Readers’Picks

Best New Restaurant (Tie)

Max’s Grill

209 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 375-7997

Matteo’s

1180 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 333-1035

Coincidentally (are there really any coincidences?) two restaurants, umbilically linked by PG’s Forest Avenue, ended in a tie for first place in this category. Without fanfare, Pacific Grove has become the number-one destination on the Peninsula for fine casual dining. Max’s Grill and Matteo’s are continuing the trend.

At Max’s Grill, Hisayuki “Max” Muramatsu, a classically French-trained culinary master with impeccable credentials (including two Chef of the Year awards while at the helm of Maxim’s of Tokyo), brings a unique blend of French fundamentals, Japanese tradition and Central Coast cool to an eclectic, ever changing menu of uniquely inspired dishes. Clean, simple décor and a relaxed atmosphere belie the quality on the plates, all sold at substantially lower prices than you’d expect.

Across town at the other end of Forest, in the little shopping center anchored by Fifi’s and Vito’s, sits a quaint, authentic Sicilian café named for Matteo Enea. Matteo, along with his wife Cheryl, share in all the duties, crafting old-world traditional Sicilian food in this homey, very friendly trattoria. Everything is homemade, just like Mama used to make—in fact, Mama Enea came from Sicily to help with the opening. Rich, deeply flavored tomato sauce, creative Panini sandwiches, Eggplant Parmigiana—you know, Southern Italian comfort food—always served up with a genuinely gracious, infectious humility along with family sized portions of love. [RN]

Best Vegetarian

Tillie Gort’s

111 Central Ave, Pacific Grove 373-0335

Tillie Gort’s is a pedigreed hippie establishment and it’s got the pictures to prove it. Check out the Free Love-era group photos above the counter, they’re a stone groove. In fact, everything about Tillie’s is pretty dang mellow. It’s got a solid, unpretentious menu that includes vegan and vegetarian choices as well as burgers, good music, and a down-to-earth staff. It also boasts the most mind-blowingly decadent black bottom cupcakes I have ever dealt with. Be warned, these things are only for the experienced. They are powerful medicine. We’re talking the Owlsley tabs of the cupcake world. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this Pacific Grove institution is a CC Rider into Dark Star on the set list scale of restaurants. Just be cool with the cupcakes, sister. [RM]

Best Cheap Eats

Turtle Bay Taqueria

431 Tyler St, Monterey 333-1500 and 1301 Fremont Blvd, Seaside 899-1010

Everybody’s in a hurry. Everybody’s trying to save money. Everybody loves good food. That’s why everybody’s eating at Turtle Bay. Julio and Marie Ramirez, two of the nicest people in the restaurant business, own these two baby sisters of their popular Fishwife restaurants. The formula is simple: fresh, lively, delicious ingredients; interesting South American-influenced flavors; fast, technically correct preparation; friendly, enthusiastic employees; fun, casual atmosphere; reasonable prices…well, if that’s so simple, how come so few places are doing it? Turtle Bay does it, and they keep on doing it day after day, year after year. [RN]

Best Japanese/Sushi

Robata Grill & Sake Bar

3658 The Barnyard, Carmel 624-2643

Back in the mid-’80s, when hair was big and the Kamikaze was the hottest new drink, Robata’s had a great happy hour special of Sake or a Kamikaze for a buck, plus an all-you-could-eat buffet of three or four hot dishes. It was a great way to score a cheap and tasty dinner. That was before the sushi craze hit, back when a gyoza was exotic. Food trends come and go, and restaurants change their décor as often as their wait staff, but Robata has stayed the course, with the same cozy, dark wood interior, same booth or table seating, same fireplace in the bar, and same great food, hot or cold. The sushi menu includes all the standards, plus a long list of house specials, and the extensive appetizer menu makes this a place you can go for drinks and apps as well as a full-tilt meal. It’s family friendly and also a fine spot for a romantic date—can’t say that about too many places. [SF]

Best Restaurant to Splurge

Pacific’s Edge Restaurant

Highlands Inn, Hwy 1, Carmel Highlands 622-5445

For regular folk, which is most of us, a trip to the Highlands Inn for any reason represents a mini safari into that jungle home where wealthy people roam. The nice part about living here is that everybody can be rich for a day, or at least act like it. All you have to do is put on a decent-looking outfit, hop into your freshly washed automobile and drive up that magical driveway to the Highlands Inn. Toss the valet your keys, then ascend that stairway to hospitality heaven. Highlands was also voted Best Drink With A View. Have a delicious cocktail or two while afternoon lazily lowers its eyelids, order a nice bottle of bubbly and have the waiter take the remainder to your table on the edge of forever. [RN]

