It was a year of renaissance and uncertainty for Monterey County restaurants.

Klaus Georis slumped in a dining room chair. It was May 2022, just a week or so before Maligne welcomed its first guests, and four years since plans for the place were first set in motion. Georis and his crew had been in a frenzy to finish. The future loomed. “It’s time for a rebirth of restaurants,” Georis says.

And he was right.

Maligne and the dining scene.

Maligne had been on paper since 2019, delayed first by the pandemic and then as supply chain issues made construction schedules even more unpredictable. Also four years in the making, Carmel’s Foray welcomed its first guests. It was similar at Cella, the much-anticipated Monterey spot.

In many ways, the uncertainties lingering from the pandemic continued in 2022 – concern over the future of mid-priced restaurants; for the survival of the popular parklets that reinvigorated dining; about where labor shortages and wages were taking the industry.

Those issues apply here – Maligne’s onion rings and their occasional burger may be the best around, the onion rings certainly. But at $13 and $22, respectively, they raise a question that reverberated through 2022 and has yet to be resolved: Will people be able to enjoy great restaurants on a regular basis?

The old is Noir.

It was a year when familiar names rejoined the dining scene. Standout Chef Jonny Black, late of Sierra Mar, is back with Chez Noir and is part of a 2022 trend. The Peninsula’s favorite hangout returned, reimagined as Bulldog Sports Pub. Chef Eddie Moran, who once made Cantinetta Luca a destination for sure-handed cooking, stepped to the helm at Montrio.

Old faces – and a few new ones – reinvigorated things in 2022, even as uncertainties hovered. “The dining scene is not going away,” says Chef Dan Elinan of Sea Root in Monterey’s Hyatt Regency. “We don’t want to sit still.”

Elinan, Georis, Black, Moran. These are among the names that define the year. Justin Cogley of Carmel’s Aubergine remains the county’s culinary beacon, the only chef with a Michelin Star to his credit. Cal Stamenov of Grasing’s Restaurant continues to be one of the area’s finest.

But this is a year when standout chefs became the norm in Monterey County. Hoon Kang took over at Sierra Mar and Zach Ladwig at Sur House, both Big Sur destinations. Pacific’s Edge in the Hyatt Highlands is back with Joshua Kinzer designing the menu.

Christian Ojeda at Lucia in the Bernardus Lodge and Anthony Quintana at the tapas spot Promesa in Carmel are newcomers to the scene. They join local stars like Nick Balla (Coast, Big Sur), Susana Alvarez (Villa Azteca, Salinas), Ben Spungin (Cella, Monterey), Amalia Scatena (Stationæry, Carmel), Mario Garcia (Estéban, Monterey), Bryce Hansen (Stokes Adobe, Monterey) and others in a growing pantheon. “We’re passionate about all this,” Black says, and he could be speaking for all the chefs. “We believe in restaurants.”

Hotel, motel, that’s what’s in.

Michael Rotondo’s prix fixe menu at Coastal Kitchen in the Monterey Plaza Hotel deserves attention from Michelin. It is both exquisite and relaxed. “It’s been fantastic,” Rotondo says of the concept’s reception. “People are thanking us for an experience that’s been absent.”

In terms of trends for 2022, location matters. Aubergine, Sierra Mar, Sur House, Pacific’s Edge, Sea Root, Lucia, Estéban, Shearwater Tavern – some of the year’s finest dining experiences were to be had in hotel restaurants.

Take it easy.

That’s not to say there wasn’t any fast casual fun. Newcomers include the county’s best shawarma, at a Castroville gas station. Shawarma King and More opened in the summer, Mission 19 Taqueria brought street cart fare to New Monterey, the Great British Bake Shop is a meat pie takeaway that opened to long lines in Salinas and Bear + Flag Roadside serves sandwiches and one of the messiest, most glorious burgers around in Carmel Valley.

All in all, around 40 places opened or reopened in 2022 – a year of renaissance and resilience. The era before 2020 appears distant in our mirrors and the after is still taking shape.