118 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2024 montereycountynow.com/bestof Editors’ Picks Editors’ {Picks soldiers an edge on their opponents, while at the same time toughening them up. Because how else could one explain the decision to put a stadium in the most foul microclimate in the Central Coast, a place where if it’s not foggy, it’s windy? Though that doesn’t stop the hardcore Monterey Bay F.C. fans from filling the stands in their thick jackets and beanies—perfect attire for a midsummer’s night at Cardinale. Best blast of fun in Pacific Grove Pop & Hiss 215 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove (831) 333-6246, popandhiss.net It turns out Pacific Grove can have cool things. In a transformation mimicking a dirt floor mercantile becoming a gilded saloon, a long-vacant silk screen printing operation in downtown P.G. is now a showcase record store, bar and live music venue. Pop & Hiss, named after the scratchy sound a needle makes on vinyl, is a win for P.G. It’s the kind of joint that would earn raves in Seattle or Berlin, and as it grows to its full potential with the bar and patio and regular shows, it will do the same in Monterey County. Best Way To Dare Your Friends Heatwaves 543 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey (831) 920-1381, heatwaves831.com You can order mild, certainly. It’s great fried chicken. But for your friends, ask for the most blistering level of Heatwaves’ Nashville hot chicken. Then watch them sweat like pioneers crossing the Wyoming plains in summer. Heatwaves is a Sunday-only pop-up in what is Rudolfo’s the rest of the week. And there are four or five levels of heat you can seek. Just watch out, because Chef Rudolfo Ponce can be demonic. Still, when it comes to Nashville hot, this is the place to try. Best Worst Kept Secret Trader Joe’s opening in Marina Trader Joe’s confirmation that it is opening a new store in Marina wasn’t much of a surprise. For at least a year, people wrote on social media that the grocery store was coming to The Dunes Promenade development, citing unnamed city officials. While such chatter is common among California cities that don’t have a Trader Joe’s, these rumors had legs. Digging through publicly available permitting records reveals Trader Joe’s plans, months before it actually confirmed them. Developer Shea Homes earlier in 2024 announced a “well-known specialty grocer” had signed a lease in one of the new buildings, but teased the name of the store would be revealed later. Someone even reportedly spotted a “Trader Joe’s Coming Soon” sign on a construction fence, but it was quickly taken down before the announcement. Whoops. Best Prix Fixe-Only Restaurants That Also Have World-Class Chefs Chez Noir 5th between Dolores and San Carlos, Carmel cheznoircarmel.com Aubergine 7th and Monte Verde, Carmel (831) 624-8578, auberginecarmel.com Coastal Kitchen 400 Cannery Row, Monterey (831) 645-4064, coastalkitchenmonterey. com Chef Justin Cogley of Aubergine holds two of the precious Michelin Stars. Chef Jonny Black at Chez Noir has one, as well as being a James Beard Award finalist for best new restaurant—not in Monterey County, but the entire nation. Chef Michael Rotondo of Coastal Kitchen in the Monterey Plaza Hotel deserves a nod from Michelin. These are not just fine dining restaurants, they are memorable dining experiences. Course after course are masterpieces of sourcing, seasonality, beauty and nuanced layering of flavors, all choreographed into one outstanding performance. So blowing that $100— about $2,500 in today’s money, which is more than enough—earned herding cattle up the Chisholm Trail on whiskey and faro makes no sense. Investing in culinary memories does. Best bright flame snuffed out too soon Rebels and Renegades Festival Rebels and Renegades was the brainchild of the folks behind the long-running Cali Roots festival. It was a substantial pivot musically and in the fanbase: straw hats and Coors beer replaced dreadlocks and the cloud of weed smoke, but the music and the vibe was similarly world-class. Rebels featured some of the best established, and up-and-coming bands in alt-country, new country, rock ’n’ soul. The musicians delivered, but many ticket buyers didn’t. To those 3,500 people who saw Wilco play the best rock show in Monterey County in the last year to a half-empty Monterey Fairgrounds arena, the news of the cancellation of future festivals made sense, kinda like a hard luck cowpuncher being told his services are no longer wanted. Best Place to Experience a Midwestern Winter in the Middle of a California Summer | Cardinale Stadium
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