Tarpy’s Roadhouse
2999 Highway 68, Monterey
(831) 647-1444, tarpys.com
Remember that word-guessing game hangman, where if one doesn’t guess the word before too many incorrect guesses, the man hangs? What the hell kind of game is that? It’s the kind the game a mob played in 1873, when they took Matt Tarpy from the Monterey jail and hung him at a place that became known as Tarpy’s Flats, near the location of the restaurant. This is a place where business gets done – a natural meeting spot between the Peninsula and the Salinas Valley, it’s right next to the airport and Ryan Ranch, and the microclimate here can’t be beat. A few drinks, some nice food, sitting outside in the sunshine – how can a deal not get done?
