Power Playing
Leon Panetta on restaurants, Pebble Beach Food & Wine on the horizon.
You heard it here first: If it weren’t for a certain family restaurant in Monterey, Osama bin Laden might still be alive. At least that’s my takeaway from a speech last week by Monterey High ...
Fish, Revisited
A swim with the area’s first community-supported fishery, Local Catch Monterey Bay, proves a savory adventure.
This was a pitch meeting like no other. The various “The supervisors did what?”s and “How can we make this water story less wonky”s come standard, but the table toppings made it different. No old ...
Abject Terroir
Aubergine elevates the art of service, Pacific’s Edge delivers deliciously and a man cooks cats.
A while back I got a voicemail. Like the two that came right after it, it was anonymous. Like those two, it was over-stuffed with sharp opinions. And like the other two, it maxed out ...
Devil Sushi Dare
Testing one’s mettle versus Harumi nigiri – plus a new Big Sur spot.
It doesn’t appear on the menu with the yummy orgy of tempura that is the Captain Crunch Roll ($13.50) or the stylish Big Sur ($11.50) with its unagi, crab salad, avocado and ebi wrapped in ...
Feeling Drained
Seaside considers tough cuts, including a potential closure of Pattullo Swim Center.
Former Seaside Rec Director Dave Pacheco and current City Councilman Dennis Alexander can be spotted swimming laps at the Pattullo Swim Center on Wheeler Street, where local youth descend regularly for lessons and a whole ...
C Believing
The C Restaurant seduces by way of fly seafood and wine barrels, 1833 earns a James Beard biggie.
The tastiest music masters a balance between predictable and tumultuous. It comforts listeners with familiar chords, but buries the possibility of boring with surprising surges and shifts – keeping brains eager for the next note ...
Mushroom Remix
The Big Sur Chanterelle Cook-off ain’t dead yet – just different. Plus some lady on Craigslist wants funky meat.
The foragers are canvassing the woods as I type. Ventana Chef Truman Jones has surreal tastes plotted for his plates already. “Pickled, sauteed, in soup, crusted on fish,” he says. Hippie-chic chanterelle fashion is even ...
Well Above Par
Heartfelt benefits, EcoFarm insight and hall-of-famers.
At press time, Chef Thomas Snyder didn’t know what he was going to make for the third annual Clambake for a Cure Friday. Here’s two things we do know. One, judging from the seafood stew ...
When a man loves a golf game
Anthony Anderson earns audiences with versatility on course and on screen.
Of late, drama-comedy double-threat Anthony Anderson has grown used to visualizing success – and finding it – in his rise from “bright-eyed kid in Compton” to star in everything from Golf in America to Law ...
Ready to Play
Coming off a historic year, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am gets even better.
Talk about your Cinderella stories. No, not Bill Murray. D.A. Points. Murray’s long been everybody’s buddy – for years he had his own rooting section, outfitted in Carl Spackler helmets and camos and drinking cannonballs. ...
Winter 2012 Food and Wine: Foodie A to Z in Carmel Valley
Plenty of places proclaim they’re The Next Napa. Those places miss the point. Yes, Napa’s beautiful. Stuffed to bulging with Masaharu Morimotos and Cindy Pawlcyns. Juiced to the gills with Stag’s Leap Cabs and Duckhorn ...
Winter 2012 Food and Wine - Lokal Yokels
Brendan Jones recruits a partner from Prague to give the area an infusion of foodie energy.
At new Lokal in Carmel Valley Village, Chef Brendan Jones will use things like eggplant and asparagus, artichoke and avocado, quinoa and deer-tail lettuce grown in his mom’s backyard maybe a quarter of a mile ...
Out of the Valley
Beyond Carmel Valley, the bull is back and Happy Girl makes people… happy.
All the juicy Carmel Valley flavor dripping over this week’s Wine & Food issue borders on overwhelming. It can also feel a little unnerving, like something’s missing, à la El Mariachi Restaurante in Monterey (324-4953), ...
Winter 2012 Food and Wine - Boxing Wine
John Saunders’ backstory makes him a Carmel Valley icon – and this icon makes good wine.
John Saunders, 61, didn’t get the Stirrup Cup bartending gig at 21 because of his food-and-beverage degree. He was hired because the owner wanted a fighter, and Saunders happened to be a Vietnam-tested Marine and ...
Going Fish
New Schooners Coastal Kitchen gives Monterey County what looks like a landmark seafood restaurant.
This weekend a big fish gets bigger. And fresher. Schooners Bistro on the Bay (372-2628) has long charmed visitors and locals alike with a combination of sturdy sustainable snacks, lively cocktails and on-top-of-the-ocean views of ...
The Extreme Relaxation
CVAC’s cutting-edge hydrothermal experience aims to soothe Monterey County with intense temperatures.
First comes the choice, then the moment of truth. The choice arrives after 25 minutes sweating in a massive Finnish sauna. It’s between cold-plunge pools: one chilled to approximate the Pacific Ocean (marked with a ...
