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 ...
The Man Who Changed Music
The Peninsula’s Robert Greenfield, a preeminent chronicler of rock ‘n’ roll, turns his pen on late recording legend Ahmet Ertegun.
Ahmet Ertegun signed and/or recorded Ray Charles, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Sonny and Cher, Eric Clapton, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, Kid Rock, and many ...
Il Vecchio
Straightforward but sexy tastes at good prices in a crafty environment make il Vecchio an instant local hit.
It’s an unlikely set of qualifications for a restaurateur: two enthusiastic daughters, an adventurous spirit, a doctorate in clinical psychology, a career in psychotherapy, and experience opening an Indian restaurant in Rome more than 30 ...
Lodge Restaurant at Carmel Valley Ranch
Ranch Rules: Lodge Restaurant packs ‘sophisticated rustic’ flavor behind seemingly private gates (hint: they’re not).
After the brief splash made by celebrity chef Michel Richard and Citronelle restaurant at Carmel Valley Ranch, the renamed Lodge Restaurant reflects the vision of the new owner, John Pritzker, a scion of the Hyatt ...
Place Apart
Restaurant 1833 uses setting and gold-plate-pedigree chef to match the hype and then some.
Monterey’s 1833 Restaurant, named after the building’s year of origin, is the latest in a series of restaurants to occupy Stokes Adobe, the home of former mayor James Stokes, whose name stuck with it. The ...
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 ...
Courtside Café
Serious Game: Courtside Café’s David Frappiea hits a winner with an under-the-radar eatery.
Sometimes a place to get a bite to eat pops up in the least expected spot. I can’t think of one more inconspicuous than Courtside Café at Chamisal Tennis and Fitness Club, a public restaurant ...
Brodie to the Max
Wendy Brodie’s cooking classes augment a local legend further.
Is it a class, a demo, a party, or a gallery exhibit? Even all that doesn’t describe my recent cooking course at the Carmel Highlands home of Chef Wendy Brodie and her husband/local hospitality maven ...
Fresh Cream
Fresh Cream Restaurant’s new location is only one of several upgrades.
After 27 years at Heritage Harbor in Monterey, the now 32-year-old Fresh Cream Restaurant broke loose from its moorings. After a short sail south, she dropped anchor in the former site of Bully III, a ...
Le St. Tropez
French Revolution: Le St. Tropez delivers on a long-incubated dream on Dolores Street.
The only thing uncommon about Jean and Mary Hubert’s dream of owning a restaurant is that they acted on it. They even had the precise location in mind for 10 years: Dolores Street in Carmel. ...
The Restaurant at Ventana
After a disastrous fire, the re-minted Restaurant at Ventana only amplifies its flavor.
The restaurant at Ventana Inn, Cielo, was destined to perish. After triumphing over the Basin Complex Fire, Cielo reopened for just one week when a kitchen fire destroyed the 34-year-old interior. It took a year ...
Guadalajara Grill
Gas Station Gourmet: The new Guadalajara Grill is the culmination of a taco-trailer triumph.
The five Casillas brothers of Salinas have more than a dozen jobs and businesses among them, including joint ownership of the Beacon gas station on Highway 68 near Hitchcock Road, a catering truck on that ...
Best in Field
Ventana’s Le Mistral wine makes an earthy and inspired debut in the vineyard.
It was an ideal alliance of fussy man and messy nature: a white tablecloth dinner in the dirt. The inaugural event brought together a vineyard and 60 guests for the unveiling of a new vintage ...
Sweet Reapin’
Harvest Carmel fills the TomatoFest void with a field of farm-fresh flavor.
Harvest rituals have been part of every culture since ancient times. Taking a moment to give thanks for a season’s bounty and to please the gods might encourage them to bring the right balance of ...
The Golden Tee Restaurant and bar
Happy Landing: The Golden Tee burnishes its identity as a cherished local (semi-) secret.
The Golden Tee Restaurant & Bar is a prize hidden in plain sight. Most locals visit the Monterey Peninsula Airport, but far fewer visit the second-floor Golden Tee, though it does have a faithful following. ...
Tassajara Natural Meats
Sweet Meat: Tassajara Natural Meats delivers dry-aged excellence that goes great with Ventana (Bistro and Vineyards wine).
There’s a new solution to lessen the dilemma of local omnivores who prioritize personal and planetary health but do not wish to compromise on the joy of eating well: Carmel Valley based Tassajara Natural Meats, ...
Bouchée Restaurant
Andre’s Bouchée reincarnation builds upon something beautiful in Carmel.
It strikes me as odd that in Paris a bistro has always implied a modest restaurant with simple food and moderate prices. In America, where modest food and prices have been taken to such a ...