Best Romantic Dining

The Old Bath House

620 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove 375-5195

What is it that makes a restaurant romantic? Is it a fabulous location, perhaps overlooking a beautiful meandering coastline? Is it a cozy environment born of a decades-long commitment to quality? Is it a staff of conscientious, friendly hospitality professionals, each devoted to unhurried heartfelt service? Is it delicious, satisfying food prepared with love? Is it inspired leadership that pays attention to the minutia so a diner’s experience is seamless? Is it an elegant old-style bar where a romantic evening should begin and where a professional bartender guides you along? Is it a gracious host who remembers your name and makes you feel special? Of course it is. It’s all that and about a million other intangibles. [RN]

Best Wine List

The Sardine Factory

701 Wave St, Monterey 373-3775

The Wine Spectator, probably the field’s most influential publication, began giving out its coveted Grand Award in 1981. The Sardine Factory received it in 1982 and has held it ever since. Marc Cutino, current cellar master, prowls the Factory’s legendary dungeon of 30,000 bottles, some of which have been laying in the same spots they inhabited since the restaurant opened. There are many ways to enjoy the Factory’s incredible wine experience. Two favorites are to either completely disregard the wine book—and it is just a book—and let one of the talented wine professionals suggest a libation, or get there early, sit at a comfortable chair in the lounge, sip a couple of cocktails and read every single item on the list. Any way you approach it, it’s an experience you won’t forget. [RN]

Best French Restaurant

Fresh Cream

99 Pacific St. in Heritage Harbor, Monterey 375-9798.

Not every night is the right time for Grand Marnier Soufflé and fresh foie gras. But when it is, there’s no better place than Fresh Cream, a restaurant that has been festooned with so many awards it’s almost embarrassing to mention them—a ninth consecutive “Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator; a stunning 26 out of 28 points from Zagat’s Northern California guide; etc., etc. It’s not all about cream and butter here—although both play leading roles. Executive Chef Gregory Lizza has spent a decade revamping the menu, but he’s kept most of the former specials, including a stunning crisp duckling in black-currant sauce, and an authentic Holland Dover sole Meuniere, prepared table-side. Of particular note are the wild mushroom bisque and the Dessert Sampler, featuring a mouth-watering Apple Tarte Tatin. Be forewarned that this is one of the most expensive restaurants on the Peninsula. But it’s worth it. Be sure to snag one of the few window tables, with that great view over Monterey Bay, and forget about your wallet and waistline for a night. [SF]

Best Thai Restaurant

Thai Bistro II

159 Central Ave, Pacific Grove 372-8700

Although the outside of this converted single-family home on the border of PG and Monterey is quite cute, it’s the food that keeps bringing em back—sweet and spicy, light and tangy, all the flavors of the northern half of the Malay Peninsula blowing out from the kitchen like next year’s vacation. The Thai Beef Salad is an unusual and fresh first course, with strips of spicy marinated beef laid atop a green salad with fresh tomatoes and cilantro (there’s a seafood variety, for a few more bucks). The coconut-milk-based red, yellow, green and Panang curries are fab—try the Panang with fresh Monterey Bay halibut, as soon as it comes into season (they used to do it with trout, which was otherworldly). For a special treat, order the Bangkok Duck, a half duck that is de-boned and served in plum sauce with mixed stir-fried fresh veggies. Unfailingly gracious service clinches the deal. [SF]

Best Restaurant In North County

Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery

7600 Sandholtd Rd, Moss Landing 633-2152

Don’t eat for at least 12 hours before coming to Phil’s. It’s well worth the fast. Moss Landing’s legendary local’s favorite serves up the best seafood around. Named for owner Phil DiGirolamo, the restaurant and fish market is unpretentious and cozy; it boasts a huge menu of appetizers, salads and sandwiches, pastas and every type of grilled, broiled, blackened, steamed or sautéed seafood imaginable; and it is very reasonably priced. It’s okay if your eyes are bigger than your stomach. There are plenty of Styrofoam containers for all, so take the leftovers—and there will be leftovers—to go. Start slowly, with clam chowder and the oysters on the half shell, or clams served in buttery, garlicky, olive oily goodness. Save room for Phil’s famous cioppino. There’s no need to buy lunch (or dinner) tomorrow. [JL]

