HOTEL DINING: Weekend in Monterey

The dreaded continuing education weekend.... Every two years, Ray attends a conference in Monterey, and I, like the dutiful wife, accompany him. It's a sacrifice, I know. This year, I asked for a 1/2 day on Friday, so we could cruise down early and relax. Well, after a treacherous drive over the 5 and 152 in the rain, we were ready for some cocktails. We had booked at the Best Western Beach Resort Monterey, the locale of the conference; after upgrading from a room that accepts "pets" (aahum- I'm allergic; that would have been a great weekend), we checked into our beachside room. Loved the electric privacy screens that go up and down with a flip of the switch. The lobby here is great, as well; sitting by the fire and watching the waves is fantastic. So, after a couple of Malibu rums and Bass, we headed to our only on-site dining option: the Cafe Beach Restaurant. Not a very appetizing or original name, but since we were stranded (the hotel is closer to Seaside than Monterey), we thought we'd give it a fair shake. We were pleasantly surprised! (Or was it the booze taking over?) Actually, I've learned in the past couple years to order not from the specials when you don't know a restaurant, but try something they can't screw up. Well, I went with the Sanddabs and Ray went with the NY steak. Both of ours were served over fantastic smashed potatoes, with a lovely orchid on each plate. Fabulous plating (although Mike Dunne would have disagreed). A sanddab is a flat white fish, and is fairly thin, so the butter caper sauce went very well, but wasn't too greasy or too much. SO, for stuck in the hotel dining experience, I would rate this experience high! My next day's lunch, however, was subpar (a turkey melt with nonexistent swiss). I should have ordered a drink with it, but after the night before, I was all about the water and rehydrating! I suppose I should have ordered somthing more exciting, but you can't argue with their view. To end with: we are suckers for fisherman's wharves. Kind of touristy, I know, but we ended up at a restaurant at the historic wharf in Monterey for Saturday night dinner. The economy must be bad, though, because I felt like I was at a used car dealership walking down the wharf. Every place had a person at the door trying to twist our arms to come in; a little annoying. We ended up at Isabella's Italian Seafood partially because it's owned by a local chef that does shows tv locally, and we thought it would be interesting. The best part of the meal was getting the bill. Just kidding. That's mean. Actually, they had a fantastic gnocchi special appetizer made with pesto with a reduced veal sauce poured on top. One of the better gnocchis I've ever had. As my entree, though, probably the worst crab salad I've had. Ray ordered the sanddabs- He enjoyed them along with the fried cheesecake that came with it. Moral of the story- decent seafood in what would be an obvious place to order seafood. Apparently, when in Monterey, order the sanddabs.