Osio Theater
350 Alvarado St., Monterey, (831) 901-3119, osiotheater.org
You may not be an independent film kind of person, but there is another strong argument to visit the tiny cinema: if not for the movies, just for their popcorn. The scent is intoxicating – not in the nostalgic mega-theater artificial butter sort of way, but in the it-smells-like-real-popcorn-popped-on-a-stovetop kind of way. There is also real butter – go ahead, ask for a generous pump of it. This popcorn gets crazy good with the addition of some mega-umami toppings like furikake (seaweed and sesame) and nutritional yeast.