BestOf
MONTEREY 07

•PHOTO STORE

MYRICK PHOTOGRAPHIC | 598 Fremont St., Monterey • 649-1900

Photographs can capture, reflect and change history. They can tempt immortality and tap otherwise inaccessible emotions. The right pictures, oftentimes, are the most valuable things any given person may own. With these stakes on the line, Monterey County turns to Myrick Photography, whose staff doesn’t campaign for Best Of votes. They just look to prove to each individual customer how much they can help—and with more than knowledge and hardware. Their goal is to serve each customer—digital or analog, amateur or vet—fully and fairly. That, says store manager David Williams, is the most reliable way “to keep them coming back and back and back.”

•GROCERY STORE

TRADER JOE’S | 1170 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove • 656-0180

Trader Joe’s is how many of us bring delicious gourmet food into our everyday lives. With a delightful selection of cheeses, pasta sauces, spreads, meats, bread and wine, Trader Joe’s has the basics of good living covered, while the full dairy case, coffee selection and tidy array of packaged veggies take care of the other necessities. But it’s in the frozen entrée aisle that Trader Joe’s really shines, packaging tasty, wholesome food to nourish the modern, much-too-busy human.

•SELECTION OF LIQUORS

BOTTLES ‘N’ BINS | 898 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey • 375-5488

A big photo of Vito Poma hangs above the counter at Bottles ‘n’ Bins, which is now owned by his son Vince. Vito founded Bottles ‘n’ Bins in 1960 and opened the current location on Lighthouse in 1972. Naturally, Vince and his wife Karlen run the place like a family operation, and give credit for their success to employees Alison Breedlove and William Bakkerud. The place has a welcoming atmosphere—oh, yeah, and lots of bottled spirits.

•WINE MARKET

RANCHO CELLARS | 26340 Carmel Rancho Blvd., Carmel • 625-5646

We here in the Peninsula are blessed with a number of truly top-end wine markets. Rancho Cellars, the largest of the lot, has been offering wide-ranging selections of hard-to-find cult wines as well as everyday drinking discoveries for almost a decade. Owner Jacques Melac, whose battles with the courts the past few years have not daunted his spirits—nor his selection of spirits (Rancho sells spirits and beer as well)—is as talented a palate as there is, and his choices and recommendations are spot-on. Melac’s deep-reaching connections to private cellars add another dimension to his already impressive résumé.

•SEAFOOD MARKET

SEA HARVEST | 100 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel • 626-3626 | 598 Foam St., Monterey • 646-0547 | 2420 Hwy 1, Moss Landing • 728-8686

It always smells good at Sea Harvest. In a way, that’s all you need to know. The seafood is that fresh. Whether you’re looking for Dungeness crab, sweet scallops, succulent shrimp or a fresh line-caught halibut, this is the place to go. And if you choose to settle in and let Sea Harvest cook you a delicious, simply prepared meal that lets the fruit of the sea shine, all the better.

•ORGANIC PRODUCE

WHOLE FOODS | 800 Del Monte Shopping Center, Monterey • 333-1600

Cherimora? Sunchokes? Broccoli raab? Fruits and vegetables you didn’t even know existed are on bright display at Whole Foods, that island of organic nosh in a sea of synthetically-sprayed foodstuffs. When other grocery stores sequester their organics in lonely, plastic-wrapped huddles, Whole Foods flaunts them with spacious bins and informational signs. When the Farmers Markets are rained out, Whole Foods draws you in with produce as local as Salinas spinach or global as Chilean tomatoes. And if ‘cide-free salad isn’t enough to appease your conscience, the company is committed to paying its workers a living wage and buying energy from renewable sources, too.

•GOURMET/KITCHEN SHOP  

CLEMENTINE’S KITCHEN | 465 Canyon Del Rey Blvd., Del Rey Oaks • 392-1494

Think you’ve already got every last kitchen gadget and gizmo known to man? Think again. Clementine’s has thought of everything, from the eensiest skewer to the finest oils and high-end cookware any professional chef or casual cook could want. Their goods come from across the globe. They also offer cooking classes and demonstrations from a wide array of topics and regions: sushi, paella, mole, stir-fry, knife skills, and their very popular “lunch and learn” courses. Have a little lunch, learn a little food. But first make a little reservation.

•PLUMBER

WILSON’S PLUMBING | 307 Grand Ave., Pacific Grove • 375-4591

Typically it’s not the call you most want to make. But if something’s backed up and the drain’s a no-flow, you’ll be glad that at the other end of the phone are the folks whom the readers of the >>Weekly deem the best plumbers in Monterey County. Wilson’s has been taking care of the business around here since 1941, and this past year they decorated their store window with a Santa wishing everyone a happy holiday from his perch atop the white porcelain throne. You gotta admire people who keep their sense of humor while dealing with our outflow.

•ELECTRICIAN

SELECT ELECTRIC | PO Box 6441, Los Osos • 655-5828/422-3036

Three-phase wiring and computer circuits. 220-volt and 480-volt circuits. (480 volts!) Motor-control wiring. These guys have this stuff all figured out, and that’s why they have grown to serve all of the Central Coast from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara.