Getting Fishy
Inspiring ways to turn the tide against destruction of our oceans.
Part of me thinks it’s kind of cool when I discover that, say, there’s a cheese out there worth $500 a pound – and it’s from Swedish moose cows. But when I learn that a ...
Gray Hair Hip Hop
A Pacific Grove woman earns national TV appearance with surprisingly lively dance.
Silver-haired Pagrovian Carol Kuzdenyi wasn’t supposed to earn the big audiences by dancing hip-hop on YouTube. She’s a master out of the San Francisco Conservatory, a choir director and piano and voice teacher based in ...
The City Pool Wisdom
The guy in the next lane knows a lot about a lot, including nutrition, and lives to share it.
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) went before Congress, Seaside’s Rick Lagerstrom read the whole thing. He powered through all 906 pages despite the fact he’s not in government (though he ...
Communication Nation
From niche musings on sandwiches to holistic, holy views of Big Sur, here are some top online voices of the Central Coast.
Weblogs (or, in the vernacular, blogs), launched in the ’90s with a small and dedicated band of geeks, and they’ve never really fallen out of fashion. They’re the modern version of water-cooler chat. Hell, they’re ...
What’s Cookin’
A stirring look at eight things bubbling up in the broth for 2012
There will be Prohibition-style tastings. There will star chefs who obey and those who rebel. There will be fines, loopholes, a drop in consumption and an equal surge in confusion. Or so says Michael Ginor ...
Soul’s Food
A tale of heart, grit and giving before the holidays fade from view.
This column was supposed to be about food – more specifically, what new restaurant machinations are moving this way in 2012. By the same token, Corral de Tierra resident Brian Poma’s junior and senior years ...
Turn It to ’11
Tapping a deliciously rock-star year in local food.
It’s not every day that you get to trash talk Thomas Keller. But that’s what tastemaker Robert Weakley of Coastal Luxury Management (324-0771) did last week, after San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer posted a ...
Lady Fates
Partying with the preeminent female chefs of the Peninsula, plus pork proverbs.
For the first time in history, they make up most of our work force. They still earn many more college degrees – and they’re not just smarter, they smell a hell of a lot better. ...
Notes from the End
Short-form observations on life and death from inside the Monterey County Coroner’s Office.
• The forensic team members report they’re frequently stunned by eerie parallels in body appearances that arrive the same day: similar appearances – “Like twins,” says forensic technician Tameka Moore – or identical shoes. “It’s ...
Incomplete Conclusion
A forensic pathologist IDs the three trickiest deaths to diagnose conclusively.
“Instead of being burned out or depleted by death,” Dr. John Hain says, “I accept it for what it is, simply another part of the mystery of life, offering me and anyone else willing to ...
Flavor for Days
Shopping for six items from the Monterey County ‘grocery store’ makes for a tasty and telling week.
It might be the best way to pass time in line at the grocery store. It also provides insights into a stranger’s stomach, if not her soul. It is one of my favorite personality evaluations ...
Death’s Detectives
Exploring death investigation by way of the guys and gals on the ground.
Curiosity is key. So is compassion. And an ability to assimilate information – including medical science – quickly. Humility also helps: “If you think you didn’t miss anything at the crime scene,” Forensic Pathologist Dr. ...
Dissecting How and Why We Die
Dr. John Hain wants Monterey County to get better at doing both.
The forensic pathologist who scrutinizes Monterey County’s unexpected deaths stands in the middle of the coroner’s autopsy room, next to a 6’5”, 238-pound, 24-year-old man he’s about to open up, and talks about dancing. “I ...
Whatta Day
Carmel’s own octogenarian superstar, Doris Day, pours out more style, as does Terry’s Lounge.
The Oscar and Grammy honoree gave Hollywood glitter with 39 films and 26 albums, but still gave us rough-cut gems like “Any girl can look glamorous… just stand there and look stupid.” She rose to ...
Food for Thought
One amateur chef’s way to hone his game and feed a company, plus downtown Monterey developments.
It’s a modern day lemons-into-lemonade fable of foodieism in tough times: Life gave Daniel V. DeCamp fewer hours at his job translating for the courts, so DeCamp made meat loaf. And chicken satay. And wild-rice-mushroom ...
Intense Treats
Lula’s Chocolates adds new shop in the midst of the annual holiday surge.
Super fresh cream. Real butter. Himalayan sea salts. Smaller, softer macadamia nuts from Hawaii. Very spendy 10-pound bricks of Peter’s Swiss chocolate, for which the minimum order is 500 pounds. There is no shortage of ...
Passion Project
Cindy and Ted Walter tag giants; BSF&W III goes bon-bon boom.
There was no holy-mackerel moment when Cindy Walter realized she should make sustainable seafood sourcing a priority. She was born that way. So it goes when Mom is a full-blooded Native American who imprints a ...
Produce Prayer
A peek behind the farmers market curtain reveals some troubling realities for local purveyors.
