Eating and Drinking your way through Monterey

There are an array of dining options in downtown Monterey, along Cannery Row, beachside, and on Fisherman’s Wharf. During my visit, I took a food tour with Monterey Bay Food Tours to experience the freshness and variety of Monterey’s offerings. During the several-hour tour, Casey Aguilar, who started the first and only walking food tour in Monterey, explained the history of the buildings as we walked gardens and sampled a variety of tasty seafood dishes, drinks, and desserts.

I took a food tour in Chicago once that left most of us hungry at the end. That won’t happen in Monterey. Not only will you get beer and wine samples, you’ll also receive a succulent variety of fairly large portions at five or six different stops. The restaurants may change, but during our visit, the first stop was for an almond croissant from Paris Bakery alongside a coffee from Nitro Cycle, a mobile coffee shop. Second stop was at Paluca Trattoria, featured in Big Little Lies Season 1, for a glass of wine and a lobster ravioli overlooking the bay. Next up was a sampling of treats at Epsilon Fine Greek Restaurant, then a Banana Split Stout and meatloaf with mashed potatoes at Melville Tavern, a chocolate mousse in the garden from Alta Bakery (it was delicious and interesting, as a native of Kansas City -- where Christopher Elbow chocolates reign -- to learn that the chef and co-owner at Alta Bakery trained under Christopher Elbow to make his painted chocolates), and a tour and tasting at Revival Ice Cream. We finished at Puma Road Winery with cheese from Schoch Family Farmstead (the only Monterey Jack cheese still made in Monterey County) and chocolate from Heritage Chocolates Corralitos. No, we definitely didn’t leave hungry. It was a delightful day of tasting some California firsts and other local products.