Carmel, Pacific Grove, and/or Monterey

[marie-louise]

You want me to put in a good word for you when I stay there??? BTW, they asked how we heard about the place:

Husband (on phone making reservations): Marie, how did you hear about the place?

Me: eGullet... Uh, tell them a friend recomended it. (How could I say, well, there's this web site and ....) But I could tell them that in person and tell them the truth, which is that the first page of their website is so ugly I never would have looked further to realize their rooms were beautiful if someone I trusted hadn't recommended the place. Then mention I "know" someone locally who could help fix their website...

Edited January 27, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[rslee]

I used to work in a restaurant in Carmel called Bouchee Restaurant and Wine Merchants. The chef's name is Walter Manzke and he was formerly the chef at Patina in Los Angeles. Excellent food (kinda biased) in my opinion. A California-French menu and a great wine selection.

The site below:

http://www.boucheecarmel.com/main_index.htm

Hope this helps,

Robert

[marie-louise]

I used to work in a restaurant in Carmel called Bouchee Restaurant and Wine Merchants. The chef's name is Walter Manzke and he was formerly the chef at Patina in Los Angeles. Excellent food (kinda biased) in my opinion. A California-French menu and a great wine selection.

The site below:

http://www.boucheecarmel.com/main_index.htm

Hope this helps,

Robert

Someone on Chowhound recently raved about Bouchee.

I made our dinner reservations this morning (I love opentable.com-how much easier could this be?)

First night: Stokes

Second night: Bouchee

Third night: Passionfish

Lunches at Tappy's Roadhouse, Red House Cafe, and/ or that Mexican restaurant someone suggested

If it's nice-a six mile hike around Point Lobos State Park, a hike around Elkhorn Slough (they have BABY blue herons now), and a stroll around historic Monterey and the Carmel Mission grounds. Plus the Elkhorn boat tour and the promendade that goes along Pacific Grove's shoreline.

Whether it's raining or not-the Aquarium (with some wine at the nearby Taste of Monterey), Carmel and San Juan Bautista's missions.

Anyone know anywhere to eat in San Juan Baustista? Sounds like they have a nice Mexican restaurant-is it any good?

Thanks again for all your help!

[Mudpuppie]

I'm sooo jealous.

Make sure to watch Vertigo before you go to San Juan Bautista.

[tanabutler]

Anyone know anywhere to eat in San Juan Baustista? Sounds like they have a nice Mexican restaurant-is it any good?

We have eaten many times at Jardines de San Juan.

Eat outside, weather permitting: the patio goes on an on. It's very traditional Mexican food: don't expect any California fusion elements. I'm fond of the chili rellenos and the enchiladas.

If you're going to San Juan Bautista, check out the walking tour.

I love that place. Enjoy and report back soon!

[tanabutler]

I'm sooo jealous.

Make sure to watch Vertigo before you go to San Juan Bautista.

FYI, the mission is altered for the movie (it doesn't actually have a bell tower). But yes, it's worth watching regardless.

[marie-louise]

Quick note to tell you about my trip, which unfortunately got shortened because I was sick...

We went to the Mexican restaurant in San Juan Baustista on the way down and shared an enchilada & a chile rellano. Wonderful classic California/Mexican food on a beautiful patio. We also drove up to Fremont Peak-great view.

The first night we ate at Stokes, and it was just wonderful. Great waiter, who suggested we start with the tapas for two and then order more if we were still hungry. Good idea, since all we wanted after that was a salad! The tapas platter had ahi w/ lentils, some incredible bacon- wrapped cheese stuffed dates, potato fritters, some sort of wood oven cooked shrimp over toast, and one more thing I'm forgetting. Good wine list, too. A beautiful restaurant, very very pleasant place to eat.

The next morning we went to the aquarium-so cool-and then drove through the back way out to Tarpy's Roadhouse for lunch. Somehow I was expecting something more funky, but it was actually a rather formal restaurant filled with well-dressed business people. Husband had a steak sandwich, I had a brisket BBQ sandwich. They were both great. The service was average; for example, the waitress did not bring me water until after she brought the check, despite my asking for it three times, beginning with before our meal arrived!

