Quick Bites: Sneak peek at Happy Girl Kitchen's plans for its parklet - plus three birthdays!

Increasingly popular “parklets” are popping up in urban parking spaces to provide mini sanctuaries for trees, grass and benches—and added tables, verve and income for businesses and commerce districts.

I wrote about how sidewalk seating has helped downtown Monterey's general buzz and visitor-friendliness last year.

Now local food and sustainability pioneer Happy Girl Kitchen (373-4475) on Central Avenue in P.G. had its own mini park approved by City Council. 

A look at the parklet sketches appears upper right.

The wider Parklet Pilot Project was given to go-ahead last month, and includes four parklets. The other three are in downtown P.G. on Lighthouse Avenue. 

Pacific Grove will only fund decorative planters and traffic barriers up to a total of $15,000, so each business is on the hook to fund most of the respective projects, as was the case in Monterey.

Happy Girl is putting together a raucous video to raise Kickstarter cash to plush it out. 

"We need some voluntary funds from the public for this public space," is the way HGK co-owner Todd Champagne puts it.

More quick bites, with an emphasis on birthdays:

➔ Happy birthday: Corral Market & Deli (676-3806) has a live DJ, wine tasting, food vendors, barbecue smoking away and more 11am-4pm Saturday, April 19, to toast a year in business.

➔ Birthday number two: Crema on Lighthouse in P.G. (324-0347) has a new dinner menu and 4-6pm Thursday-Sunday happy hour to celebrate turning 2 Wednesday, April 16.

➔ Second birthday, number two: Olive oil-wine tasting hub Trio Carmel (250-7714)—exclusive home to superb small-plot local wineries Pelerin, Mesa Del Sol and Ian Brand & Family—toasts its #2 with a fat party ($35-$45) 6-8pm Friday, April 25, with the best from Brand and Chef Brandon Miller of Mundaka. RSVP.

➔ When I attempted to dispel rumors of Nob Hill’s demise and New Leaf’s rise in Pacific Grove—I repeat: New Leaf isn’t coming—I made a booboo: I made it unclear that Nob Hill is still there and, as one employee writes in, “a very fabulous place to work with kind and caring employees and customers.”

➔ Point Pinos Grill (648-5774) at P.G. muni golf course flows its pairing dinner series on with Ozaka Blues Brewery and four indulgent courses like three-cheese monte cristo Saturday, April 26 ($60).

➔ April 24’s Taste It Thursday at Wharf Marketplace features Heller Estate ($12 is a deal for sips and snacks) and happens 4:30-6:30pm.