Quick Bites: New coffee spot, crab feed, new Snack Shack and Spadaro Awards.

With a career in real estate, Ann DeGiorgio of Salinas knows the importance of something called location.

She has precisely that with new Castle Rock Coffee (998-7187), which opened three weeks ago next to Toro Cafe on Highway 68.

It enjoys lots of traffic in both directions, and no business really like it out there along the Monterey-Salinas corridor.

The name comes from the eponymous formation above Corral de Tierra just down the road.

The focus is on popular local goodies from Acme Coffee, Red's Donuts, Paris Bakery and Bagel Box.

"Keep everything in our little community," DeGiorgio says. "We're just trying to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere on Highway 68, where people can hang out with friends or family or kids."

Hours are 5:30am-3pm daily to start.

The grand opening will be scheduled for later this month.

"Nothing like Peet's or Starbucks," she adds, but there is plenty of space to get work done and take advantage of free WiFi.

Maybe even ink a real estate deal.

More food news nibbles appear here:

• The nominees for the 2016 Seventh Annual John “Spud” Spadaro Award—for "hospitality, personality and all-around good friendship"—have been announced: GM Alfredo Ortiz (Whaling Station Steakhouse), bartender Regina Morrison (Beach House Restaurant + Bar) and concierge Lori Carter (Carriage House Inn). Presentation happens Jan. 20, with Sicilian steak dinner by the “Spaghetti Hill Gang” ($25, 373-1285) at the Monterey Elks Lodge. A lifetime achievement award will be given to the late Larry Segovia's family too.

• P.G. Snack Shack (258-9686), from the couple who owned now-closed gyro joint Koko’s Cafe cafe on Alvarado, is now open on the corner of David and Ransford in Pacific Grove. The quirky menu features exotic jerkeys like bison, alligator and ostrich, but also hot dogs, Italian sodas and Egyptian, Lebanese, Greek and Turkish baklava.

• California’s got some new laws in 2017. Powdered alcohol is now illegal to possess, sell or create. Barber shops and beauty salons can serve wine and beer as long as it’s free and flows before 10pm.

• Loco and lively Chef Todd Fisher has some new small plates to keep Tarpy’s Roadhouse 2-6pm weekday happy hour roaring. The options include “torpedoes” ($8) with brisket and cream cheese stuffed in jalapeños and wrapped in bacon, and some spot-on spicy tuna tacos with scallions, sesame seeds, soy-yuzu and tobiko ($6). A botanical Bees Knees with Barr Hill honey gin and a house shrub made of orange, lemon and verbena is just $6, too.

• American Legion Post 41 in Monterey (375-9015) holds its annual crab feed Saturday, Jan. 28. The $50 sticker price looks like a deal ($25/12 and under) for salad, Old Fisherman's Grotto clam chowder, chilled-and-cracked Dungeness crab, dessert and coffee.

• Lopez Restaurante y Cantina in downtown Monterey does a big-value tequila tasting 6-8pm Thursday, Jan. 5, with four brands for modest $10.

• In its first year as a nonprofit, The Big Sur Food & Wine Festival was able to donate a total of $25,000 to Big Sur Fire Brigade, Big Sur Health Center, Henry Miller Library, Community Emergency Response Volunteers (to further their work in replacing tools lost in the Soberanes fire), Gazebo School at Esalen and parents groups at four South Coast schools.

• My Attic 1937 Drink Lounge is done and moved out after a four-year run on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey.

• Hollywood and West Hollywood's Saint Felix bar serves a 40-ounce bottle of Colt 45, in a brown bag, for $15.