Del Monte Boulevard strip mall in Marina. In that way, it’s easy for ...
Hope Floats
Reigning in locavore extremists with help from a different “slow” food movement.
Locavore fundamentalists might call it blasphemy, but there’s no reason why a meal made with local foods can’t also contain ingredients from the other side of the world. Homegrown vegetables like broccoli and garlic stir-fried ...
On the Down Under
Australian delis, picture-perfect new pastries and cowboy boots.
‘Tis a tongue twister and a seasonal truth: Prime picnic packing places are at a premium come summer. The new Down Under Deli (625-DELI) in the Mid-Valley Shopping Center on Carmel Valley Road deserves to ...
