Passionfish
701 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove
(831) 655-3311, www.passionfish.net
When a James Beard Award-nominated restaurant and a host of hallowed local dining destinations are your competition, you can’t take shortcuts on the path to being named Best Restaurant in Monterey County. You must come to play the dining game and win. Every. Single. Night. Chef/Owner Ted Walter has done it again, earning two more notches in his Best Of belt for doing nothing less than exactly what we’ve come to expect of him: delivering a feel-good sustainable menu of seasonally inspired treasures. These days the riches have been manifested in creations like basil-stuffed rainbow trout, tomato-truffle scallops and crispy catfish dumplings with curry sauce, as well as time-tested favorites like lamb breast roasted for so long it’s “spoonable.” Passionfish is adored by Pagrovians, who are fortunate enough to live nearby, and Walter and his environmental stewardship-minded wife Cindy have made a name for their restaurant that circulates well beyond P.G.’s sphere of cultural influence, most recently getting a nod in AAA’s Via magazine as a favorite restaurant in all of California. As long as Passionfish continues to do what it does so well, expect these accolades to continue to roll-in with the certainty of the tides.