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   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:16:49 JST Adrianna Tan

   If you’re in Monterey on a Monday, the $15 burger and beer at Alvarado Street Brewery is a good deal. They (like the other big brewery here, Fieldwork) have many NA beers too.

   If you in Monterey on a Tuesday, the farmers market downtown has good veggies and also cooked food. It goes on till late evening.

   If you’re going to the aquarium, take the free trolley from downtown. It’s very frequent and fun.

   If you’re in Monterey on any day and desperately needing food that isn’t ’new Californian cuisine’, head to Marina, and get the chicken wings, crab Rangoon and honey walnut shrimp at Ho Wah. It’s my fave Chinese restaurant in this area without going to San Jose.

   If you want to go whale watching, call or book with gowhales.com. They run tours with marine biologists.

   If you want brunch, check out the Butter House in Seaside or Rosine’s downtown.

   If you want to get away from the tourists, just head toward Seaside or Marina. Other Brother Beer often has fun events (and also NA beer and food), and Barba Azul is my fave Mexican restaurant here, along with El Padrino Oaxaqueña.

   If you’re vegan, the best places to eat are: El Cantaro, and Julia’s.

   If you want clam chowder, Old Fisherman Grotto, or Vivolo’s.

   If you want pastries and or bread, Ad Astra, or Alta.

   If you want pastries and nice outdoor eating, go for Alta.

   If you want a queer coded bar, Pearl Hour.

   If you want a bar with a beautiful view, Schooner’s.

   #Monterey #California

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:20:31 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • ChefRaven

     @chefraven nice! Yes their NA stuff is great

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     ChefRaven (chefraven@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:20:32 JST ChefRaven

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte another tip about fieldwork… They have all kinds of cool NA stuff that’s not beer. They have the most amazing blood orange/pomegranate/rosemary tonic. They have a bunch of other flavor tonics as well. I don’t like soda because they’re usually too sweet, but these aren’t sweet. They’re just really delicious. We go to the one up here in Sacramento.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:34:36 JST Adrianna Tan

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     The seafood and bar spot that locals go to is the Sand Bar. It’s on the other wharf. The less touristy one.

     The best tacos in Monterey proper are in the Lopez liquor store. Grab some and go eat by the water.

     The best Chinese spot for people not familiar with Chinese, or who have allergies and prefs, is Great Wall. They were able to cater to my g/f and vegan friends.

     On Sundays, the Italian restaurant in Pacific Grove (Rudolfo’s) turns into a spicy fried chicken restaurant called Heatwaves.

     My favorite Thai spot is Krua Thai.

     The aquarium’s cafe has a surprisingly good poke bowl and crispy chicken (like an orange chicken).

     The coffee spots I go to most are, Captain + Stoker, Ad Astra and Counterpoint.

     For slightly nicer food, I would go to Mezzaluna or Maligne.

     The Monterey area has a surprisingly large no of small family run Korean groceries, each with its own homemade kimchi, gimbap, banchan. First Oriental and Hong’s market come to mind, but there are more. They have stuff like cucumber kimchi. Their gimbaps are largely veg. They sustain me in this place.

   • Embed this notice
     Rachel Rawlings (linuxandyarn@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:41:58 JST Rachel Rawlings

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte I don't know if it's still good, but when I was there for a conference, some friends took me to the Crown and Anchor, and I remember that the food was good but mostly it was to introduce me to a flight of Scotch.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:41:58 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Rachel Rawlings

     @LinuxAndYarn oh yeah! I like their pies too. Cute spot

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:43:00 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Frappe

     @frappe ping me any time :)

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     Frappe (frappe@mas.to)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 08:43:01 JST Frappe

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Awesome! Thank you. We’re aquarium members and never know what to eat when in town.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:07:37 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     I prefer the pizza situation in Monterey over the Bay Area, generally.

     Between Pizza My Heart and The Oven Pizzeria, there is really good mid range pizza.

     Fighting words, but it’s true.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:13:42 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • Amber Or Bust

     @masp nice!! seriously best chicken wings in the area (maybe even better than my mom’s) and maybe one of the best honey walnut shrimp and crab Rangoon I’ve had anywhere

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     Amber Or Bust (masp@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:13:43 JST Amber Or Bust

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte fantastic post: thanks! Will be in Monterey in a few weeks w/ kid for an SAT so will be heading to Ho Wah!

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:29:10 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • David Schlaepfer

     @davidcs haha, I don’t like any pizza other than thin crust, which is also maybe why I’m so meh on the other options in the Bay Area

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     David Schlaepfer (davidcs@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:29:11 JST David Schlaepfer

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Folks in SC go back and forth on Pizza My Heart. It’s very opinionated.

     We had a pizzeria called Pizza One that had the *best* crust. But the owner wanted to quit and sold the shop to PMH. Now it’s all their super thin crust. Which sometimes I’m in the mood for, sometimes not. They also used to make the best meat pizza and a Thai chicken pizza before they were bought. So I hold a bit of a grudge against PMH for that.

   • Embed this notice
     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:44:49 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Michael Kohlman

     @NoRomBasic oh, better than Bay Area, not making claims for being better than elsewhere :)

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     Michael Kohlman (norombasic@mastodon.world)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 12:44:51 JST Michael Kohlman

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     @skinnylatte Fighting words?

     Might be an escalation mistake, but as much as I truly love the variety and quality of cuisine I have found since moving to the West Coast, I've yet to have a Pizza that comes close to the ones in the Midwest.

     It's been the one thing I truly miss.

     Damn, I could go for a Mother Bear's right now.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 14:13:18 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • Enia

     @eniatitova as someone whose primary pizza affiliation is Neapolitan, I guess I have just been deeply disappointed by most Neapolitan pizzas here.

     Pizza My Heart is indeed the chain stuff but it does the things I value well: thin crust. Widely available (here).

     I.. am not bought in into the NY slice style. I appreciate it, but I did not grow up in it.

     I have so far avoided goat hill because of sourdough, and much thicker crust than I usually enjoy. But I will try it soon

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     Enia (eniatitova@sfba.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 14:13:19 JST Enia

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte where does Goat Hill and LOJ’s fall on that list for you?

     for me Pizza My Heart is just a small step above national chains like Pizza Hut and Domino’s.

     I genuinely enjoy Goat Hill at the original Potrero location and LOJ/Gioia/Pizzahacker is closest to a NY slice (the last two might qualify as fancy pizza?)

     The rest of fancy pizza is Neapolitan around here, which I like but that’s its own animal.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 15:32:35 JST Adrianna Tan

     in reply to

     • Perry Lee

     @pjl it’s not the type of pizza I love, but I do like it when I have it

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     Perry Lee (pjl@social.atwhim.com)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Jul-2025 15:32:47 JST Perry Lee

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte Have you tried Cheese Board in Berkeley (https://cheeseboardcollective.coop/)? It's one of my favorite pizza places in the Bay Area!