40 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY DECEMBER 4-10, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com FACE TO FACE It has been a big year for Peppoli. The Pebble Beach restaurant earned recognition in the Michelin Guide as a recommended dining destination. This is added to the restaurant’s status as a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. It also celebrated its 25th year. Chef Angela Tamura has been there for 14 of those years, crafting a menu that conveys the warmth of a Tuscan kitchen. Yet when she speaks of her passion for Italian flavors, there is little to suggest a resort setting and high accolades. “It’s approachable,” Tamura says. “There are many good, homey dishes.” The chef was born and raised in Massachusetts and earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania— in political science, of all things. Tamura learned cooking from her mother and spent a lot of time in the kitchen growing up. Her first taste of a restaurant setting came after she finished school. That was enough to launch a career that led her to top restaurants in Napa and then to Pebble Beach. Monterey County was a dream destination. “We had always come here on vacation,” Tamura points out. “It’s beautiful.” Weekly: What was it like when Michelin added Peppoli to the recommended list? Tamura: The fact that we’re recognized is a good start. I was very happy, of course. But it brings another level of expectation—and guests already have high expectations of us. So it pushes us. We do sometimes have to explain that it’s not a Michelin star. I think only 4 percent of the Michelin stars in California have gone to Italian restaurants. There aren’t many Michelin-starred Italian restaurants and the ones that are generally have tasting menus. We have hearty portions. It’s honest cooking. How do you explain Peppoli’s longevity? I guess it’s trying to listen to guests—really listen—and learning from feedback, not to reinvent yourself, but to improve. Fourteen years in one place seems like a long time. It doesn’t seem like that long. It goes quickly around here. There’s always something going on—parties, events. It’s a lot of hours, a lot of time on your feet. But you get to eat some pretty good food. You said you studied political science. How did you end up in a kitchen? I just always cooked. My mom was a great cook. She’s from an Italian background. She had a job, but she’d get home at 8 o’clock and cook dinner for us. She’d make 40 kinds of Christmas cookies—literally. I started working at a restaurant right after school. I worked for a chef who encouraged me. I went to culinary school and just kept going. Do you still cook at home? Not when I get home at night. The kids are in bed. But I cook on weekends. They want me to cook Italian dishes—they love pasta—but I do tend to cook other things, because I also crave those flavors. You would be the person to ask this: For those considering giving someone a kitchen gadget as a Christmas gift, are there any you recommend? I don’t know. Just a chef’s knife, a food processor. A mandolin is useful. But a garlic peeler? Really? I saw an ad for an herb stripper. Who needs that in their lives? But I guess people buy them. Do chefs watch cooking shows? Yeah, I do. Not all of them. I don’t watch shows made for home cooks. I like Top Chef and shows about chefs. It doesn’t seem that there are a lot of shows made for chefs. If you weren’t a chef… I would love to do something in architecture. Not that I studied it in school—I acted a lot in high school and college, and I miss that. People say I could do community theater, but I don’t have the time for it. The rehearsals, plays on the weekend—that’s not happening. Weekends are our busiest days. Do you ever get away? We love road trips. The kids are older now, so it’s like pulling teeth to get them to go with us. But I’ve always loved to travel, because the restaurants are so different. That’s what interests me—what other chefs are doing, where they are getting inspiration. And I really do love cooking at home, playing with my dog in the yard—pretty simple stuff. Peppoli is at the Inn at Spanish Bay, 2700 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach. (800) 654-9300, pebblebeach.com. Pep’ Talk Chef Angela Tamura took an Ivy League education and turned it into award-winning cooking. By Dave Faries Now that Peppoli has been added to the Michelin Guide’s list of recommended restaurants, Chef Angela Tamura says the high expectations people have of the Pebble Beach destination have been raised. SHERMAN CHU Aragorn Want to meet Aragorn? Please fill out our online adoption questionnaire. Things to love: approx. 10 years old - 15 lbs - male - Chihuahua mix From the shadows of loss, a hero rises. Aragorn, a brave and gentle soul who has walked through sorrow and now seeks a new fellowship to call his own. 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