114 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2023 mcweekly.com/bestof specialty foods above. They offer a variety of flavors, all made with organic flour and organic fruit filling, and can be ordered by the slice, the half, or the whole. Enjoy a traditional apple crumble, a classic key lime pie, a local special olallieberry, and more. These delectable treats are made under supervision of Katy Matias, who grew up working in the bakery and recently bought it from its still-sweet founder, Elena. Best Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt MYO 840 Broadway Ave., Seaside, (831) 375-3769 1091 South Main St., Salinas, (831) 759-9769 157 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel, (831) 574-3228 myofrozenyogurt.com In 2009 the matriarchs of two firefighting families combined their love for frozen yogurt and opened the first MYO. Today with three local locations and several in the Bay Area, the two families run their mini-franchise with a focus on quality ingredients and customer service. Each store has at least eight flavors of yogurt on tap and dozens of toppings. With the combinations that can be made, a person would have to make billions of trips (if not more—we’re writers, not mathematicians) to try every iteration. Best Cakes Layers Cakes Monte Vista Village Shopping Center, 9A Soledad Drive, Monterey (831) 655-1544, layerscake.com A vanilla cake topped with splashed red-velvet octopus wearing a graduation hat made of chocolate? Sure. A cake that is really ahead of…is that the red pony? Done. A birthday cake to welcome baby with three smiling baby whales spraying ocean froth (marshmallow)? Whatever you want. Layers is ready for anything and will assist you with their elaborate wedding and custom cake catalog, or design something just for you. Custom cakes are based on complexity of design (challenge: the frog pond scene from Cannery Row). Elegant wedding towers are the speciality of pastry chef Antonio Nuovo and his wife, Hazel, along with the entire staff. Best Milkshake The Fountain Court Cafe, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula 23625 Highway 68, Monterey (831) 625-4863, montagehealth.org Don’t think you’ll get away with ordering a beer milkshake at this favorite establishment in an unusual setting. The hospital—known by its acronym, CHOMP—serves milk, herbal teas, fruit smoothies and such, but no beer. While their handmade shake selections are limited to vanilla, chocolate and strawberry (or an espresso option), they are rich, thick, throwbacks to the heyday of the malt shop, which is why residents take their lunch hour, snack break or even dinner at a hospital cafeteria. It’s even possiBest Cheese Selection | The Cheese Shop
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