Fisherman’s Wharf sees a lot of big changes happening.

Quick, name the most famous grouping of restaurants in Monterey County – and maybe the tri-county area. Not Dolores Street. Not Lighthouse. Not Cannery Row. Hint: It happens to be the most lucrative, attended and coocoo-crazy group of eateries too.

If you guessed Fisherman’s Wharf, you win a free shot of clam chowder. Or five.

The wharf is more than a spot hundreds of thousands visit annually. It’s where rival restaurants have stolen pagers used to alert diners of open tables and dumped them in the ocean, where scuba divers later discovered them. It’s where chowder hawkers down the wharf have sought injunctions against those positioned at its mouth from being too aggressive. It’s where debates over fairness sparked by sweetheart lease deals for longtime tenants sweep in with the steadiness of the tides.

Now – with high-profile tenants getting the boot and dynasties buying out other dynasties – it’s getting crazier than ever, 100 years after the city bought the pier.

A recent glimpse through the painted windows of what used to be Isabella’s reveals a man pouring out bottles of liquor into a 5-gallon bucket, and next to him a trash can overflowing with empty bottles. Nearby, there’s a towering stack of white plates.

This scene, obscured by frosty white Christmas trees painted onto the inside of the windows, is after a few days of cleaning by landlord Nino Palma’s crew after he booted Isabella’s and its famous owner, Tene Shake.

It’s a messy situation, one that left city officials worried about health and safety violations due to all the food left behind in a rapid evac following a holiday party Dec. 1. It also sheds light on the complexity of wharf leases.

Shake – president of the Central Coast chapter of the American Culinary Federation, brother of Chris Shake (who owns Old Fisherman’s Grotto across the wharf) and son of Sabu (an early wharf icon and pioneer) – had been a subtenant for a decade. He rented from Palma, who rents the space from the city of Monterey.

The city gets final say on all lease transfers. Shake had been angling to buy the precious lease from Palma, until the deal fell through. It involved the Shakes suing Monterey County Bank, then the bank countersuing. Each complaint was settled and dismissed this summer. Only Shake couldn’t get the financing together to buy Palma’s lease, so Palma bounced him.

“He left me in such a mess, it’s gonna take at least a month or so to get it back in shape to reopen,” Palma says.

Palma operated the Wharfside Restaurant for 19 years before subleasing to Shake, and now plans to reopen the restaurant himself, with a classic Italian menu starring seafood.

He’s keeping the long-term city lease for now, which seems savvy considering the city’s uncertainty over another lease transaction. Anthony Rappa, who owns the born-in-1952 Rappa’s Seafood Restaurant (372-7562) at the end of the wharf, is trying to sell his lease to Jim Gilbert and Kevin Phillips (of Gilbert’s, Abalonetti and Crabby Jim’s on the wharf and Beach House at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove), but the city, as landlord, enjoys veto power and its staff members recommend against it.

City Council hemmed and hawed at a Dec. 3 meeting, delaying a final decision until this Tuesday’s meeting (Dec. 17).

A city staff report by Monterey Planning Chief Chip Rerig and Housing and Property Manager Rick Marvin raises concerns shared by more parties than just them – namely, Gilbert having a virtual monopoly on Fisherman’s Wharf.

“Approving the assignment would put Gilbert in a position to immediately control, through lease or sublease, 40 percent of Wharf No. 1 restaurants and 44 percent of Wharf No. 1 total square footage,” their report states. “This will represent a significant level of consolidation and it poses risks to the landlord.”

Phillips, managing partner at Abalonetti and co-owner of the new Beach House (375-2345), says Gilbert plans on investing $3 million in the Rappa’s deal, and their vision is to create a locals’ destination that’s a “contemporary seafood restaurant.”

“These are opportunities that come along very infrequently,” Phillips says. “That’s a beautiful property in a beautiful location, and it’s an underperformer.”

Gilbert is also planning to give up his sublease on Gilbert’s, meaning his apparent monopoly would shrink a little, Phillips adds.

Meanwhile, City Council is in closed-door negotiations with Chris Shake for extending or renewing his lease on landmark Old Fisherman’s Grotto – although it doesn’t expire until 2021.

They’re also negotiating with three other leaseholders – Liberty Fish Co., Monterey Bay Whale Watching and Balesteri’s Wharf Front, which includes three separate businesses: a gift shop, coffee house and Paluca Trattoria – with leases that expire in October 2014.

“Council has given direction that when there are opportunities to make changes, they would like those leases to be updated,” Marvin says. “The opportunities to do that don’t arise all the time. Most were negotiated in the early ’90s. In that respect, they’re old and outdated.”

That differentiates those leases from fried calamari, clam chowder and wharf plot twists, even after 100 years. They never get old.

QUICKBITES

• A server/manager at Baja Cantina (625-2252) named Todd Sondgroth asked for time off… to live on the street… during this frigid cold. Check out why on the blog, www.mcweekly.com. It’s a cool – and crazy – story. #BringToddHome

• Local organic pioneers Earthbound Farm sold to WhiteWave Foods for $600 million. Get more history and context on the blog, and more on the deal’s implications with Weekly contributor Ari LeVaux’s piece on the previous page.

• Mundaka celebrates the grand opening of its new neighbor/sister bar Friday night (Dec. 13) with DJ Hanif Wondir, snacks, drink deals and more. Nice spot.

• Speaking of Fisherman’s Wharf (see story, this page), it remains an underappreciated spot for locals to eat. Check out an index of deals on the blog.

• Taste Morgan (751-7777) hosts an “Art of Cheese and Wine Pairing” ($15; free/club members) 6-8pm Friday, Dec. 13 with curd whisperer Michael Burke.

• Schooners Coastal Kitchen & Bar (372-2628) debuted a new happy hour that rotates 4-6pm weekdays – martini Mondays, taco Tuesdays, slider Wednesdays and so on, with food specials around $3 and drinks between$5-$8. www.schoonersmonterey.com. Get some angry prawns too.

• Dawn’s Dream (659-2649) will take its tasting room from Carmel Valley to San Carlos and Seventh in Carmel, once construction and permits are completed. Bet on February.

• Peter B’s BrewPub ($55, 649-2699) does a brewer’s dinner crab feed with oysters, pork belly lumpia, butternut squash and pairings 6pm Thursday, Dec. 12. Mug Club Appreciation mixer is Tuesday, Dec. 17. Firkin flows on from 4pm on every Wednesday too.

• Amir’s Bar & Grill on Lighthouse (642-0231) has a few nice draft beers and a full bar to go with incredible salmon kebabs and mantu and belly dancing. Now they’ve got Linden Street Brewery’s Black Lager, which is a very good thing.

• Track taste tips via Twitter @MontereyMCA.

• “Suffering,” said Allan Lokos, “relates to wanting things to be different from the way they are.”