Editors’Picks

Best Use of Music to Set the Mood

Fifi’s Bistro Café

1188 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 372-5325

Food is music for the taste buds. Love is music for the soul. Lighting is music for the eyes. Wine is music for the spirit. Music is music for creation. Everything that exists comes down to a rhythmic relationship. The rhythm at which each individual particle vibrates determines the form it will create itself into—that’s what music is. No one understands this better than Calvin Wilkes, musical half of the unflappable dynamic duo of Calvin and Michele, owners of Fifi’s. No matter where your head may have been on the way in, the delicious combination of sensory soothants, highlighted by the best assortment of fascinating diverse music played at just the right volume in always the right tempo will transform your day and improve your life. [RN]

Best Exotic Escape In Your Own Back Yard

Indian Summer Restaurant

220 Olivier St, Monterey 372-4744

Middle Eastern drumbeats, ringing finger cymbals, shimmying belly dancers wearing colorful veils and scarves, cherry-flavored tobacco smoke wafting from hookahs—Toto, I don’t think we’re in Monterey anymore. That’s the beauty of Indian Summer. We are in Monterey, but the restaurant’s decor is so stunning, the gardens—with outdoor seating, space heaters, fire places, hookah pipes, belly dancers and DJs—so magical, and the spicy curries and rich flavors so exotic, it’s as good as a mini-vacation to…somewhere far away from here. [JL]

Best Slightly Exotic Non-Alcoholic Beverage

Licuados at La Tortuga Torteria

1257 Fremont St, Seaside 394-8320

Seaside’s La Tortuga Torteria is known for its unique tortas like the Nopalitos Con Huevo, a sandwich of cactus paddles and egg, and The Cuban, a sandwich made from breaded beef, pork leg, sausage and cheese. But the restaurant’s secret weapon is its licuados. Available in banana, papaya, mango, peach, strawberry and cantaloupe, licuados are a tasty blend of milk, sugar and fruit with a dash of cinnamon on top. My girlfriend says they taste kind of like melted milkshakes. She’s right; they are that good. [ST]

Best bullHead

Toro Place Cafe

665 Monterey-Salinas Hwy, Salinas 484-1333

Come for the head. Stay for the hamburgers. The huge bullhead, hanging on the dining room wall, that is. Located along Highway 68, halfway between Monterey and Salinas, the Toro Place Cafe’s been a roadside landmark since 1945. Its unassuming vinyl chairs and wooden tables are most unremarkable; the bullhead, the greasy-spoon breakfasts and the dozen or so “Best Hamburgers in the Valley,” on the other hand, are quite remarkable, as is the sunny, outdoor patio and picnic tables. It’s a place where the servers call you “hon,” if they don’t already know your name. And the head, well, it speaks for itself. [JL]

Best Presentation for Canine Dining

Portabella

Ocean Avenue between Lincoln and Monte Verde, Carmel 624-4395

The human diners at Portabella get to choose from elegant tapas, Dungeness crab and roasted pepper cakes, fresh goat cheese ravioli, and porcini-crusted dayboat scallops, and those are just the appetizers. And there’s no need to hold back on consumption in order to bring a doggie bag home, since doggies are welcomed on the patio with their owners.

“We find that guests who have dogs tend to be better-adjusted human beings,” says owner Csaba Ajan. “We bring the dogs a silver champagne bucket of water on a tray with white linen—we’ve never refused service to a single dog.”

