Editors’ Picks Editors’ Picks to choose just one variety. Luckily at Mix Stix you can have the best of all worlds. Will I eat the pork fried rice? Will chow mein be twice as nice? Will I eat BBQ pork? Will I eat it with a fork? Can I eat broccoli cashew? I can eat some, how bout you? BEST POLITICAL DRAMA Monterey County Democratic Party Ousting Chairperson Two Months Before Election Day It’s a wild year for politics nationally—last-minute presidential candidate swap, multiple assassination attempts, etc.—but 2024 has also been a wild year for politics locally. Internal strife in the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee simmered for months as Election Day approached. Some members tried and failed once to remove former chair Karen Araujo from her position, claiming she was too focused on rule-following to run an effective meeting and concerned that she wasn’t the kind of fundraising organizer they needed. They followed up with a contentious vote in September to change the Party’s bylaws, ousting her and replacing her with Ian Oglesby, chair-elect, who took over the meeting midway through. It’s a lot of strife for people who actually agree—these are the most engaged Democratic Party volunteers in the entire county—but this is the Wild West of internal dysfunction. BEST TRANSFORMATION FROM BURGERS TO BULGOGI JeJu Kitchen Junipero between Ocean and 7th, Carmel (831) 574-8693, jejukitchencarmel.com We’re drawing a blank on when the first burger was served in the West. It’s likely the first Korean restaurant opened when Baby Boomers were watching F Troop on a black-and-white TV. Their loss. Formerly the Carmel Burger Bar on the ground floor of Carmel Plaza, JeJu Kitchen emerged this year as a standout among the new Korean restaurants in Monterey County. Proprietor Ashley Wolff has created a menu filled with recipes handed down through the generations of women in her family, and captures fresh flavors that make the most of the local abundance of produce. BEST ANIMATRONIC THAT SKIRTS THE EDGE OF THE UNCANNY VALLEY Shark Bait Sam at Treasure Hunt: The Ride 700 Cannery Row, Monterey (831) 747-1426, treasurehuntride.com Treasure Hunt: The Ride is a major upgrade over the Cannery Row location’s previous, slightly creepy wax museum attraction. Before you embark on a quest to find treasure hidden by Hippolyte Bouchard, you are greeted by a towering pirate animatronic known as Shark Bait Sam and his parrot sidekick Scuttle, who share entertaining tales of their exploits on the high seas. Unlike Disneyland’s hyper-realistic animatronics, you won’t get that feeling that something is off when you see Sam. The animatronic is incredibly designed, yet just cartoony enough to not send you over the uncanny valley. BEST PLACE TO EXPERIENCE A MIDWESTERN WINTER IN THE MIDDLE OF A CALIFORNIA SUMMER Cardinale Stadium 4111 2nd Ave., Seaside When Cardinale Stadium was opened in 1951, it was then called Freeman Stadium, and was the home field of the Fort Ord Warriors, a semi-pro football team of servicemen that sometimes played the likes of the San Francisco 49ers, among others. While the stadium was renovated and reopened as a soccer stadium in 2021, its original designers may have chosen the location with purpose, one that could give 116 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2024 montereycountynow.com/bestof THANK YOU Monterey County Weekly readers for voting Goodwill Central Coast Best Thrift Shop 4 years in a row! We appreciate your support! Goodwill Central Coast builds lives, families and communities by helping people with employment needs become successful, supported by innovative enterprises that preserve earth’s resources.
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