Shawnna and I made plans for a trip to Monterey and Carmel on March 25-26 as it had been several months since we made it down there and we love to stroll through the quaint streets, look at the world-renowned art galleries and shop till we drop - all in the vicinity of the soothing ocean. Once down there, however, it struck me that our main purpose for visiting isn't really the things I mentioned above; no, the real reason we love to go is to eat at some of the best restaurants and indulge in fabulous food. With that realization, it was much easier to plan our days around which restaurants we wanted to try and weren't worried about all the other fluff ;-)
We drove down the morning of the 25th and were at our hotel by 11:30am. We stayed at the Monterey Beach Resort which is owned by Best Western. Our room was an ocean view room on the top floor which provided a great view of Monterey and the sound of crashing waves made it easy to fall asleep - but we're getting ahead of ourselves. After checking in, we headed over to Carmel to have lunch at Tutto Mondo Trattoria. We had eaten there before and obviously liked it enough to return. I ate the Lasagne Della Casa which is served with bolognese sauce and covered with cheese. Shawnna had the Pollo Alla Griglia Panini which is made up of a marinade grilled chicken breast, roasted garlic, fresh tomatoes and melted mozzarella. Both were excellent as expected and was a great start to the weekend.
Next, we poked around Carmel, working off lunch and looking at the shops and galleries. At 2pm we had reservations for a Carmel walking tour - Carmel Walks. Even though we have been to Carmel plenty of times, the tour sounded interesting and promised to provide an insight into some things we might not have known without a knowledgeable guide. The tour started at one of the hotels in Carmel-by-the-Sea and proceeded through much of the "downtown" area for 2 hours. There were about 10 people on the walk and 3 dogs. I'm not sure if it was because of the dogs, but a lot of the tour focused on everything that was dog friendly - hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, church... Not my idea of an enlightening experience, but I did learn some cool facts, walked through some "secret" passageways I didn't even know were there and got a great recommendation for the restaurant where we ate dinner - so, not a total wash.
After the tour, we continued walking around Carmel-by-the-Sea until dinner time. For dinner, we decided to go with the recommendation of the walking tour guide and eat at Grasing's. Grasing's is an award winning restaurant that serves "coastal cuisine" which just means they use fresh ingredients from California's coast. The atmosphere is intimate and elegant and the food is enticing and flavorful. We started with a Four-Onion Tart with grilled fennel sauce & balsamic glaze. I know, it doesn't sound good and I was leery at first, but it was so good that I ended up eating half instead of the bite I promised Shawnna. For the main course, I ate the Grilled "Painted Hills" New York Steak, with onion rings, roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach; Shawnna had the fish special which was Halibut Cheeks (yes, meat from the head of the fish) with white beans, roasted tomatoes, hickory smoked bacon, chantrelle mushrooms and spinach. For dessert, we shared the Strawberry and Rhubarb Cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Everything was excellent and highly recommended. It wasn't cheap, but well worth it. After stuffing our faces, we headed back to the hotel to watch a movie (Derailed) and get some rest.
On the 26th, we woke up, lounged around for a bit and then took a walk on the beach in front of the hotel. After cleaning up and getting the sand out of our shoes, we checked out and headed to Cannery Row for some more walking and shopping; the Tin Cannery is looking pretty abandoned with lots of empty store fronts. Next, we drove along the coast toward Pacific Grove to our destination for lunch - Fishwife.
The Fishwife is an award winning seafood restaurant that serves California cuisine with a Carribean flavor. This is a casual restaurant that serves good food at a reasonable price. I ate the Grilled Salmon Fillet with rice, black beans and garlic bread. Shawnna had the Grilled Fillet of Sole Garden Salad with garlic bread. The flavors in the food was subtle and subdued, but nonetheless pretty good. I think the highlight was the little old lady who apparently has worked there forever and walked around the restaurant talking to all of the customers and making sure everyone had what they needed.
After lunch, we decided to head back home. On the way, we stopped at the Gilroy outlets since we didn't get enough walking and shopping done in Monterey & Carmel. All-in-all, it was a great weekend and should tide us over until we feel the itch again (or get hungry :-)
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