Because You Deserve It: Food Photography That Rules
From the How-the-Hell-Did-They-Do-That-One file comes "Turtle Burger." Weekly staff photog Nic Coury dug this up (as only he can), though he was unable to find someone to credit in all its appearances. (If you're out there, e-mail me...Coury may be out of a gig.) When I asked Weekly readers to ...
Oh My Goat: Chili From God Recipe
This story started with a potluck. It turned a corner with an insomniac e-mail from an intern. And it ended cushioned by a heaven-sent cloud of chili flavor. Weekly intern-at-the-time (and current contributor/court translator and former longtime ex-pat in Spain) Daniel DeCamp, pictured above in his habit, brought along his ...
New Big Fish for Aquarium Food
She's had a string of successful restaurants to her credit, including Fog City Diner, Tra Vigne, Bix, Roti, Betelnut, Buckeye Roadhouse and, in Carmel, the Rio Grill. She started Mustards Grill—and a resulting MG cookbook pulled in a James Beard award. She's been a pioneer in demanding sourcing standards from ...
Glorious Harvestness Happens
If there's one word to describe the second edition of Harvest Carmel, that'd be easy. Overwhelming. Not in a bad way. No no no. But for its supposed status as a little sibling to the Pebble Beach Food & Wine, this event throws even more diverse activities at its audience, ...
The Best Baby Food Ever (Mom and Dad Score Too)
This week MCW food contributor and new mom Pat Tanimurhardja looks at great places to eat with an infant along for the experience. She has some excellent (and somewhat surprising) additions to the list here: Peppers Mexicali Café 170 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove (3 ½ baby bottles out of five) ...
You Otter Been There: The Rebirth of Marina’s Neighborhood Bar
"Anderson - Hey there," the e-mail read. "My name is Corby Anderson. Corby M. Anderson, actually. CMA. You, it would seem, are Mark C. Anderson. MCA. Very interesting. Also, you are a writer, and, believe it, so am I. There are similarities in style and subjects as well..." Thusly this ...
Hot Dogs on Lighthouse
Little Miriam's Cafe on Lighthouse Avenue in New Monterey across from Hula's (655-4852) is now a hot dog-cappucino boutique run by the braintrust from next door Bulldog Pub (658-0686). I poked in after a dynamite meal at Joe Rombi's (373-2416) in Pacific Grove—more on that soon—to see what I could ...
Little Things You Should Know
Rancho Cellars is about to be racked. Tuesday Jacques Melac gave me a few reasons it’s not all bad that Rancho Cellars (625-5646) next to the Barnyard is closing its doors at the end of the month, at least for him (we’re screwed). For one, it wasn’t for lack of ...
On Fire: Notes on Making the Most Bonfire Fun Out of Last Breaths of Indian Summer
The guy does bonfires like other folks do lunch. So when I felt like it would be a nice student-issue element to have a guide to do's and don'ts and top local spots, I knew where to turn: friend and Monterey International Hostel Manager Aaron Ely. Dude came through. Here's ...
A Merlot Off (and More) for Wine Month
Locals love them some Indian summer, so September often ranks highly on lists of favorite months. Now, though, there is another reason to enjoy the month—and I'm not ahhhrguing about International Talk Like a Pirate Day. September is Wine Month here, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law last month. ...
Cantinetta Luca's Third Annual Heirloom Tomato Dinner
As the heirloom has become an institution, Swank Farms and its third generation growers have become a favorite source for local chefs. When it comes to great restaurants in Carmel, Cantinetta Luca and sister establishment Aubergine have become reader favorites (and for very good reason). And as anyone who has ...
Reality Bites
The bad news: Carmel Valley winemaker Jesse Kovacs just lost a ballroom dance-off against his fellow finalists in Bachelor Pad's final episode and, with it, a shot at sharing a quarter million cash with his sweetheart-for-the-show, Elizabeth. The good news: He didn't have to face a snarling panel of those ...
Reality Show Climax, Wine Book Tour Cometh for Kovacs Brothers
Last week, in front of a national television audience on ABC, Jesse Kovacs rolled around on a yellow Lamborghini, tongue wrestling a vapid co-star. (“We should break it in," she had said a moment before. "Wanna make out?”) Reality, it seems, is somewhat surreal for one of Monterey County’s youngest ...
Big Sur Food & Wine Tickets on Sale
Serious chefs and household name winemakers trekked off into the woods and onto ridgetops, glasses of Chappellet in hand. The Grand Tasting packed in flavor from places like TreeBones and Ventana and Sierra Mar. Everyone came away with that silly look of enlightened dizziness that comes from flavors that soar ...
Tricky Contradictions By Way of ALBA's Pastures
Haven Bourque, a Bay Area-based foodie colleague I last saw tweeting away at Cooking for Solutions, just visited our local sustainable farming heroes at Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association. From it emerged a piece as informative as it is poetic. At its heart lies something ironic, important and depressing: How ...
Lil' Nibbles for the People
I came across some food-related morsels worth mentioning over the last few days. Without further warning, here they come: Tequila-cured salmon is a real thing. Rio Grill (625-5436) in the Crossroads in Carmel has a new Sunday brunch menu by Exec Chef Cy Yontz. He's talking brioche french toast topped ...
Rock My Tastebuds
The marketing team at Coastal Luxury Management has a penchant for using the words "rock star" when describing the chefs it recruits for gourmet food-and-wine events like Harvest Carmel Farm to Table. So what should they describe WAR (above) and Gin Blossoms (below, photographed by Jenn Okray, jokray.com), freshly announced ...
Introducing Bacon, the Area's New Food Superstar
Life with a teacup pot-bellied pig is different. People yell things in your direction, like they did the other day at the corner of Wave and Prescott in New Monterey. “It’s a guinea pig!” shouted some woman walking by. An oblivious Bacon continued to sniff her way around the built-in ...
The Bakery Station Opens in Oldtown Salinas
One of our Salinas staffers brought in two little white boxes of small jewels earlier this week: little apple, banana nut and blueberry crumb muffins, still warm—and downright delicious. With them came welcome news. The Bakery Station (783-1140) is now open on Monterey Street (#202) in Salinas. Over here the ...
A Harvest Carmel Event Worth a Hallelujah or Two
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 the rock rock stars like Michael Franti and The Roots—both were big city-grade, wildly entertaining events where the small amount of attendees demanded ...
Better Than Fair Fare at the Monterey County Fair
Corn dogs are more than delicious. They are proof that God loves us—and examples of how he can save us. After all, they are mortal hot dogs baptized in everlasting batter. And here they come, starting with Monterey County Fair's first day today, in all their food-on-a-stick glory, flanked by ...
Restaurant At Ventana
Big Sur