Alas, that was the end of our dining. We got as far as parking the car to go to Bouchee, when i realized I was just too sick to go inside. (No reflection on Tarpy's, I've had the flu for a few weeks.) We left for home early the next morning.

The Martine Inn was okay, but quite frankly, not somewhere I'd stay again. Walking along the promenade in Pacific Grove was very nice; I would definitely stay in that town again if I was going to the Monterey area. Sorry, Tana, I never saw anyone who remotely looked liked they were in charge or I would have put in a plug for you.

Thanks again for all your recommendations. Next time I'll make it to that Elkhorn Slough boat ride and Point Lobos.

[Mudpuppie]

The next morning we went to the aquarium-so cool

This isn't exactly food-related, but I just want to let everyone know that the aquarium has awesome webcams. I keep the Monterey Bay webcam on my desktop at work. It helps me get through the day(s).

On a food note, I'll be down there at the end of March. Any additional food tips (veg) are more than welcome....

[tanabutler]

Marie, thanks for the report, and sorry you were not well for your little escape. No worries about the inn: if it wasn't somewhere you'd want to stay again, it's not likely I'd want to do a trade with them. (I am glad you went to Pacific Grove, though.)

And I am glad you went to the Mexi place in SJB, and also to Tarpy's.

I'm glad to hear Tarpy's was nicer than you'd expected. Honestly, the first boy I ever kissed (in a tragic ending to an otherwise decent game of Spin the Bottle) was named Tarp, and that incident remains one of the biggest blights on a completely blighted adolescence. I hadn't wanted to venture to Tarpy's until your post.

Next time you venture this way, if you like, I'll meet you at Moss Landing for a bowl of chowder at Phil's Fish. Or something.

[chardgirl]

Recent Pacific Grove (near Carmel)

-B & B of choice (The Old St. Angela Inn: much better food than the other places!)

-Restaurant of Choice (Red House Cafe)

______________________

The Old St. Angela Inn

The decor isn't fussy like some of the places, and the food is homemade and delicious. The owners make breakfast themselves every morning. It's one block from the beach and about 4 blocks from downtown Pacific Grove. I could hear the waves in the morning. Very clean too. I highly recommend this place!

The Old St. Angela Inn B & B

The Red House Cafe is a must-try, in my opinion. I'd be curious to hear other's opinions about it. Here's my meal description I posted on another popular food site:

My meal at the end of January:

-Fresh pea soup with tarragon. This was a brothy soup truly made with fresh peas, just what I wanted and craved in this drizzly weather.

-Fresh Crab Cake: a generous portion, and the best restaurant crab cake I've had outside of San Fransisco. (if you're in SF: try the crabcakes at Hayes St. Grill!!) It wasn't overly salty and it was nicely browned, served with a housemade tarter sauce. This lunch entree came with a big salad lightly dressed with a mild vinaigrette, also topped with roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, and feta cheese.

My orange juice was fresh squeezed and as good as if I'd just made some at home. (very good)

The lemonade claimed to be and truly appeared to be fresh and housemade.

The other eaters (it was full at 1:30pm on a Tuesday) were raving over the desserts, which I declined.

The decor was charming, and they served their cafe au lait in the French bowls like I've seen at other European cafes.

The Red House Cafe in PG 831.643.1060 662 Lighthouse Ave.

[marie-louise]

Went down to the Monterey Peninsula again last week. This time we stayed in Carmel; it was nice to be able to walk to and from dinner. I don't know when I will have time to write about everything, but I did want to mention a wonderful restaurant: La Boheme. The food was very good, but the dining experience was even better: small cozy place, family-style service in beautiful dishes (the soup came out in a small copper pot), and great but unobtrusive service (by the owners). In my opinion, this is a place to go back to again and again; if it was in my neighborhood I'd eat there every week. The wine was barely marked up-another plus.

