Quick Bites: The 400-beer-a-day diet at Alvarado Street Brewing, plus other tasty stuff.

Chef Aaron Haas’ poutine—rustic fries bathed in indulgent gravy and studded with house-cured cubes of savory bacon ($10)—is comfort food dreamland in a deep dish.

It's good with a house double IPA at Alvarado Street Brewery and Grill (655-2337), which has been bustling my last two visits.

Many menu items similarly are paired with house beers brewer J.C. Hill is perpetually pumping out.

And it's good that he is, since they've been selling 400 beers a day.

Other great flavors I've tucked into there of late: the jalapeño cream ale ($4), sweet French onion beer soup ($7), butcher’s bacon-and-egg pizza ($14), duck ham pizza (yes, again, $16), tender smoked mussels ($13) and Haas’ sly and vibrant bahn mi “bowl” ($11, and likely not what you think).

The best part: Most of that flavor parade in front of me was all happening at noon, with a World Cup thriller on the flatscreen above us.

In other words, as we announced last week, arguably the hottest spot in town has added a robust lunch setup.

Click through to check out the post, "New, popular Alvarado Street Brewery and Grill adds lunch."

And J.C. Hill’s first barrel-aged creation just debuted (it’s a cuvee de Monterey, $6). Several more are already aging. 

More good news:

• Big Sur Roadhouse (667-2370) celebrates a year in business this week with seductive new items like the chicken and biscuits bowl—“the best pot pie poured in a biscuit,” Exec Chef Matt Glazer says. More on the blog. 

• Mediterraneo Imports (393-1075)—a connoisseur of gourmet olive oils, vinegars, tapenades, mustards and dressings—may borrow flavors from its namesake region, but most of its products are born in-house. It just reopened this month in Seaside. Get more on Mediterraneo on the blog.

• Favaloro’s Big Night Bistro (373-8523) and Holman Ranch collab on a five-course wine dinner July 9. Homemade Italian like veal and beef cannelloni and braised pork medallions paired with several variations of Holman’s estate Pinot Noirs ($65). 

• Figge (384-4149) has a zippy but limited supply release, 2013 Rosé of Pinot Noir, made with grapes from the Pelio vineyard in Carmel Valley ($18). 

• Tuesday, July 8, is the grand opening of the 11am-4pm Alisal Certified Farmers' Market (384-6961) at 632 East Alisal St. Interactive cooking workshops at noon and 2pm help mark the launch of the Everyone's Harvest operation. Workshops are free, and the first 12 participants will receive a $10 voucher to purchase fresh farmers market produce. Call for more information. 

• Dick and Bonnie Swank of Swank Farms team with Chef Matt Bolton for the latest “Meet the Farmer” lunch to benefit MEarth school ecoliteracy programs—and tastebuds—at Pacific’s Edge ($55, 626-1574) July 12. Bring on the roasted corn ravioli, Sonoma duck and blackberry financier goodies.

• Lavender stone fruit sangria, lavender cured king salmon and lavender créme brûlée are but the beginning as Cal Stamenov of Bernardus Lodge (658-3400) presents a lavender-inspired buffet July 12 as part of the Lodge’s lavender harvest celebration ($95).

• @MontereyMCA just hit 2,000 tweets stuffed with fresh food for thought. Follow along, message me with any nibbles that deserve a taste and graze on...!

Sophie Newman contributed to this report.