By definition, a buffet has a lot to offer. But still. This is a lot lot.
There are bay shrimp omelets and cheese blintzes and coconut macarons, but there are also armed guards, a hundred years of history, the lurking legend of resident peacocks and what some call the coolest military bar on the planet.
The buffet only happens once a month, and only started happening in May. Next month’s installment (July 30) is the first one that’s been truly thrown open to the public. They will continue happening the last Sunday of each month as demand persists. Hopefully that means indefinitely.
So the next brunch is a month off. But it helps to hear about it now because reservations require special considerations. The old Hotel Del Monte that hosts it, after all, has been part of theNaval Postgraduate School since the mid 1900s; behind a foreboding fence, NPS is strictly off-limits to the public. Would-be brunch-goers need to submit names, birthdates and ID numbers two Fridays before via mwrcatering@nps.edu or 656-1049.
When we presented our IDs last Sunday, access was granted just as the cloud layer above parted. The azure skies set off the dramatic front steps and the five-story façade of the hotel, which originally marked the start and finish of 17 Mile Drive, a diversion for wealthy hotel guests as early as the 1880s.
Inside, the front desk furnishes a reminder the hotel still functions as a sanctuary for NPS lecturers, students and staff, and hosts all branches of the military on leisure travel, and stays full year-round.
Just past the desk, ornamental ceilings soar in the so-called Quarter Deck. Above a grand piano and a grandfather clock, a California impressionist-style painting of the Lone Cypress occupies a big recessed rectangle. A map of Monterey Peninsula appears opposite, a work by nationally known artist Francis McComas (1875-1938) with a sea serpent and labeled places like Moss Beach and Punta Lobos.
Ahead, down the tall and well-windowed hallway, sits the expansive Barbara McNitt Ballroom. It’s a sight to behold, and a room with so much scale it makes the ample offerings seem smaller than they are. Classically trained Executive Chef Hugh Butler, who’s been with NPS for two decades, oversees the food. Baskets of freshly baked croissants, danishes, muffins and banana nut bread stand at attention. Plates of deep pink smoked salmon come flanked by cream cheese, capers, onions and sliced baguettes. Chubby cheese blintzes take cover beneath blackberries and raspberries. Trays of grilled chicken apple sausage, sausage patties, Canadian bacon, applewood-smoked bacon and roasted red potatoes complete the first wave of food. Slices of papaya, cantaloupes, honeydew, pineapple and grapes offer lighter infantry.
Behind that awaits carved-to-order bone-in ham with warm peaches, herb-crusted roast beef and an omelet station. Across the ballroom a waffle outpost includes fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Sweets like lemon bars and chocolate-covered strawberries stand by too. For $30, including a glass of Champagne, OJ, coffee and tea ($15/children; free/4 and under), it’s a tidy value.
The ballroom enjoys more than a dozen tables beneath those high ceilings, but with the sun finally showing the way last Sunday, our choice of seating was easy. Out on the big balconies, the views run from the hotel towering above to the hedged rose garden below. Beyond that, vast lawns give geese broad range to forage.
The push to reacquaint locals with this site started with the arrival of new Commanding Officer Rich Wiley, a Salinas Valley native, and Kyle Rhodus, his director of quality of life on base.
“Brunch at the Del Monte Hotel has been a long and popular tradition,” Wiley says. “We are glad to be re-establishing it, along with other great traditions.”
To that end, the school is reinvigorating public holiday dinners and throwing the gates wide open for a Concert on the Lawn Oct. 22, with five hours of free music. “It’s about cultivating a relationship with the local community,” Rhodus says. “It’s been a long time since the fence was put up. People have heard about the hotel but never been on the grounds.”
The new era allows for a post-brunch drink in the basement bar called the Trident Room, a welcoming relic unto itself. Mugs on hooks cover the ceiling, arty stained glass backs the long polished bar, and low lounge seats whisper tales of world-changing strategic conversations. Guests can also stroll around the grounds, and reflect on the newly reborn pool that was previously filled with dirt. The only bad news on an idyllic day: The last of the peacocks who called the grounds home has died, which explains why our improvised calls went unanswered.
“It’s nice to give the general public a chance to experience this,” Rhodus says. “There’s so much history behind it, and we want people to enjoy it.”
Mission accomplished.
QUICKBITES
- Frutti De Mar is now open in the former Turtle Bay in downtown Monterey. Get the rundown on the blog, mcweekly.com/edible.
- Seventh & Dolores’ enterprising raw bar/steakhouse pushed its open-to-the-public date to Thursday, June 27.
- Kathy’s Cafe is now open, a door down from its homespun parent restaurant Kathy’s Little Kitchen (659-4601) on the main drag in Carmel Valley.
- “Picnic in the Park” at Lower Presidio Historic Park: 11am-3pm Saturday, July 1, with Poke Lab, India Gourmet and Taste of Mexico food trucks, historic tours and more (p. 25 for more).
- The burger of the month at Knuckles Sports Bar (372-1234) is a beast: Strauss grass-fed burger, purple jalapeño slaw, American and smoked cheddar cheeses, red onion and bacon ($14).
- Hyatt Carmel Highlands’ California Market at Pacific’s Edge and sister spot TusCA at Hyatt Monterey both have new summer menus coming online.
- There’s cause for hope: Acme Coffee Roasting Co. (393-9113) gives its long-term employees health coverage.
- Klaus Georis is now GM at Casanova (625-0501) after apprenticing as a chef for the past four years, with the goal of learning front-of-the-house ops to equip himself to open his own place.
- Cloth & Flame out of Arizona introduces its take on wilderness dinners in Big Sur on Saturday, July 29 ($125, clothandflame.com).
- Special community ice cream social anchored by Ben Spungin and featuring sundaes, sorbets, cookies and kombucha floats at 3 Acres, next to the Big Sur Post Office, noon-4pm Saturday, July 1, to fundraise for the Big Sur relief fund.
- Stone Creek Kitchen (393-1042) has a bunch of nice-and-easy July Fourth ammunition to pick up, including barbecue chicken in honey-BBQ sauce for a modest $8.99 a pound.
- The in-movie craft beverage options at Osio Theater include Alvarado Street Brewery Mai Tai IPA and tallboys of Alloy Wine Works Chardonnay.
- Kurt Vonnegut: “Anything can make me stop and look and wonder, and sometimes learn.”