Sunday Brunch and Other Discoveries at the Cachagua General Store
“I heard about a server who was fired because she ‘didn’t approve of the restaurant’s management style,’” Chef Michael Jones (center) once told me. “With me, if you do approve of my management style, then you’re f**king fired.” I don't work for him, but I sure as hell approve. This ...
Ten Great Ingredients for Summer Munching and Such, Including Goonies-Inspired Grub
Eighteenth-century American poet Celia Thaxter is my kinda peeps. She was maybe the first of her kind, a domestic force of good who was an ecofeminist before the concepts of ecology and feminism as we know them had even found much form. But the reason I really love the lady ...
Getting Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot (and a Drumming Gorilla)
Not too long ago the Food Blog digested some of the top food commercials on the planet and found the best to be an angry panda wrecking shop in an effort to sell European cheeses. The blog's vaguely-food-relevant findings continue to run the gamut, from one company blending up everything ...
The Best Thing About the Blues Festival Might Not Be the Music
The 25th Monterey Bay Blues Festival, starting today, pours out a prodigious lineup of entertainers, as the Weekly's Adam Joseph ably articulated in his just-published piece "Blues Babies: The Monterey Bay Blues Festival celebrates 25 years with a female tour de force and Grammy-worthy zydeco." But there are two things ...
Restaurant 1833, Opening Friday: A Look Back and a Taste of the Menus to Come
It's not enough. I've been writing about Restaurant 1833—and day-dreaming about finally sitting at its glowing bar—for more than 13 months, and I have barely scratched the surface of all the relentless intrigue, enlivening elements and ambitious dreams swirling around a place that I am confident will become a landmark ...
Long-Awaited Restaurant 1833 To Open in Downtown Monterey Friday, June 24
First there was giddiness ("The old Stokes Adobe is getting re-imagined by the vivid dreamers at Coastal Luxury Management/Pebble Beach Food & Wine!"). Then there was anticipation ("Have you heard about the patio dining they're planning? The glowing onyx surface they put in for the apothecary-style bar?!"). Then there was ...
Inventive Burgers and Sandwiches Star at New Mundos Cafe in Monterey
With the whole bacon bonanza having slathered the foodie populace with its savory grease for a while now, it's a little surprising that I had to wait until now to see the ol' "bacon-infused beef patty" on a menu. The theory may have be a little more tantalizing than the ...
Concerts by the Bay Delivers 19 Shows to Complement Good Grub
My only beef with Schooners (646-1700), maybe my favorite place to catch a sunset cocktail, was that they didn’t have a happy hour. Then they added one—a damn good one—as I described a little while back with a post titled “Heroic New Happy Hour." It's still going 4:30-6pm Monday through ...
Two Beautiful Events Debut Starring Seriously Local Foods
Debuts don't always go so good—just ask Rebecca Black (above)—let alone inaugural events as ambitious as these two. At Bernardus on Friday, Cal Stamenov, Ben Spungin and company teamed with the soiled saints at MEarth Habitat, where local youngsters learn ecoliteracy, nutrition, organic gardening, composting and cooking, to put on ...
Great Aquarium Lunch, Equally Great Sustainable Recipes From New "Good Fish" Cookbook
A recent lunch at Monterey Bay Aquarium's Portola Restaurant (648-4870) was already looking awfully promising—Chef Jeff Rogers was just back from ongoing brainstorming kitchen sessions with MBA Culinary Partner Cindy Pawlcyn in her Napa Valley sushi joint Go Fish and her own gorgeous home in the woods. Several new specials ...
Carmel Food Company Gets Cute on Junipero
Sam the server brought out a surprise plate. “This is from one of the other tables,” he said. “A bite of the hanger steak...” That’s a little strange, I thought, but hey, sharing is caring, and it’s got a nice Madeira sauce. “...for your dog.” You can’t script a more ...
Dory Ford, AquaTerra Culinary Take Over Point Pinos Grill
Bring on the Belize-style Caribbean chicken salbutes—crisp fried masa rounds piled with marinated pollo and topped with a tasty tomato-onion salsa and shredded aged jack. Lay the spring beet and cherve tart on me with its North Coast goat goods and tasty micro mache. In fact, hit me with huevos ...
Pierce Vineyards, Hyatt Fireplace Lounge Add Music to Food and Wine
Pierce Ranch Vineyards (372-8900) recently debuted a new tasting room ingredient—music!—in its cute little house on Wave Street (next to the Cannery Row Antique Mall). Daily tastings of Pierce’s pioneering Portuguese and Spanish style varietals, wrung from San Antonio Valley sunshine, run $5. The ever better deal, come 8:30pm-10:30pm this ...
A Peek Inside Post No Bills Craft Beer House, Opening Monday
You heard it here first: Seaside was going to get a craft beer house to quench the most desperate of community thirsts—you know, the thirst for a loungey, urban, hip, tasty venue. Only Seaside's City Council and staff managed to bungle it, as I first reported in a February piece ...
Hallelujah: Del Rey Oaks' Stone Creek Kitchen To Open Next Week in Old Clementine's Spot
Redemption should be my only focus. But I can't take my mind off the knives. The knives are damn nice. The Lamsons are forged by a time-honored company that builds well-weighted blades with beautiful wood handles and seemingly super-powered serrated edges. The Messermeisters are made of German steel according to ...
Fishwife At Asilomar Beach
Pacific Grove