A preview of local foodie projects on the way, inspired by New York City.

New York City is no longer the Big Apple. Nope. It is now the Big Apple Kimchi With Maple Labne Yogurt and Jowl Bacon.

It’s not about Broadway and Beyonce, it’s about Spotted Pig and Per Se. It’s not about having more people than any other city in the U.S., but having more diversely delish grub ready at 4am. It’s not Manhattans in Manhattan and a dog at the Yankee game, but small-batch Fidencio Mezcal in the West Village’s Daddy O’s and a tropical shake and two dogs at Gray’s Papaya.

At least it can and should be, if my visit – ostensibly, to help Sand City’s Big Hurt Beer promote its MVP lager to NYC bars – is any indication. I’m talking whole-roasted black bass at Willow Road and incredible carbonara at Lupa Osteria Romana. Late night macaroni-bacon gratin at Pastis and later-night monster burgers at Bistro Corner, the last old-school boho bar in Greenwich. Epic spicy sausages and grilled eggplant at Little Italy’s packed Feast of San Gennaro Festival and duck glass noodles at an underground restaurant in Chinatown. Fancy bacon-egg pizzas at hot Company and plain old-school greasy pie at Joe’s Pizza. Killer cannoli from Rocco Bakery, Dean & Delucca coffee and 40-block walks – channeling Ryan Adams, who said, “When I’m in New York, I just want to walk down the street and feel this thing, like I’m in a movie” – for good measure.

But it’s the golden-crisp apple kimchi, a signature dish at David Chang’s landmark original restaurant momofuku, one of the city’s current haute-cuisine destinations, that’s the most meaningful metaphor. Because it’s tasty and challenging. You can chomp it and roll, sure, but that would be like climbing the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building and not looking around: all physicality, no reflective payoff. (The rush! the sweep! the nerves! the engineering!) There are sly subtleties of heat, Middle Eastern flavor and daikon that taste almost funny at first, but feel layered and complex once all the ingredients are ingested. Similarly, the broccoli with blue-fish vinaigrette and duck skin is brain-food salad – remember? broccoli helps you remember things – that makes you work to intuit how they uncovered that crazy confluence of texture and flavor.

So goes New York at its best – it’s not a comfort or an entertainment but an invitation to keep your eyes and ears alit among the dazzle and delirium. To do more than gawk at the Times Square flood of colorful commercialism, but ask, as did a performance artist last weekend, in giant letters planted on the street, “Is CAPITALISM working for you? Vote yes or no.”

My first challenge for Monterey is to find a way to create our own version of the coolest place there, trumping trendy Chelsea Market: Eataly, a swirl of tiled counterside stools, open kitchens, tabled spaces, multiple restaurants, handmade noodle stations, espresso bars, fish counters, all arranged to complement one another spatially and thematically – with a beautiful tap wine-and-beer garden on the roof. The decoration is the robust and flavorful bustle itself, an abstract thing as a concrete context. In other words, magic. Our best hope has to be the fits-and-starts Independent Marketplace in Sand City, set to open in 2014, allegedly.

~ ~ ~

Here’s something that abides: The Little Lebowski Shop in Chelsea, a wonderland of “Mark it zero!” gear, life-size The Dude-in-robe cutouts and ferret paraphernalia. As tastemakers who visit NYC like to say, “Whatever happens in New York eventually ends up everywhere”; one of our own lil white-Russian-style shops would be nice here.

The NYC-to-everywhere-else flow – which after the advent of the Alice Waters era links more to fashion than food – inspired me to check what’s coming to our flavorscape in coming months.

One op on the way – also with its own element of allegedly – is a would-be mini version of Eataly and even The Independent Marketplace, a open-market mixed space by the polarizing Kehoe crew in Oldtown, one of four new food-and-drink places on Main Street alone (see story, previous page). Another is Analog, a character-rich Carmel “upscale dive bar” with class and great music – that, like the Independent, would be right at home in NYC – from Nico and Gabe Georis. Bay of Pines (920-3560) has more Broadway set-style ambitions, including 18-foot masts and the hull of a ship built into its bar, all inside the upstairs space in downtown Monterey that was once India’s Clay Oven, plus craft drafts, local wines and fresh California cuisine with international flavors. A block away, Turn 22, from Pat and Gina Phinney of Baja Cantina fame, is almost ready to provide a huge restaurant consuming all three corner properties where Doc Rickett’s was, and a super-long bar, live music with a family-friendly medley of honest food in a race-car setting.

Around the corner, 241 Alvarado in the old State Theater across from Golden State has big-city dreams (San Diego style, actually), pairing beers from J.C. Hill of Amplified Ale Works with the fly high-ceiling setting and gastro-hip fare. In P.G., jeninni wine bar + restaurant aims to be sophisticated but casual with a lounge and dining spaces, a deep roster of wines and exciting bites like house seafood charcuterie, smoked lamb, roasted salmon and salted caramel flan, all in the landmark Holman building.

And to think, with all this quasi-big-city stuff coming, I prefer Monterey over New York already. At least until about 8pm.

QUICKBITES

• Delicious local restaurant history is here: Sardine Factory hits 45 Wednesday, Oct. 2, with a nice prix fixe (abalone bisque, veal and lobster, mousse, $45), Ted Balestreri in his tux and Bert Cutino in his toque, plus birthday cake and champagne.

• McIntyre Vineyards (649-9463) has a dynamic slate of fun coming for its first harvest soirée ($30) 2-6pm Saturday, Sept. 28, in the gardens at the Monterey Hyatt: bocce ball, food by TusCA, racy new releases, Bernese mountain dogs, cheese-and-wine-pairing demos and a “Vinifera Roulette: Name That Grape” tasting with 21 different vine grapes.

•Last time Yulanda Santos and Elizabeth Murray did a pop-up at Carmel Belle (624-1600) it was a madhouse (with ramen); 7pm-midnight Friday, Sept. 27, it’s Japanese fried chicken, or karaage ($15 cash, includes choice of sides).

• Monterey Beer Garden ($40) returns noon-4pm Saturday, Sept. 28, at Custom House Plaza. A beer lover must. More on p. 26; win tix on the Weekly Facebook.

• Taste of Carmel loved the mystery and pageantry of last year’s Masquerade theme so much it’s back, as are nearly 50 restaurants and wineries, plus The Money Band, Thursday, Oct. 3.

• Can you say buttermilk-herb waffle sandwich with over-easy egg, smoked ham, prosciutto, pepper havarti and wild arugula? Cy Yontz of Rio Grill (625-5436) can. It’s one of the new goodies on the bad-ass brunch menu.

• Shane Griffin is in as chef at underrated Point Pinos Grill (648-5774) after stints at Carmel Valley Ranch, C Restaurant and Dry Creek Kitchen in Sonoma, doing things like pan-roasted wild salmon over polenta and braised chard and seared duck over arugula.

• Point Pinos Grill alum Dyon Foster has been named exec chef at Hahn Estate, slanging stuff like salmon tartare with avocado served in an orange bowl, moule frites and porcini-crusted pork.

• Tim Wood, you stud. Much deserved win at Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cookoff. Celebrate with his fall harvest risotto ($25) or Jerry’s catch of the day ($38) at the Carmel Valley Ranch (625-9500).

• ”One belongs to New York instantly,” Tom Wolfe said. “One belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”