Top 10 new restaurants in Monterey County.

First they came to fish. Then they moved into business and real estate. At some point they taught us the passion of pasta and the joy of calamari. This year they inspired a book by former fireman, current Del Rey Oaks city councilman and forever Italian Mike Ventimiglia, Italians of the Monterey Peninsula. By now they’re so ingrained with regional identity you’re not really a local unless you know one – and several of her cousins.

But even as Italians have been part of the area’s DNA for more than a century, never in those 100 years has the community experienced this kind of boom in Italian food.The top three restaurants of 2015 are not just Italian, but devoutly so.

And another top 10er, DeMarco’s Pizzeria, does its own Italian thing, New York pizza-style, with flags and Italian icons plastering the place.

The complete list of top 10 new spots for the year appear here. Check out #11 through #30 on the blog, www.mcweekly.com/edible, where I will also post all 30 in one master list with pictures come Christmas.

Finally, vote for your favorite when the Best of Monterey County readers poll arrives later this winter.

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10. DeMarco’s N.Y. Style Pizzeria (899-1762) at 720 Broadway Ave. in Seaside serves pizza by the slice and pie plus chicken parm, garlic knots, lasagna and the best calzones in the county. The welcoming and Italian setting includes red, white and green paint, wine barrel high tops and Godfather posters. Specialty pies include the Marilyn Monroe, with white sauce, parmesan and basil, and the Soprano Supreme, with peppers, olives, pepperoni, sausage and mushroom. A fun, affordable, heartfelt place, with a juke box, local wine and beer and New York accents.

9. Züm Sushi (372-8700) does fresh and precisely sliced sashimi like ika and hamachi and more exotic speciality rolls like the signature Züm Roll with tuna, salmon, yellowtail and cucumber, topped with rice crackers, spicy mayo, tobiko and green onion. The cute converted house and front patio once was previously Thai Bistro II at 159 Central Ave. in P.G.; now it plays home to a tidy sushi bar where the owner-chef usually holds court. A shelf grid of stylish sake cups awaits regulars. The clean, smart space and outdoor patio earn repeat visits, as does a complimentary spicy mussel to start things off.

8. Zab Zab Thai (747-2255) at 401 Lighthouse in New Monterey immediately won an enthusiastic following via classics and creative takes alike, including five soups, seven wok dishes and mouthwatering entrées like the Mussaman, a slow-braised beef shank accompanied by coconut, potatoes, and onion; the kung op wun sen with prawns baked in a clay pot with fatty bacon, ginger, cilantro, black pepper, celery, sesame oil, bean thread and green onion; and pineapple fried rice served in the pineapple shell. The owner-operated joint proves cozy, welcoming and habit-forming. A total keeper.

7. Lalla Oceanside Grill (324-0891) wields sharp contemporary design, tropical cocktails, a sidewalk patio, underground speakeasy-style lounge and views over McAbee Beach, right on Cannery Row. Oh, and every creative food stuff imaginable, with 90 items, from Italian-style grilled octopus to chicken picatta to broccoli rabe pizza to jambalaya to calamari-chorizo-shrimp “street” tacos, all well done despite the deep diversity, an accomplishment in itself.

6. Lucia Restaurant & Bar at Bernardus (658-3595) has taken the place of Marinus and Wickets at 415 W. Carmel Valley Road in Carmel Valley and provided a gorgeous new indoor-outdoor setting, casualized atmosphere and new energy for iconic Exec Chef Cal Stamenov. Think roasted pear French toast, Swank Farms asparagus salad with shaved egg, chanterelle risotto, foie gras-duck burgers and wowser Wednesday night fried chicken-and-brisket. The smart bar menu features delicious bites like prosciutto pizzas and crispy crab cakes to go with “paper plane” and “Jalisco heat” cocktails. The impressive overhaul would rank more highly but it had a huge headstart as Marinus.

5. Melville Tavern (643-9525) at 484 Washington St. next to East Village Coffee Lounge gives downtown Monterey, and the area, something it ached for: a quality gastropub where above-average food and drink doesn’t take an above-average bite out of your bottom line. Owner-operator Colin Ling, who grew up in restaurants with his parents (his dad still owns Sand Bar and Grill) wanted to do “something burger-and-a-beer-like, elevated, with good food and great value,” and he’s succeeded with craft drafts on tap like 10 Barrel Apocalypse IPA, Hoegaarden white ale and Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye and grub like the knockout green-chili cheeseburger and the Cotswold-Jack-goat cheese sandwich with tomato-balsamic jam. The huge turnout for his grand opening speaks to its rich possibilities.