An elderly woman shuffling through the closing farmers market says she will talk to God on our behalf. “Both for one [price],” she says with an accent. “I will pray for you.” Farmer Jamie Collins ...
There is Hope
Big Sur Food & Wine gets (even) better; same with local school lunches.
The feeling hit me on one of those serpentine segments where the Pacific collides with the coast, and again as the setting autumn sun gave the South Coast horizon electric eyeliner. It hit again with ...
L.A.-L.A. Land
A look at the bold dream Monterey County’s Coastal Luxury Management realized with L.A. Food & Wine.
At last weekend’s first-ever Los Angeles Food & Wine, a 7-foot drag queen danced with star pastry chef Sherry Yard on a Lexus to tracks spun by ?uestlove. Bernardus’ Ben Spungin made desserts out of ...
Bottled Beauty
Mesa Del Sol reveals a lot of soul, quick bites chomp hard.
As Ann Hougham approaches the pond ringed by marshy reeds, observant oaks and seven acres of Syrah, Zinfandel and Sangiovese, a mallard with a brilliantly green head flaps off with theatrical flourish. Not to be ...
It’s Gold, Jerry
Jerry Seinfeld delivers his stand-up to a full house at Monterey’s Golden State.
Jerry Seinfeld has a lot of Porsches. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But he’s got enough that his people won’t say how many. Presumably that’s because he doesn’t want to appear too rich ...
Making It Pop
A stunning one-night pop-up restaurant with purpose appears at Royal Seafood in Monterey.
There were sardine escabeche salads, abalone schnitzel and artichoke-liquor cocktails. There were Monterey Mayor Chuck Della Sala and Rep. Sam Farr. There were from-the-cradle fishermen and farmers from Monterey and a chef, sommelier and TV ...
For Real
A search for foodie meaning, from school lunch to Brendan Jones’ new Lokal restaurant in Carmel Valley.
Somewhere between Chef Cal Stamenov’s garden tasting menu and a roasted Cachagua General Store oyster, my mind made its way to rabbit. Not the rabbit loin with onion soubis, lardon, haricots verts, chanterelles and sauce ...
The Best, Baby
Wine & Dine wow, a Carmel restaurant’s coup and pop-up foot juggling.
We are talking caramelized day boat sea scallops with fingerling potatoes. Fluffy spinach dumplings in a dreamy Parmesan cream sauce. Sixteen-ounce single bone-in prime short rib cooked for four hours in stout beer and homemade ...
Canny Athletes
Analyzing achievement through the Triathlon at Pacific Grove.
After another mouthful of salt water, before a peek above clawing kelp reveals a surge of sea washing over the 60-some swimmers nearby, and right around the moment a second overhand right from a swimmer ...
Bacon and Beets
Montrio rules, plus a smorgasbord of “quick bites.”
Surprise: Montrio Bistro (648-8880) business is up since Restaurant 1833 came in. In case you need a reminder why: Chef Tony Baker is a fiendish gastro-genius with an affection for superior purveyors. His oatmeal-crusted brie ...
Sizzling Beef
Hot controversy on the grill in Carmel and hot Big Sur tickets.
There are plenty of intriguing story lines circling a skirmish over a proposed eatery-by-the-sea. Carmel’s premiere hotelier-restaurateur wants to extend his impressive record of new businesses with a concept not seen around here. Opposing sides ...
Buckle Up, Baby
Chewing through Car Week and a salumeria to swear by.
There was a Dos Equis ex-racer deathtrap that dubbed itself The Most Interesting Car in the World and a truck wrapped entirely in tin foil called The Baked Potato. At Quail Motorsports Gathering, Chef Julio ...
Taste Sensations
Reflections on Sweet Elena’s recipes, Wubeez and veggie Vietnamese.
It might be the culinary equivalent of a secret Big Sur trail. It delivers mind-trampolining experiences drawn from simple but powerful fundamentals. It’s been there seemingly as long as time, but remains almost hidden, beautifully ...
On Point
Eyeing the new Old Bathhouse, real Car Week values and steak.
There’s new life at an old landmark. A handful of sunny Pacific Grove city officials, local businessmen and construction workers gathered next to the volleyball courts at Lovers Point last week for free hot dogs, ...
Voodoo Love
How to heart New Orleans, a new P.G. eye catcher and quality Cuban.
The reason I fell so in love might’ve been the “bounce dancing,” when women – and, amazingly, some men – move like there’s a grease fire on their asses and Louisiana hot sauce in their ...
Cute or Evil: A Quest for Raccoon Truth
Raccoons own a stunning array of skills and a non-negotiable place in our local existence. Yet few know much about them.
The checkout guy at Sand City’s Costco looked like he’d just been served a plate of poison-oak Parmesan. He stared at the customer in front of him, his face twisted into a portrait of undiluted ...
Killer Instincts
It’s legal to trap and euthanize raccoons, but not relocate them.
Raccoons have it good at the Skyline Forest home Charles Van Vliet shares with his family. They sit and eat dinner on the deck, peek in the windows and miraculously climb pillars and squeeze through ...
