Monterey's Newest Night Spot Will Introduce a Pirate Boat Bar

Certain things leap out—like a humpback breaching—as you enter Bay of Pines (920-3564).

First the fish tank and big marine murals downstairs, later the mix of international photos upstairs and, most strikingly, the pirate boat bar that rises through both stories. (Really.)

Then there's the…whale breaching on the ceiling.

(For an extensive slideshow of the place, see the carousel at right.)

A private hospitality industry visit to survey the dramatic new backdrop takes place this weekend. A sneak public peek happens 5-7pm Sunday, Oct. 13, with entertainment 7-11pm. The place will remain open with a limited small bites menu and full bar service 5pm-midnight before the bar-restaurant-entertainment opens officially with a full lunch and dinner menu Nov. 3.

But the ambitious decor is almost completely in place, as is Sous Chef Eli Rabaino (last seen at Crema in Pacific Grove) and GM Jim Farah, a San Carlos School graduate who has opened Marriotts and Sheratons as far away as the Red Sea in Egypt, before he returned to the area to direct food and beverage at Pasadera.

And Farah just hired Paul Rurup, a Scottsdale Culinary Institute grad who traveled to Las Vegas—to work under big-name chefs Todd English and Rick Moonen, among others—before moving back to his native Northern California to work as a private chef.

He's talking all organic, down to the spices, seasonal salads like an heirloom tomato plate, apps like braised baby octopus and crab cakes with taragon-lemon sauce, housemade sausages, plus a lot of smoking in a brand new smoker in the beautifully cleaned up and redone kichen. Bring on the smoked shrimp in butter-beer sauce. 

"What I really have to do is get to local farmers, use their products right out of the field," he says.

Plus exotic spices brought to bear on Cali cuisine.

"We're gonna really fold in all the flavors of the world," he adds. "Play with lamb, duck confit, pizzas and get outside the box to stuff others aren't doing."

Almost anything would have been an improvement on the dead space that was once India's Clay Oven. But this is a particularly interesting one—and one that seizes upon the soaring ceiling, big windows, two stories and built-in coves. 

La Bahia de los Pinos was the name given by Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo, hence Bay of Pines. The boat bar is modeled after the hull of his La Victoria.

The vision is driven by owner Dana Helman, a former teacher and self-described environmentalist who delighted in taking her students into nature to learn to identify native flora and fauna—hence the lush nature scenery, which she actually aims to use as a teaching tool during after-school hours, and even the range of international photos upstairs.

"Being an environmentalist and teaching science from college on, working with Return of the Natives, I wanted each of the walls to be a different habitat," she says.

Carmel River, sand dunes, the rocky shore, redwood forest, the open bay, kelp forests, chaparral, and—fittingly—pine forest will all be represented. 

The incredible pirate-ship bar itself presents a blend of things that work like a seaworthy analogy to float out there for the bigger mothership: It's painstakingly handmade, beautifully detailed and, also, over the top. 

Bartending staff is already working on signature cocktails, all made with organic liquors. Seven taps will flow beers including several local brews.

GM Farah anticipates a calendar of events to take advantage of a stage and a dance floor in a corner of the main lower floor. They'll do the booking in house.

"I think locals need more entertainment so people can have different choices for different experiences," he says. 

In a word, ahoy.