•HARDWARE STORE

PACIFIC GROVE ACE HARDWARE | 229 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove • 646-9144

Owner Bill Derowski can often be found on the floor helping customers in this do-it-yourselfer’s emporium. “That’s what makes all the difference,” he says. “You gotta know your customers.” Derowski knows a lot of his customers pretty well—he has worked at PG Hardware since 1982, three years after the store was founded by Richard Stillwell. (“I married his daughter, so he gave me a job.”) Besides being a neighborhood gathering spot, it’s a good place to buy the nuts-and-bolts stuff of domestic life.

•GIFT SHOP

NEVER ON SUNDAY | 251 Pearl St., Monterey • 372-1051

The new Monterey store Never On Sunday is like a great mix CD, featuring a far-ranging collection of songs that all testify to the maker’s impeccable taste. It’s also all over the place, selling everything from wasabi mint aromatic candles to a picture book titled >>Rear Ends that showcases people bending over. In addition, vintage postcards and a small collection of killer CDs—>>Jolie Holland, >>Thievery Corporation, Nouvelle Vague—further attest to shop owner Jenny Fry’s eclectic genius.

•PLACE TO BUY MUSIC  

BORDERS | 2080 California Ave., Sand City • 899-6643

The thing about Borders is there’s not much they don’t carry. And if they don’t have it, they can usually find it and get it. Fast. The variety is huge but easy to navigate, the returns easy, and the prices relatively reasonable. Sometimes one of the best ways to spend an afternoon is browsing their collections, slapping on a pair of their headphones and sampling a CD or two that wouldn’t normally be on your shopping list. If lack of ideas is your problem, ask the staff. Time after time, they come through with just that perfect groove.

•PLACE TO BUY A CELL PHONE

VERIZON WIRELESS | 836 Playa Ave., Sand City • 393-8290

Who needs face-to-face interpersonal communication? Thanks to the friendly staff at Verizon Wireless, you can talk to people on any one of the four corners of the globe without leaving the comfy confines of your couch. In fact, with one of their hands-free sets, you barely ever have to move. Some technophobes might say that cell phones are spoiling the way human beings have communicated with one another since the beginning, but Monterey County certainly disagrees.

•SURF SHOP

ON THE BEACH | 693 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey • 646-WAVE

Twenty-five years ago, On The Beach Surf Shop was little more than a dream for Kelly Sorensen. As a land-lubbing teenager in Fresno, he fell in love with the surf-and-sun lifestyle after a family vacation to Hawaii. Now he’s living that dream daily: the colorful 6,000-square-foot mom-and-pop operation on the corner of Lighthouse and Prescott has been voted Monterey’s best surf shop year after year because it feels like an island, complete with the tropical fish and the most surf-friendly gear anywhere. Sorensen even offers a line of surfboards endorsed by Monterey High football coach-beach bum Pete Noble.

•THRIFT STORE

SALVATION ARMY | 326 N. Main St., Salinas • 424-0889 | 1850 Fremont Blvd., Seaside • 394-6507

In Georgia, a young girl recently found $1,300 pressed between the pages of a book her babysitter purchased at a thrift store for only 25 cents. The little girl’s sister took the money to the bank and, due to the poor condition of the cash, only received $300. So what does this teach us? For one, keep your money minty, and two, the fab-Hawaii 89 T-shirts, totally operational blenders, and funky unmatched chairs aren’t the only items with far more to offer than a story.

•PLACE TO RENT VIDEOS/DVDS

VIDEO TO GO | 2311 Fremont St., Seaside • 375-7506

At Video To Go, owners Bob and Ginne Bobin know their local clientele as well as they know their wide selection of new releases, classics, and obscure indie flicks. With Monster Video in Monterey and Movie Mart in PG recently going out of business, Video To Go remains one of the last of its kind locally: a mom-and-pop operation that defies the trend of block busting and net flicking. This award comes as an anniversary gift of sorts—the Bobins recently celebrated 25 years of business in Seaside.

SHOE REPAIR

FEDERICO’S | 542 Abrego St., Monterey • 649-3322

>>Weekly readers—and their feet—would be lost without their long-time best shoe repair shop. And for good reason: Federico’s shines, polishes, rebuilds heels and reinforces soles better than anywhere else in the county. Worried that that big, silver buckle on a pair of black knee-high boots is too last-season? Worry no more. The pros at Federico’s can remove the fashion faux pas and said boots are instantly in style again. Plus, they understand that we take our shoes seriously in these parts, and don’t like to go even a day without our fave fishnet platform slingback Christian Louboutin pumps. Bonus: customers can drive through and have their shoes repaired while they wait.

•TOY STORE

SAND CASTLES | 3776 The Barnyard, Carmel • 626-8361

This Barnyard sanctuary has been relieving and reviving parents for 14 years. That’s because the toys here don’t just interactively inspire children’s imaginations with classic handcrafted charm, they do it without high-pitched sirens or redundant nursery rhyme jingles. These are toys for the child’s mind and parents’ peace and quiet. The cozy surroundings of the shop offer a preview to the good playtime ahead.

•TATTOO ARTIST

ORLANDO FERRON | Creative Visions, 800 Lighthouse Ave.,  Monterey • 649-1882

Orlando makes even the most stubborn client feel welcome. That’s his style—to take his canvas away from the pain and into the art. The one-time serial doodler chose the vocation for his own love of art, culture and tattoos themselves— he feels tats should be viewed as sacred images, and finds the permanence of his art deeply rewarding—and he’s proud to move tattoos further from the taboo status they once had. His pieces ultimately include anything from Japanese- and Americana-style art to Sailor Jerry-type designs, but Ferron says he likes to focus on a “know your roots style of art.”