Basil
Sensational Seasonal: Basil Seasonal Dining does wonderful Italian-inspired fare in a tiny Carmel spot.
“Welcome back!” I was surprised to hear this greeting addressed to nearly every customer who arrived at Basil, a new “seasonal dining” restaurant in Carmel. It has only been open since April. My guest and ...
Mundaka
Spanish Chic: Mundaka gives Carmel style previously unseen in these parts.
As I sat down to a meal with three friends at Carmel’s new restuarant Mundaka, I was driven to distraction by the interior design. Formerly Gem Restaurant, Mundaka has gone beyond the merely sustainable to ...
Carmel Belle
Ring My Belle: Carmel Belle’s avid attention to ingredients results in fantastic tastes.
The Ocean Avenue entrance to the Doud Arcade in Carmel is always buzzing with people scattering in different directions, like bees entering and exiting a hive. The hive itself is a covered atrium of shops ...
D'Anna Thai Kitchen
Currrying Flavor: The inviting D’Anna Thai Kitchen satisfies Marina’s Southeast Asian fix.
Arestaurant located in a converted house has some immediate advantages. There is a coziness that no amount of decorating in a commercial building can provide. The act of walking through the front door of a ...
Dametra Café
Little Wonder: Tiny has rallied a big Carmel following in no time.
Waiting customers stand outside. Some step inside the small restaurant behind others waiting ahead of them. Their eyes do a quick study of the 40 or so seats to see who’s on dessert. I’m glad ...
Local documentarians show "Boyhood Shadows" to lawmakers.
A locally-produced documentary, Boyhood Shadows, was screened in the Capitol building in Sacramento on Monday for legislators and social service workers. Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Monterey) was in attendance to view the film, which addresses male ...
Slow Your Roll
Take time to enjoy all the inspired Japanese cuisine at Oh! Sushi.
After parking on an uninspired stretch of Fremont Street between the highway and Casa Verde, I discovered my destination at a new Japanese restaurant was inside an ordinary Travelodge, during, as we all know, the ...
New Monterey Ice Cream and Deli
Here’s the Scoop: New Monterey Ice Cream and Deli does the simple things beautifully.
Four ice cream shops have melted down on Alvarado Street in the past decade or so, but that doesn’t stop new ones from attempting to jumpstart a cooling trend. The latest casualty, Monterey Ice Cream, ...
Holy Cannoli
Coffee Mia nails the difficult dessert – and serves good coffee and panini to boot.
At the Monterey Jazz Festival, the musicians aren’t the only ones who play for a critical audience. The food purveyors do, too. Each year, we regular concert-goers discuss what’s good and what’s new in the ...
20th Anniversary -- Quite a Spread
The county’s menu has changed dramatically in 20 years – with delicious results.
Ever since the Southern Pacific railroad started bringing San Franciscans south to party in the 1880s, Monterey County has had a substantial restaurant scene that residents could enjoy, but not be solely responsible to support. ...
Boyhood Shadows
In a new documentary, Monterey filmmakers Steve Rosen and Terri DeBono shine a light on the hidden problem of male sexual abuse.
Glenn Kulik met his best friend, Scott, on a summer swim team when they were 10 years old and lived in New Jersey. Kulik played at Scott’s house every day after school, along with a ...
Garden of Eatin’
Gardiner’s Resort now uses its stunning setting as a spot to serve food.
After 51 years in business, Gardiner’s Resort, Carmel Valley’s renowned “world’s first tennis resort,” decided to invite the neighbors to dine. Visitors are now welcome for lunch and dinner year-round. The 25-acre grounds are an ...
Bouchée Restaurant
Cool Character: Bouchée Restaurant and Wine Bar scores with a more stylish setting and more accessible menu.
When Bouchée opened in 2002, it was as if a tiny, yet advanced, civilization had been plunked down in the middle of Carmel to demonstrate the next phase in the evolution of local restaurants. Those ...
Citronelle, Carmel Valley
Flavor Savior
Chef Michel Richard is our culinary community’s man of the hour. I’ve been anxiously enduring a fair grace period for his new restaurant, Citronelle, to find its rhythm in its new home at Carmel Valley ...
The Big Joke
April Fools marks the start of a local comedian’s National Humor Month.
With April Fools Day unacceptably brief and tax time seriously grim, Carmel’s Larry Wilde established April as National Humor Month in 1976. Wilde also gave the little town that has everything the ultimate luxury item: ...
Terry’s Lounge
Terry’s Lounge welcomes dog owners for drinks and dishes.
Some places just feel right. The Cypress Inn is a case in point, with three connected environments – a lobby, bar and patio. On a recent Friday, the right place to be was the lobby, ...