4. The Cork & Plough (386-9491) delivers King City a young, hip and much-needed contemporary dining experience at 200 Broadway St. in the tumbleweed downtown. With a menu that focuses on local ingredients and local wine, things like curry-pickled eggs, smoked salmon toast, and quinoa-and-roasted-grape-salad excite and engage. Stylish field-fresh cocktail creations, house-barreled spirts and creative comfort food are also forces on the menu. Saturdays star eight different sliders to pair with eight rotating tap beers ($3 each).

3. il Grillo (238-9608) takes the formula for sister rustic Italian spot la Balena – the place more chefs talk about than any other in the area – and amplifies it at Mission and Fourth in Carmel. A bigger kitchen allows Brad Briske more room for handmade pasta and whole-animal butchery, which translates to superlative carpaccios, noodles and sauces. The octopus-melon salad, short-rib strozzapreti, wild mushroom tagliatelle and marinated steak are remarkable, but it’s awfully hard to go wrong in the cute little spot that previously hosted Pastries & Petals, and will expand to neighboring spaces soon.

2. il Tegamino (250-5790) is the Italian name of the traditional pan late Mama Rita used to cook for Giuseppe and Salvatore Panzuto, owner-GM and chef, respectively. The Carmel restaurant, tucked off Ocean between Lincoln and Monte Verde, represents her dream and her recipes make up the menu, with thepaccheri al ragú Napoletano (broad tube pasta with slow-cooked beef and pork), cotoletta di maiale (breaded pork loin scaloppini) and Carnival lasagna with ricotta, Parmesan, hard-boiled egg, mozzarella, basil and petite fried meatballs. Speaking of balls, the polpete choices are a highlight – get the sampler to try all the mushroom, crab, tuna, cauliflower and pork permutations of mama’s meatballs. The historic and subterranean spot (with great Euro-style patios) is adorable, the food memorable, the wines wisely chosen and the born-for-hospitality owner hands-on. Easily does enough to be #1, if Carmel needed another restaurant as much as, say, everywhere else on the planet.

1. Gusto Gourmet Pizza & Pasta (899-5825) at 1901 Fremont Blvd. in Seaside makes the most of its cranking wood-fire oven via authentic Northern Italian-style pizzas like the traditional tirolese (with regal speck ham, gorgonzola and wild mushrooms) and the bresaola (with mortadella, arugula and pistachios). The salumi boards (with wild boar prosciutto among the treats), California and Italian wines and desserts prove worthy, but the handmade pastas with rustic sauces – like the bolognese, béchamel and the porcini-marscapone – are mandatory for maximum enjoyment. New exec chef and Italian native Alessio Giannuzzi aids the authenticity. Other top restaurants are more consistent and technically superior, but it’s the combination of excellent ingredients, great value and quality execution, in a city that has been starved for a stylish restaurant for years, that give it 2015’s – and the Italian – crown.

QUICKBITES

• Roux (659-5020) impressed during its debut weekend in Carmel Valley. Tasting notes and photos on the blog.
• jeninni kitchen + wine bar (920-2662) now does a weekend brunch with everything from housemade donuts to savory Spanish tortillas 9:30am-1:30pm.
• At Restaurant 1833 (643-1833), Exec Chef Jason Franey has put together a spectacular happy hour plate: two tacos, four side touches, all $5 from 5-7pm. More on the blog.
• One of the under-appreciated stars of the local culinary galaxy is heading for a new orbit. French-born Exec Chef Jérôme Viel of Will’s Fargo Steakhousein Carmel Valley is hanging up his chef whites to own and operate a local institution, Carmel Valley Market, about 100 yards away. His last night is Jan. 2. The aim is to have the market humming mid-month. Something tells me the deli offerings are about to get really good.
• EcoFarm, the largest sustainable farming conference in the country (at least) cometh to Asilomar Conference Grounds Jan. 20-23.
• A Taste of Monterey Wine Market & Bistro (646-5446) has new items like bacon-wrapped meatloaf sliders, garlic shrimp with cheesy grits, smoked salmon with avocado blini and spicy goat nachos.
• All I want for Christmas is a local Dungeness crab without the domoic acid neurotoxin.
• Vito’s (375-3070) on Forest Avenue in P.G. does lasagna-and-salad specials ($15) every Tuesday.
• Kevin Clark’s inspired Imperial Stout with Acme coffee is back at Peter B’s (649-2699). It’ll go fast.
• Second half gallon of cold-pressed juices like the glorious beet-driven EnerGee is half off through Dec. 25 at Perfectly Pressed juice joints.
• Great spot for last-second gifts: Bottoms Up Homebrew Supply (899-BREW) in Seaside. They can grant the ability to do mead, cheese and wine too.
• Sunday and Monday football at Los Amigos in Pacific Grove (646-8888) does two tacos and two beers for $10.95.
• Daphne du Maurier: “Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.”