The dozen biggest surprises in 2014 Monterey County food: Part 1 of 4 (including In N Out?!).

There are bad surprises in the food industry, like the proverbial fly in the soup—or the car flying into your taqueria's patio, while people are eating on it.

That actually happened to popular 2014 newcomer Taqueria Zarape in August, when a woman reversed into the Fremont Boulevard property. 

No horchata for her. 

Then there are good surprises. This year in food saw a lot—so many that we'll need four installments to run through my favorites.

Here's the first course:

12 • In N Out is actually coming.

People have obsessed over the back-and-forth, up-and-down of In N Out finding a suitable spot close to the freeway in Seaside. Now the beloved burger jockeys have a 2.2 parcel at 1350 Del Monte Blvd. near Holiday Inn Express. Its opening is likely a year off. Which means people can actually start bugging Seaside City Council about things like parks and public safety.

11 • People did serious stupid feats of endurance.

For some reason, people taking on truly mind-boggling epic challenges kept finding their way into my column. As part of the Great Pacific Race, people rowed boats from Cannery Row to Hawaii. (Go ahead and read that over one more time.) I met a peanut-butter-loving kid walking from Florida to Seattle to help underserved students, by way of Big Sur and Seaside. Then came a cancer survivor pushing a giant testicle across the country to raise awareness and eyebrows alike.

10 • Jim Gilbert is secretly taking over the world.

Rappa’s at the end of Fisherman’s Wharf and The Whaling Station, two of the most visited restaurants in the region, were bought up by Gilbert’s restaurant group, without him making more than a peep. (He leaves much of operations and messaging to partner Kevin Phillips.) Those join Beach House at Lovers Point (a big 2013 splash), Abalonetti’s and yet-another-concept-to-come as part of a pudgy-and-getting-pudgier restaurant portfolio. Look for new Rappa's name announcement soon as well.