L’Escargot
L’Escargot domesticates France with style.
L’Escargot is civilized, but not gilded. It’s homey, with graceful manners, but also feels like it could accommodate a little craziness, of the eccentric variety, if patrons are so inclined. The staff is friendly, the ...
Carmel's cozy Chez Christine feels like home, only the food tastes better.
I first heard about Chez Christine last summer, but didn’t get around to visiting then. The details were hazy. Something about a French woman, Christine, and her husband, the chef, who makes everything, including the ...
Take 50
After a half century of excellence, Monterey Jazz Festival continues to evolve.
The Monterey Jazz Festival is the first jazz festival in the world to live to be 50 – and we are all invited to the party. It’s a time to pause and admire the awe-inspiring ...
Good Helping
Pacifica Café’s new menu draws flavor from sustainable places.
When assigned to cover the new sustainable menu at Pacifica Café in Seaside’s Embassy Suites, I wondered what exactly defines sustainable. Organic vegetables? Low food miles? An actual menu printed on compostable hemp paper? I ...
Healthy Upgrade
A new family team makes Carmel Valley’s Plaza Linda even better.
Whenever I get out of my car on the wide Del Fino Place in Carmel Valley Village, I wonder if the builder was planning for lots of traffic. Fortunately, there isn’t much action, just a ...
Deft Chef
The cozy Bistro Moulin is a perfect stage for Didier Dutertre’s delicious skill.
Colleen Manni and French-born Didier Dutertre, the chef at Casanova in Carmel for 25 years, recently opened Bistro Moulin just up the hill from the Aquarium on Wave Street. It’s a nice place with only ...
Hip sushi joint Pink Tuna joins downtown Monterey food landscape.
Hip sushi joint Pink Tuna joins downtown Monterey food landscape.
Youth, low lights, and pop music. That’s Pink Tuna, a new Japanese restaurant with the personality of a night club. The music isn’t loud and in the way, and the scene is fashionable, as might ...
A Different Place
TusCA’s beautiful setting and excellent tastes deserve attention.
For too long, the Hyatt Regency Monterey languished like an aging hipster with a ‘70s wardrobe. Recent renovations, though, are redeeming and have resulted in the April opening of TusCA, a Tuscan-Californian fusion restaurant. When ...
The Complete Package
Carmel’s da Giovanni dazzles on multiple fronts.
It’s hard to find the right words to describe da Giovanni restaurant in Carmel. To say it’s charming doesn’t differentiate it from 90 percent of restaurants in the area. To mention it’s family-run evokes a ...
Staying Power
Aquarium’s flagship event expands upon ‘sustainability.’
For many in Monterey County, and the nation, 9-14 was as scary as 9-11. That’s the day the FDA issued a warning on E-coli contamination in spinach. It dawned on Americans that we could be ...
Here’s the major buzz on the hottest trend in food: sustainability. When someone figures how to put all this on a label, we’ll let you know.
TOTAL ENERGY USED. There’s a new low-carb diet: low carbon. Consumers want to know the greenhouse emissions of the total energy used in food production in order to reduce global warming. One component is “food ...
A Gathering of Tastes
Seven local winemakers create different tastes from the same Cedar Lane Vineyard in Arroyo Seco.
Winemaker dinners have become routine. One recent winemaker dinner at Kurt Grasing’s Carmel Chop House, however, was rather unusual—it could have been more accurately termed a vineyard dinner.The March event featured wine and food pairings, ...
Smokin’ Hot
Monterey’s first family of restaurants adds a gorgeous new member in Willy’s Smokehouse.
Is it possible for Tony Tollner and Bill Cox to miss the mark when it comes to creating dining venues? I doubt it. Rio Grill, Tarpy’s Roadhouse, and Montrio Restaurant are the products of their ...
Better Yet
Will’s Fargo improves upon a proud tradition in Carmel Valley.
Will’s Fargo Dining House and Saloon seethes with incongruity. It’s a steak house with a weakness for vegetables. The chef is French and the customers are cowboys. It still wears its original 1959 décor, yet ...
Mom’s Guitars
Singer-songwriter Laura Dare releases a long-awaited CD.
"You’ve reached the law firm of Godspell, Pippin and Fiddler.” That’s how Laura Dare liked to answer the phone as a child. These musical soundtracks, she says, were what inspired her to sing. As she ...
Wild Goodness
Michael Jones’ Cachagua Store wins as Best Restaurant Open Only Sunday and Monday.
Cachagua is Monterey County’s inscrutable frontier, where stories flourish and truth is elusive. It’s best to simply move there if you’re hankering to get close to a local point of view; otherwise, a visit to ...
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