And while Ajan stopped serving biscuits so as not to interfere with owners’ feeding preferences, he’s not going to turn away a guest who chooses to splurge on a provolone burger for Rover. [BW]

Best Place to Eat Wet

Schooners Bistro

Monterey Plaza Hotel, 400 Cannery Row Monterey 646-1701

On a recent moonlit evening, the breakers coming into the Bay challenged the pilings of the Monterey Plaza Hotel, resulting in an impressive spray just over the top of the hotel’s deck railing. Armed with a good bottle of wine and sitting under the patio heaters, the near-immersion in water seemed wildly magical. The attentive but discreet server from Schooner’s Bistro offered temptations like grilled macadamia chicken breast and beer-battered fish and chips, but the simplicity of that particular night called only for another glass of syrah. With a giant splash threatening the tables, some diners retreated inside to eat. But the music of the water and the salty air kept a few of us outside, lingering for more. [BW]

Readers Poll Winners

Best Restaurant In Monterey County

Marinus At Bernardus Lodge

415 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel Valley 659-3131

Best Restaurant More Than 10 Years Old

Rio Grill

The Crossroads, Hwy 1 & Rio Rd, Carmel 625-54365

Best New Restaurant (Tie)

Matteo’s

1180 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 333-1035

Max’s Grill

209 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 375-7997

Best Restaurant/Big Sur

Cielo At Ventana Inn

Hwy 1, Big Sur 667-2332

Best Restaurant/Carmel

Casanova Restaurant

5th & Mission, Carmel 625-0501

Best Restaurant/Carmel Valley

Cafe Rustica

10 Delfino Pl, Carmel Valley 659-4444

Best Restaurant/Marina

AJ Spurs

3295 Dunes Dr, Marina 883-9479

Best Restaurant/Monterey

Montrio

414 Calle Principal, Monterey 648-8880

Best Restaurant/North County

Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery

7600 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing 633-2152

Best Restaurant/Pacific Grove

Fandango Restaurant

223 17th St, Pacific Grove 372-3456

Best Restaurant/Pebble Beach

Stillwater Bar & Grill

2700 17 Mile Dr, Pebble Beach 625-8324

Best Restaurant/Salinas

Hullaballoo Restaurant

228 Main St, Salinas 757-3663

Best Restaurant/Sand City

Papa Chano’s

Edgewater Shopping Center, Sand City

393-9133

Best Restaurant/Seaside

Fishwife Seafood Restaurant

789 Trinity Ave, Seaside 394-2027

Best Restaurant/South County

Keefer’s Restaurant

Canal & Highway 101, King City 385-3543

Best Breakfast

Old Monterey Café

489 Alvarado St, Monterey 646-1021

Best Cheap Eats

Turtle Bay Taqueria

431 Tyler St, Monterey 333-1502 and 1301 Fremont Blvd, Seaside 899-1010

Best Place For A Business Lunch

Tarpy’s Roadhouse

2999 Monterey-Salinas Highway, Monterey 647-1444

Best Family Restaurant

Elli’s Great American Restaurant

1210 Del Monte Shopping Center, Monterey 372-5080

and 1250 S. Main St, Salinas 759-8455

Best Chinese

Chef Lee’s Mandarin House

2031 N. Fremont St, Monterey 375-9551

Best French

Fresh Cream Restaurant

99 Pacific St, Heritage Harbor, Monterey 375-9798

Best Indian

India’s Clay Oven

150 Del Monte Ave, Monterey 373-2529

Best Italian

Joe Rombi’s La Mia Cucina

208 17th St, Pacific Grove 373-2416

Best Japanese/Sushi

Robata Grill & Sake Bar

3658 The Barnyard, Carmel 624-2643

Best Korean

Nak Won

330 Reservation Rd, Marina 883-2302

Best Mediterranean

Petra’s Restaurant

477 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove 649-2530

Best Mexican

Pepper’s Mexicali Café

170 Forest Ave, Pacific Grove 373-6892

Best Thai

Thai Bistro II

159 Central Ave, Pacific Grove 372-8700

Best Appetizers

Billy Quon’s Restaurant

1 Harris Ct, Monterey 647-0390

Best Outdoor Dining

Forge In The Forest

5th & Junipero, Carmel 624-2233

Best Restaurant For Vegetarians

Tillie Gort’s

111 Central Ave, Pacific Grove 373-0335

Best Restaurant For Steak

Whaling Station

763 Wave St, Monterey 373-3778

Best Restaurant For Seafood

Monterey Fish House

2114 Del Monte Ave, Monterey 373-4647

Best Clam Chowder

Old Fisherman’s Grotto

39 Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey 375-4604

Best Restaurant To Splurge

Highland’s Inn-Park Hyatt Carmel

120 Highlands Dr, Carmel 620-1234

Best Wine List

Sardine Factory

701 Wave St, Monterey 373-3775

Best Restaurant For Romantic Dining

Old Bath House

620 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove 375-5195