A Few Days in Carmel, California

With a few free midweek days, we decided to take a three hour drive to visit Carmel. The studio cottage we like to book, a block from Ocean Avenue, was available for three nights so that sealed our trip plans. The location is perfect as the car stays parked at the cottage and we don't have to worry about the 2 hour parking spaces in downtown Carmel. Moreover, our Bichon can tag along, as well.

The cottage studio is owned by a local winemaker and is attached to her house. In a charming and rustic Carmel cottage style, the studio has all we need for a comfortable stay. We generally make our own breakfasts and then sample the local cafes and restaurants for lunches and dinners.

©2014, R. Ono

We rarely make many purchases during our Carmel visits, but found some cheeses and wines from The Cheese Shop, olive oil at Trio Carmel, a tapenade warmer and appetizer spreads at Kurtz Culinary, a leather jacket from Augustina's and a pair of Born shoes at Parts Unknown. We also stopped by the George Rodrigue Gallery to see the recently released Blue Dog paintings. I met George back in 2009 when making a purchase from his Carmel gallery.

We debated where to make dinner reservations and settled on Vesuvio, Dametra Cafe and Flying Fish.

Vesuvio: very slow service and some hits and misses. The Stefano beet salad was terrific. The lobster ravioli and gnocchi not so memorable. Although both restaurants are run by the same owner, we recommend Little Napoli over Vesuvio.

Dametra Cafe: Great food, service and entertainment. The restaurant guests enthusiastically joined the music, dancing and clapping during dinner. Reservations are well advised unless you can dine off-hours. Reservation holders were lined outside the cafe door for a Wednesday evening dinner.

©2014, R. Ono

©2014, R. Ono

Flying Fish Grill: Always a Carmel favorite for us. We enjoyed two dinner dishes, 1) the Yin-Yan Salmon, sesame seed crusted salmon, with a soy-lime cream sauce, angel hair pasta, flying fish roe garnish and 2) the Almond Seabass, almond crusted sea bass, pan-fried, whipped potatoes, with chinese cabbage & rock shrimp stir-fry.

Honorable Mention: No Carmel trip is complete without a breakfast stop at La Bicyclette Restaurant, on Dolores.  The eggs, potatoes and kale breakfast cooked in the woodfired oven is a favorite and helps fortify us for our three hour drive back to the house.

©2014, R. Ono