Quick Bites: Winemaker on reality TV, Carmel Tudor and booze at Taco Bell.

The other day Ian Brand of Salinas-based Ian Brand & Family Wines got a call from a reality TV show producer from what he describes as "a pretty big studio out of New York."

Many would be thrilled by such a call.

Not this guy. Which makes him a lot like his La Marea Grenache.

Refreshing.

"I don’t need the exposure," he says, "and besides: It's just not my bag."

Part one is true, as he's hustling to keep up with his current collaborations, which are legion. When I reached him he was scurrying to start on a keg of vinho verde.

As far as part two, copy that. As he says: ”I don't want to subject my family or myself to that.”

More food and wine news nuggets follow:

• Speaking of reality TV, the Tudor drama (trauma?) takes another twist. After winemaker Dan Tudor helped touch off a feud with Carmel Chamber of Commerce over wine maps, and then the City Council over who gets to open a tasting room (he was blocked for processing his local grapes just over the county border), he has opened a “unique wine shop,” Tudor Wines, on Mission Street and Seventh inside the Court of the Fountains behind Anton & Michel. Daily 11:30am-8pm starting Aug. 7.

• A Taco Bell in Chicago will be the first in the nation to sell booze. Do with that what you will.

• A cash mob is gathering in Pacific Grove at International Cuisine (620 Lighthouse Ave.) at 5pm Friday, Aug. 7, to mob one business. Plan to spend at least $10.

• The world of wine and spirits got a romantic-charismatic thunderbolt when Kathryn Blandin (Bar Cart Cocktail Co. proprietress) and Matt Shea (Bernardus vineyard manager) married this weekend, with birthday boy PigWizard throwing down 20 pounds of his charcuterie and a 4-year-old acorn-fed Iberico ham as part of the proceedings.

• Central Coast Juicery coming to downtown Pacific Grove's Forest Avenue in the former Emi’s Biscoteria. Emi now manages il Grillo in Carmel, where another meal last week reveals Brad Briske et al are at the top of their fresh organic Italian powers.

• Snappy Shelly Steinbeck the African leopard tortoise was once a web superstar with a great diet who lived at Salinas Public Library. Now she’s a refugee banished to San Jose. Seriously.

• Lilia Marie Glazer was born on the Fourth of July, under an oak tree, in Big Sur, to Danielle and Matt. Welcome home Baby Glaze.

• Caught word of the rare late night local restaurant (and rarer still because it's real late night): Sal's Alley Side Cafe (646-5132) now sits next to Carbone's on Lighthouse. From 3pm-2am every day, it does burgers, Chicago dogs, Reuben sandwiches, onion rings and such for bar patrons next door, then opens its doors at 2am for meals, rehab and John Madden football, old-school style.

• To honor her late mother Jarman Fearing, her daughter and Holman Ranch manager Hunter Lowder donates $1 from estate reserve Jarman Chardonnay and Jarman Pinot Noir to the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. The new Jarman tasting room is now open next to Wills Fargo.

• Rocky Point Restaurant (624-2933) survived a minor fire last week and is back open.

• Bay of Pines, quite possibly the most bizarre and unique restaurant downtown Monterey has seen—note the pirate ship bar and sweeping marine murals—appears lost at sea. It’s been dark for weeks and weeks.

• Along those lines, under-appreciated Element Wine Bar on River Road has shuttered too.

• Schooners Coastal Kitchen (372-2628), with new chef de cuisine Nicole Heaney, was a hit-and-miss this weekend thanks to a superb sea bass BLT (hit) and new Kraft kiddie versions of their former homemade mac ‘n’ cheese and grilled cheese standouts (miss).

• Down Cannery Row from Schooners, The Monterey Bay Aquarium extends hours to 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays through Labor Day weekend. The Evenings by the Bay event includes a cash bar and live music; the full music line-up is available at montereybayaquarium.org (included with admission).

• Kevin Geanides is the new GM at Post Ranch Inn after two decades at fly resorts in Miami, NYC and Florida Keys.