Someone wrote: > Brenda D. wrote: > > I know Monterey is a touch south of the bay referred to by "ba," but last > > I checked, there isn't a Monterey Bay subgroup on Usenet yet. > > > > At any rate, I'm planning a one-day trip to Monterey soon, and if anyone > > can recommend a decent restaurant which doesn't charge upwards of > > $12/plate and is within walking distance of Monterey Bay Aquarium, I'd > > appreciate hearing from you. > > > This probably doesn't answer your question, but it does satisfy the cost con- > straint: there is a very nice breakfast (and I'd guess lunch) place just a > few blocks west along the coast road: First Watch (unless my memory fails me > on the name), in a large building called the Tin Cannery. For dinner, I don't > know - Cannery Row (on which the Aquarium is located) tends toward tourist > restaurants. > > Al Eisner > ([email removed]) > San Mateo County, CA First Watch is now called First Awakenings ... and I agree, it's a great breakfast place. You can even sit outside on sunny mornings (yes we do too have some, just not in the summer!). Haven't had lunch there so I'm not sure, but would guess it would also be good.
Monterey, CA
Monterey recommendations?
Hard to find a good dinner near the Aquarium for $12. Perhaps a shade pricier than that on most main dishes, but close, is the Duck Club at Monterey Plaza Hotel. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this spot, which features bay views from every table, provides a surprisingly good bang for the buck. On my last visit, a halibut dish with garlic mash and varietal mushrooms was excellent... Will
On Mon, 21 Jul 1997 11:25:44 -0700, in ba.food, [email removed] (Brenda Daverin) authored the following: >I know Monterey is a touch south of the bay referred to by "ba," but last >I checked, there isn't a Monterey Bay subgroup on Usenet yet. > >At any rate, I'm planning a one-day trip to Monterey soon, and if anyone >can recommend a decent restaurant which doesn't charge upwards of >$12/plate and is within walking distance of Monterey Bay Aquarium, I'd >appreciate hearing from you. General observation. There are 4 kinds of restaurants in that area. 1) Great View, so-so Food (ala Tinnery and other waterfront Cannery Row surfside places) 2) Hole in the wall and/or no view, Great Food (ala Tillie Gorts and First Awakenings). 3) Fancy Smanchy 4) Chains (Denny's, Mc Donalds) Were you wanting lunch for under $12 total, or dinner for under $12 for the entree, drinks etc extra (so maybe $20-25 per person with tip)? Were you planning on staying at the Aquarium thru closing, then dining, then driving back? If so, weekday or weekend? For a weekday dinner, you might want to just drive into PG, there are some nice places in the center of PG that aren't too expensive, parking and getting a table isn't a problem if it isn't Saturday night. There is a nice Thai place on Lighthouse at the east end of the downtown central district, only a 5 minute drive from the Aquarium. Geography note. Monterey and PG face the ocean to the *north*, not the west. Don't get turned around with directions by expecting the water to be to the west, out on the PG point you can see summer *sunrise* over the ocean (over the bay) as the bay is actually north east of town.
JCDill wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jul 1997 11:25:44 -0700, in ba.food, > [email removed] (Brenda Daverin) authored the following: > > >I know Monterey is a touch south of the bay referred to by "ba," but last > >I checked, there isn't a Monterey Bay subgroup on Usenet yet. > > > >At any rate, I'm planning a one-day trip to Monterey soon, and if anyone > >can recommend a decent restaurant which doesn't charge upwards of > >$12/plate and is within walking distance of Monterey Bay Aquarium, I'd > >appreciate hearing from you. > > Were you wanting lunch for under $12 total, or dinner for under $12 > for the entree, drinks etc extra (so maybe $20-25 per person with > tip)? Like I said, under $12/plate. I thought that meant that few or no of the entrees offered would be more than $12. Am I mistaken? > Were you planning on staying at the Aquarium thru closing, then > dining, then driving back? What I ended up doing (the trip was last Friday) was a day trip, and I ended up having both lunch and dinner in Monterey. I chose *very* poorly for lunch, unfortunately. I ended up at O'Kane's, an ostensibly Irish pub a couple of blocks away from the aquarium. I say ostensibly because I doubt the verisimilitude of a pub which has a stained-glass skylight depicting drunken leprechauns as the biggest decoration in the room. I had a seafood salad which was far more redolent of the green onions they minced into it than the seafood. The bar was nicely stocked with a small but strong variety of Scotch, Irish whiskey and various beers, but I definitely found the food wanting. My husband's corned beef sandwich wasn't bad, but apparently the coleslaw was less than memorable. He didn't offer me any and left most of it untouched. We did much better for dinner. We went to Bullwacker's, which is just down the street from the aquarium in Cannery Row, a little past the John Steinbeck Plaza. I had their fettucine marinara, and my husband had what they call Godfather's Stew, which was a seafood and potato concoction in a rather light broth. The calamari chunks were actually edible, which isn't easy when you're dealing with pieces which measure approximately 2" x 2" x .5". My fettucine was well-cooked and the tomato sauce enhanced the seafood instead of competing with it. They even had the foresight to supply proper forks for lifting the meat out of the clam shells and a spoon to twirl the pasta with (the number of restaurants which don't staggers the imagination). My biggest complaint is that the iced tea was overbrewed, but that happens to me so often that I don't worry about it much. It also could have been made from Lipton, a brand I constantly find to be too astringent unless carefully made. So, I batted .500. Not bad for experimentation without a list of suggestions (the ones I'd received and printed out got left behind by mistake). > Geography note. Monterey and PG face the ocean to the *north*, not > the west. Don't get turned around with directions by expecting the > water to be to the west, out on the PG point you can see summer > *sunrise* over the ocean (over the bay) as the bay is actually north > east of town. Thanks for the tip. I'll remember that when I go back. Next time, I'm renting a hotel room so we don't have to drive so much in one day. And thank you to everyone who made suggestions. -Brenda