Two sight-seeing highlights of the trip: Point Lobos (we hiked all but one trail over two days-it took about five hours to do them all) and the Carmel Mission (a standout among the ones I've seen to date-if you just want to visit one, make it this one.)

More later...

[tanabutler]

Marie-Louise, have you ever heard of Cabrillo Music Festival? It's America's largest contemporary music festival, and it happens in August every year (for over forty years now). Most events are in Santa Cruz, but the finale concerts (one in the afternoon, one in the evening) always occur at the mission in San Juan Bautista, which is one of my two favorite California missions.

I've sung at the Carmel Mission: it's beautiful.

I'm just putting in a vote for SJB, too. The gardens are over a hundred years old, and they've got some enormous roses. Very beautiful grounds.

[marie-louise]

Not quite the Monterey Peninsula, but this is as logical a place to post as any...

On our way down to Carmel, we stayed for two nights at Costanoa. Nice place-note they have "full moon specials" that are half-off the regular rate. My only complaint is that there were a LOT of kids here. We were expecting more of a quiet, adult experience in our room with a spa tub, balcony and ocean view, but instead there were tons of high-energy kids squealing and running amok everywhere. Cute, but... I asked at checkout if there were more kids than usual because it was Easter week and the woman said no, that there's so much for kids to do there that it always attracts lots of families.

We went to some great parks-Ano Nuevo is across the street and the hidden park of the century-Butano State Park-is right nearby. We hiked for two hours in a beautiful spot and the only other person we saw was the ranger. We also visited

Bonny Doon Vineyard's Tasting Room-lots of fun.

The food at Costanoa was pretty good, although the din from all the children made it less than a fine dining experience. The first night we ate at Duarte's-what a disapointment. Everyone raves about the place but sorry, we thought it was pretty awful. I love a funky, old-time restaurant as much as the next person, but this meal was BAD! The artichoke soup was thick and tasteless, my husband's deep-fried oysters were oozing water-not oyster brine-as if they'd breaded and froze the oysters they didn't sell, then fried them still frozen. All of the food was somehow tasteless while being terribly over-salted, which is pretty hard to consistently accomplish, especially with a piece of fresh fish. The center of our table had a crack in it (as if you could add leaves to make it bigger.) It was disgustingly filty and crumb-encrusted, just a big linear glob of brown food right in your face without so much as a paper placemeat to hide any of it. Worst of all was dessert. They are known for their pies and the area is known for its strawberries so how could we go wrong ordering the daily special, Strawberry Shortcake? Well, the berries were pretty good but they were served on a crumble of stale, tasteless crumbs (really, CRUMBS of sweet but dry cake), topped with some sort of this-isn't-a-dairy-product white stuff.

The next day we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Davenport, where we had some of the worst Mexican food I've ever had (and I'm a native Californian, so I have a lot of experience). My husband's mole sauce was as sweet as a dessert sauce, and their guacomole was a scary light white color w/ lots of water in it. My advice to anyone traveling down this stretch of Highway One is stuff yourself in Half Moon Bay and don't think about food again until you get to Santa Cruz!

Edited April 13, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[marie-louise]

I wanted to mention one more meal we had in Carmel: Akaoni at Dolores & 5th Ave. We had a craving for Japanese food one night and chose this place at random. The sushi was very good, very fresh, but the real standout was the Shabu-Shabu for two. I hadn't eaten this in years, and I'd never had it served like this: they bring a hot pot to the table (with a piece of kombu in the pot) and a large platter of raw food for you to cook. (Everywhere else I've had it they put all the food into the pot and bring that to the table.) This type of service let us barely cook the meat-which was a HUGE portion of beautifully marbled, thinly sliced beef that would have been a shame to have let get over-cooked.

It's a tiny place-it must seat twenty or so-with friendly service. It was a nice, low-key experience.

