Carmel, Pacific Grove, and/or Monterey

[rjwong]

I recently had dinner over at L'Auberge Carmel (Christophe Grosjean, executive chef). Very delicious dinner in a small, intimate room (10 tables). I had the tasting menu with a requested dessert tasting menu by pastry chef Ron Mendoza (formerly of Sona & French Laundry).

Click here for a full report with photos.

[VenerableBede]

Had a great dinner at Stokes last Friday night, would go back in a heart-beat. My one minor quibble- the kitchen went a little overboard with mushrooms on their mushroom pizza. Although, upon return to our hotel, one of the workers there told us that he heard it was up for sale. . .don't know anything about that.

However, had a less than stellar dinner at Sardine Factory, but I'll attribute that to the fact that I was attending a group dinner for 40 or more people. One of the amusing parts of the dinner was that the group holding the dinner had the head of the Monterey Bay Aquarium there and she spoke, at length, about this and that, including how shrimp catching has done untold damage to marine life (shrimp was served for dinner as part of a surf n'turf) and also how sardine catching did a lot of damage off the coast of california, and we were eating in a restaurant called the sardine factory. she also let us know that the aquarium now has an accompanying chart of sustainable fish for sushi...I resisted asking her why all the best sushi was on the avoid list.

[TarteTatin]

We'll be in Monterey/Pacific Grove in the middle of August.

Any updated info for "local" food lovers? (of wherever we are!).

We like anything from nice restaurants to local little places...we just love food!

Thanks!

[syrah girl]

Hi, we were just in Carmel this past weekend, I would not miss a meal at Demetra Cafe, a fairly new venue with great food. We enjoyed Christoperh's for dinner, Anton & Michel is also very good. For a nice fine dining experience, go to Citronelle @ Carmel Valley Ranch, a gourmet food lover's heaven! There is also the Terrace Grill @ La Playa where we stayed, very nice ambiance here, you will have oceanviews from the patio and a peek of the ocean.

In the Carmel Highland's area, both the California Market and Pacific's Edge are very nice. Katy's Place for breakfast, Casanova and Bouchee are also wonderful. If you are there on a Sunday, Mission Ranch has a very nice Jazz Brunch. If you go to Monterey, we had a lovely dinner at "the C" at the new Clement Intercontinental this past Sat. night. Have a great time!