Good Restaurant in Monterey/Santa Cruz CA?

In article , [email removed] (Steve
Lamont) writes:

>If you're willing to go south a mile or two from Monterey to Carmel,
>go to La Boheme, 7th and Dolores (approximately -- there are no street
>addresses in Carmel-by-the-Sea).  European country style, prix fixe,
>table d'hote style (only one menu item served per evening plus a
>vegetarian dish, if you should so desire).  Dinners only, starting at
>5:30, no reservations taken.  (408) 624-7500.  One of the best
>restaurants in Carmel or the Monterey Peninsula (my personal all
>around favorite of darn near anywhere).

I second that.  I spent two weeks in Monterey last year and found La Boheme to be the best of the places I tried.  Nice atmosphere, truely great food,

informal, and the people there were very nice too.

There's also a place south of Carmel at the Pacific Heights Hotel (it's name escapes me) which is rated highly by restaurant guides.  It was good and had a terrific view over the coast, but dinner cost nearly twice as much as La Boheme and the atmosphere was fairly formal (translation: you're paying more for snob appeal).

The Rio Grill is an interesting place to try if you like creative cooking; it's very popular with the locals. I had rabbit with a mint sauce, which turned out to be a little to funky for my taste.

I didn't find any of the places on Cannery Row to be at all remarkable.

There's also a good pasta place on the main road through Pacific Grove.  I don't remember the name exactly; something like Mama Mia's.

For breakfast, go to First Watch.

Tdahm wrote:

>
> The Rio Grill is an interesting place to try if you like creative cooking;
> it's very
> popular with the locals. I had rabbit with a mint sauce, which turned out
> to
> be a little to funky for my taste.
>
> I didn't find any of the places on Cannery Row to be at all remarkable.

On my most recent visit (August) I found Rio Grill to be very disappointing. The wine service was poor (and a bit rude),  both meat and fish dishes were overcooked.

My favorite in Monterey is Fresh Cream.

Bill Rohwer

Let's see, good restaurants, sorta intimate and romantic, $18-20.

Aragona's in Soquel might suit you -- nice Italian food.  It's a large restaurant, but with several smallish dining rooms and nice courtyards and landscaping to look out at.  You can get everything from gutbuster meat dishes to a lot of different kinds of pasta, and they also have a menu of low-fat versions of traditional Italian dishes.  My wife and I have always liked the atmosphere.  Entrees are in the range you specified.

Tdahm wrote:
>There's also a place south of Carmel at the Pacific Heights Hotel (it's
>name escapes me) which is rated highly by restaurant guides.  It was good and
>had a terrific view over the coast, but dinner cost nearly twice as much
>as La Boheme and the atmosphere was fairly formal (translation: you're
>paying more for snob appeal).

The Highlands Inn, perhaps?  It's in Carmel Highlands.  Killer view but the time or two that I went there I was not knocked out by the cuisine.  Good but not great.

>There's also a good pasta place on the main road through Pacific Grove.  I
>don't remember the name exactly; something like Mama Mia's.

Don't know Mama Mia's but another good place in PG is Fandango.

>For breakfast, go to First Watch.

Not one of my favorites.

One of my personal favorite breakfast venues in PG is Tillie Gort's. It's a kind of arty/hippie holdout place (or was -- last time I was there, about 6 months ago, they were doing some remodeling -- heaven knows what it's like now -- they used to have a really bizarre found-art type collage [I think that's the right term for it but I am not an artist/art historian, so I may be a bit off here] of a dragon on the ceiling of the main room but I have a feeling that due to earthquake concerns they may have had to remove it. :-.  Good Eggs Benedict.  On Central near the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute building (note: not the Aquarium proper, which is on Cannery Row, an area To Be Avoided if you want food -- though Bullwacker's is not a bad bar).

Another place that I always like is the Bay Cafe in downtown Pacific Grove.  Nothing special, really, as far as the food, but just a nice down home cafe that pours a decent cup of coffee.

Oh, yeah, now that I'm a breakfast roll, as it were, another cafe type place I've got to recommend in Monterey is Burly Bills.  Again, not a real culinary mecca, but a nice local place for bacon and eggs or whatever.

Sigh... why couldn't this University be in Monterey instead of San Diego? :-)

                                          spl

>Tdahm wrote:

>>There's also a place south of Carmel at the Pacific Heights Hotel
(it's
>>name escapes me) which is rated highly by restaurant guides.  It was good and
>>had a terrific view over the coast, but dinner cost nearly twice as much
>>as La Boheme and the atmosphere was fairly formal (translation: you're
>>paying more for snob appeal).
>

A recommendation I have for a restaurant in Pacific Grove is Peppers.  I had the seafood paella that was delicious.  The sangria was good, too. Apparently, it's a local favorite.  (Peppers was recommended to us by a bellhop at the Monterey Plaza Hotel.)  Long wait and they don't take reservations.  IMO, it was worth the wait.  The prices were reasonable and portions were just right.