[tanabutler]

I wanted to mention one more meal we had in Carmel: Akaoni at Dolores & 5th Ave. We had a craving for Japanese food one night and chose this place at random. The sushi was very good, very fresh, but the real standout was the Shabu-Shabu for two. I hadn't eaten this in years, and I'd never had it served like this: they bring a hot pot to the table (with a piece of kombu in the pot) and a large platter of raw food  for you to cook. (Everywhere else I've had it they put all the food into the pot and bring that to the table.) This type of service let us barely cook the meat-which was a HUGE portion of beautifully marbled, thinly sliced beef that would have been a shame to have let get over-cooked.

It's a tiny place-it must seat twenty or so-with friendly service. It was a nice, low-key experience.

Is this like "the worst meal ever" that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen had in Lost in Translation?

If you haven't seen it (it's one of my favorite films ever), Bill Murray's line is, "What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?!"

[tanabutler]

I wonder where Marie-Louise has gone.

Anyway, friends of mine stayed in Pacific Grove last week and, on a hunch, went to Passionfish. They adored it. Most especially they adored that the wines are sold at retail, not at restaurant mark-up prices. The food was wonderful, and now I can't wait to go there.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I wonder where Marie-Louise has gone.

Good question...

I'll second the Passionfish recommendation -- I was lucky to eat there when the Monterey Wine Festival was in town and I was on an expense account! My favorite restaurant, however, was Cassanova in Carmel. Absolutely amazing, authentic French country bistro fare. I can't recall exactly what I had at Passionfish, but I remember the Mushroom soup, the Filet de Sole Meunier, and a form of Crepes Suzette (not flamed) that I had for lunch at Cassanova...

[marie-louise]

I wonder where Marie-Louise has gone.

Good question...

I'm around! I'm working way too hard at the moment-especially considering it's summer and I really don't want to work at all-so no time to post much these days. I'm still quietly reading, though (I hate calling it "lurking.") I'm hoping things will quiet down in a few more months, just in time for fall stews and soups...

We just got back from a great vacation up the coast, and so as to not to make this post totally off-topic:

I stayed in Carmel a month or so ago. I had another fabulous meal at La Boheme. We also ate at Highlands Inn's reataurant, Pacific Edge and it was impeccable (we had some sort of fish tasting menu.) We won a gift certificate to stay there, and I have to say, even at free I didn't like The Highland's Inn. I certainly wouldn't pay for it! The bar and restaurant are wonderful, but take my advice and stay somewhere else.

And no trip down there would be complete without a stop at Gayle's. This time we did it right and stopped on the way home so we could buy way too many baked goods!

[tanabutler]

I am delighted to see your font again. I've been wondering how your anniversary plans were turning out.

If money were no object, I'd go to Le Bernadin. Alas, it's always an object.

(I think my daughter is getting her first job at Gayle's! How happy are we?!)

[winesonoma]

Try Rocky Point if you like meat. http://www.rocky-point.com/ and a view.

Edited August 18, 2004 by winesonoma (log)

[milla]

what about Bouchee or the new Auberge Carmel? Both are projects of David Fink, the former GM of the Highlands Inn.

[samgiovese]

Bouchee is excellent! Also, had a very nice meal at Grasing's. If you'd like to venture about 15 - 20 minutes out of Carmel, Marinus at Bernardus Lodge is superb. Cal Stamenov is doing phenomenal things in the kitchen.

[Flocko]

Help me with some suggestions, please. Though a Bay area resident for many years, which included many vacations and trips to the Montery Peninsula, I have been self-exiled to the deserts and mountains of Utah for 30+ years. Though I make yearly pilgrimages to San Francisco to EAT!!!, I haven't been able to get down to the Monterey Peninsula for 12 years or so.

What are the restaurants that I shouldn't miss on a four day stay in mid July. We're staying on Cannery Row in Monterey.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Bill

[lizard]

Passionfish & Marinus at the Bernardus Lodge.

Passionfish has amazing seafood with responsibly-caught fish prepared with innovative ingredients. The wine list is vast and very reasonably priced.

http://www.passionfish.net/

Marinus is an amazing experience. It ranks right up there with Danko and The French Laundry, IMHO.

http://carmelmonterey.citysearch.com/profile/820843/

[milla]

L'Auberge Carmel in Carmel.

Edited June 11, 2005 by milla (log)