Eating Out, Culture Events, Championship Moments, Art Works

TOP 10 REASONS TO EAT OUT IN SALINAS

By Lauren Cercone | Marketing consultant; executive board member, Friends of the Salinas Public Library

10. Portobello’s broccoli salad turns up regularly on buffet tables around town and is immediately recognizable. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a job there just to ferret out the secret. (Yeah, good use of an MBA.)

9. Gianna’s Pies (available at Star Market on South Main Street). Perfect fillings and the best flaky crust—and that’s no mean trick, as good crust is a matter of technique as much as recipe. I am humbled.

8. Behind Royal Deli & Bakery’s humble façade is the pinnacle of thumbprint cookies. Not the typical chokingly dry and gummy variety, these are buttery rich with a soft, chewy filling. And three for a buck.

7. Even my mother loves the crab ravioli at Salinas Valley Fish House, and she’s a seafood snob from Boston. Grab the bread to sop up the tomato-cream sauce. (And try the Bananas Foster—not on the menu, but they’ll make it at your table if you ask.)

6. The sautéed mushrooms on the lunch buffet at Café Spada are satisfying in their earthy simplicity: a little olive oil, plenty of garlic, and a sauté pan. Warning: not good for days when you meet with clients or have a hot date.

5. The cake selection at The Grill in Creekbridge Village Shopping Center would be illegal in some states. They’re all fine specimens of Layercakus Americanus, with the textures and frostings of mythical birthday cakes from an idealized childhood. Triple-layers all around, too. 

4. Peninsula Pastries’ bread pudding must be a sin. “Bread” is a misnomer; they use leftover pastries (oh, the joy of hitting a vein of raspberry Danish). And they serve wicked huge slabs.

3. The chicken taco salad at La Costa Taqueria (in the old Roy’s Drive-In) will keep you out of Taco Bell. The spices rock—there’s a hint of cinnamon, and possibly some allspice lurking. Do your laps at the Municipal Pool first so you feel no guilt about the sour cream.

2. The salt and pepper fish at Eagle Restaurant on West Alisal Street.  No, wait—the chicken chow mein. Or the walnut shrimp. No, the eggplant in black bean sauce. Hell, anything Sam Chen serves makes it worth heading to Oldtown. 

1. Rosie O’s barbecue is open weekends only at Oldtown Deli on Main Street. If I weren’t married already, I’d marry the BBQ chicken sandwich, but I’d have to cheat on it with the cole slaw (it’s the pine nuts). 

TOP 10 2006 CULTURAL EVENTS

By Andrew and Sunshine Jackson | Artists; co-owners, Outer Edge Studio

10. Folk Yeah. Britt and April Govea have been bringing some amazing acts to our door at Big Sur’s Fernwood and at other venues around Monterey County.

9. Persephone’s Bees. Tom Ayres’ and Angelina Moysov’s band hit the well-deserved big-time with a great new album on Columbia Records titled Notes From the Underworld. If you love them, buy it! Don’t burn it and share; support the ones you love.

8. Outer Edge’s Favorites Show. The first annual show included 50 artists that we love. With 74 original works of art, we nearly sold the show out! The artists were local and internationally known.

7. ACME Coffee. ACME, in Seaside, became our favorite place on the Peninsula. Larry, Jaki, Brian, Zoe and the Joe are the best part of waking up. It feels like we are going to a friend’s house to hang out and start our day. And hands-down the best coffee ever!

6. Real Estate Leveled Out a Little. Not that it gives us any hope to own anything here, but it’s just nice to have a break from the terror that caused most of our best friends to move away.

5. Golden State Theatre. Owner Warren Dewey has brought some amazing performances and movies to his beautiful time machine downtown. We saw Garrison Keillor, Bill Cosby and the White Album Ensemble. Plus we saw tons of great movies, like when we geeked out at the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you join the film club, you get invited to private screenings from Warren’s rare collection.

4. Bohemian Fest. Mike Beck brought us a new music festival at the Henry Miller Library that was an amazing day and evening for everyone in attendance.

3. Outer Edge Has a Poster. Three years since re-opening Outer Edge, we finally found the right artist to design our first poster. Blake E. Marquis designed the five-color hand-pulled silkscreen poster and logo.

2. Bikram Yoga at the Yoga Sanctuary. Making yoga part of our routine is one of the nicest things we’ve done for ourselves this year. It keeps us feeling healthy, strong and sane.

1. Outer Edge artists. This year, Shepard Fairey, Ryan McGinness, Banksy, Shawn Barber and David Choe have all been a part of shows and have received worldwide recognition.

TOP 10 MOMENTS IN A 2006 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

By Al Avila | Head football coach, Seaside High School

10. Summer League workouts with our players.

9. Beating Monterey for the MBL championship.

8. Winning the CCS championship. The celebration after the game and the great bus ride home.

7. Being in the locker room before start of CCS championship game with players and coaches. Very emotional time for everyone.

6. Hume Lake Christian Camp: taking the team to the camp for four days of team-building and fellowship with each other and other teams.

5. Rookie Night—sleepover with the team; performances by players.

4. Lineman meetings on Wednesday nights.

3. Thursday team feeds.

2. Bible study with the players on Tuesday nights.

1. Walking off the football field with my son for the last time after the final practice. That was very emotional.

TOP 10 ART WORKS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CREATED BY MONTEREY COUNTY ARTISTS IN 2006

By Ed Leeper | Unbridled artist

10. Painting of a Humvee in Iraq, with three American and three Iraqi soldiers aboard, one minute after being blown up by a roadside bomb. Installed in Carmel City Council Chambers, by Dick Crispo.

9. A 20-foot-by-20-foot painting on plywood of a patient in a hospital bed, displayed in front of Salinas Valley Hospital, by John Cerneg.

8. A 20-foot-tall sculpture of Marilyn Monroe, made of shopping carts, installed atop the large dune at the freeway entrance to Seaside, by Jane “Mad Dog” Flury.

7. A 20-foot-by-10-foot weaving of the hills of King City installed in the King City City Hall, by Mary Buskirk.

6. A statue, 1/20th-of-an-inch tall, of the common house ant (CHA) displayed in the Monterey Museum of Art (MMA) sculpture garden on a five-foot pedestal and illuminated at night, by Eileen Auvil.

5. A 200-foot statue of Clint Eastwood atop Mt. Toro, illuminated at night, by Richard McDonald.

4. A 20-foot-by-10-foot mural in the maximum-security dining hall at Soledad Prison, depicting hills covered with lupine, California poppies, and other wildflowers, by Jan Wagstaff.

3. A full-size Monterey City Office Building made of angel food cake, at Window on the Bay Park (would remain installed until eaten by seagulls), by Jaymee Martin.

2. “Juvenile Hall—Photographic and Poetic Impressions,” by Kira Corser and Francis Adler.

1. Sculpture of J.S. Bach and John Lennon doing high-fives, installed in Sunset Center lobby, by Emile Norman.