Monterey Bay

After visiting the Grands, we stopped in Monterey Bay, CA on our way to San Francisco. We were there for parts of two days; not nearly enough time to enjoy it all. Monterey Bay was beautiful; though chilly when one is expecting the 107 degree weather of central California. It was 62 degrees when we  arrived at noon and swiftly dropped to a sunny 57.  Regardless, it was certainly a very lovely town right on the water. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed towards the Aquarium on Cannery Row. 

 

Before getting to the Aquarium though, we stopped for nourishment at the first restaurant we saw: The Sea Harvest Restaurant and Fish Market. It’s a cute little blue and white store with a little eating area that was packed with people. Good sign. Since hubby and I couldn’t decide on which meal to get, we split them: Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl and Crab Salad Sandwich. 

The Clam Chowder was very yummy. I was quite impressed since it was New England Clam Chowder on the West Coast! But it was quite good. It was so thick and creamy, you could practically eat it with a fork and the potatoes and clams melted in your mouth. The bread bowl was sourdough, soft and chewy with that distinctive sour-y flavor perfect for dipping in the leftover soup.

The Crab Salad Sandwich was also Very tasty. It was the consistency of tuna salad, had great crab flavor and just a hint of spicy-ness. The tartar sauce was quite delicious. I'm not a huge fan of plain old tartar sauce but this one tasted homemade and was a perfect accompaniment to the sandwich. 

After lunch, we walked down the street to the very awesome Aquarium. I totally recommend it. Everyone that worked there was knowledge-able and friendly, there were multiple elaborate exhibits but not too much that half-way through you are sick of looking at fish. It was totally worth the trip. I would definitely go back. Here are some of the spectacular photos that hubby took

And for dinner: Cannery Row Brewing Company which opened last month. Disappointingly, they do not brew their own beer on site. They do have a number of beers that a local micro-brewery brews for them, but nothing on site there. However, our waiter was super friendly and the food was very good and very different. The coolest thing, I think, was their salads which they grill. Yes, they actually toss the lettuce onto a hot grill for a second to char the edges and give it a smoky flavor. I got the Caesar salad and I have to say the grilled lettuce was an awesome variation on the traditional. The lettuce itself was smoky and flavorful but then add the caesar fixings...amazing. 

 As a side to my salad, I ordered the Truffle Fries, french fries fried in truffle oil and sprinkled with truffle salt and cheese and served with Truffle Aioli. (That would be the Mushroom truffle not the chocolate truffle, although that would've been cool, too.) It was a Huge order of fries, enough for the entire table, and they were very, very rich but very, very good! I have never had anything made with truffles or truffle oil so it was a bit of an adventure for me; well paid off though. 

 The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel. I'm not going to write about that. Although good, it was hotel breakfast, not anything earth shattering. We had planned to leave Monterey earlier in the morning but we decided to drive around a little more. We ended up in Pacific Grove. It is a smaller town just outside of Monterey that is sort of victorian but sort of earthy but sort of asian but sort of...i don't know; it was an adorable little town. Everyone was friendly and happy even though it was 50 degrees and rainy. For lunch, we ate at The FishWife. I forgot to take a picture of the outside, sorry. The FishWife has a very sweet but sad history. In a nutshell, a young woman from Boston married a sailor and came out with him to Monterey in the 1800s. Since she was pregnant, she stayed there while he went back to Boston for provisions. In the meantime, she set up business making New England style home cooking for the sailors sailing into Monterey. They called her the Fish Wife. Sadly, her husband died when the ship he was on went down. But she carried on with her restaurant and then passed it on to her son and his wife. So we were eating recipes that she made up in the 1800s! Very cool. 

I got Clam Chowder again. This time, the chowder was almost mousse. It was thinner but the texture of the broth was like a light mousse, very soothing. It came topped with a tomato salsa like pico de gallo. That was a delicious addition. It came with a green salad, very basic. But the Honey Mustard Vinagrette was quite spectacular. It also came with a large slab of Italian bread slathered with garlic butter, enough said there.

After lunch we drove down the coast line of Pacific Grove, back out onto Route 1 and up towards San Francisco. Here are some more photos of that:

All in all, I would most definitely go back to Monterey and Pacific Grove. It was quite lovely and there are still a bunch of restaurants we haven't eaten at yet. :)