36 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com INDOOR AND OUTDOOR DINING AND TAKEOUT Eat + Drink OPEN EVERYDAY for DINNER at 4:30pm Offering all your favorites plus wine, cocktails, bottle and draft beers. Now Serving Snake River Farms’ American Wagyu Prime Rib. 763 Wave St., Monterey | 831.373.3778 | thewhalingstation.com ’25 Best Steak WOOD FIRED PIZZAS, BURGERS, PASTA, SALADS, SANDWICHES AND MORE 11:30AM MON-FRI, 10AM SAT & SUN melvilletav.com 484 Washington St., Downtown Monterey 831.643.9525 HAPPY HOUR FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS Daily 4-6pm WEEKEND BRUNCH WITH BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS Indoor and Outdoor Dining on the Dog Friendly Patio Tapas (Happy) Hour 4:30–6pm Nightly Sunday Brunch 9am–1:30pm 700 Munras Ave., Monterey | 831-375-0176 | estebanrestaurant.com ’25 Best Appetizers/ Small Plates 57 Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey 831-373-1851 www.abalonetti.com ’25 LUNCH & DINNER SERVED DAILY from 11:30am-8:30pm Monterey County’s Best Calamari Fisherman’s Wharf’s Newest Restaurant Serving Fresh Seafood, Pasta, Steaks, Sandwiches Open Daily at 11:30am Great views at the end of the Wharf #1 www.rockfishmonterey.com • 831.324.4375 ’25 BEST RESTAURANT IN MONTEREY COUNTY! JOIN US NIGHTLY FOR DINNER AT 4:30PM TWO HAPPY HOURS DAILY 4:30-6PM & 8-9PM 3-Course Early Menu, $59, 4:30-6pm Daily Call or go to sardinefactory.com for details, reservations. 701 Wave Street, Monterey, 831-373-3775 BEACH HOUSE RESTAURANT + BAR @ LOVERS POINT ★ CASUAL CALIFORNIA DINING INDOOR & PATIO DAILY AT 4:30PM 620 OCEAN VIEW BLVD. PACIFIC GROVE 831-375-2345 • BEACHHOUSEPG.COM LOVERS POINT BEACH CAFE OPEN DAILY, 9AM–4PM ’24 Best Restaurant in Pacific Grove Monterey’s MOST Recommended Pizzeria Open at 4pm Mon-Thurs • Open at 3pm Fri Open at 12pm Sat.& Sun. 725 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey giannispizzamonterey.com 831-649-1500 BEST PIZZA ’98-’24 BEST PIZZA PLACE ’25 ARIES (March 21-April 19): Realities you’ve been oblivious to will soon pop into view. Hints and signals you’ve been unconsciously pushing away will start flocking toward you. A lingering emotional numbness will thaw, and surges of feelings will pour into your awareness. Warning! At first, it may feel like an overload: too much sopping wet data arriving too quickly for you to organize or interpret. If you’re willing to be patient and focus on slowly metabolizing the influx, though, the apparent chaos will ultimately weave itself into a luminous web of new understanding. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In Peru’s Andean mountains, Indigenous and smallholder farmers cultivate a rich diversity of potato varieties, continuing a farming tradition rooted in the crop’s domestication thousands of years ago. Each variety thrives in slightly different soil, altitude and climate. By planting many types at once, the farmers ensure that at least some crops will flourish no matter what conditions arise. I suggest you apply this way of thinking to your own life in the coming weeks, Taurus. Diversify your efforts instead of depending on a single plan or expectation. Plan for multiple small initiatives that will evolve with unique growth patterns. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In biology, many organisms survive harsh or unpredictable conditions by entering dormancy. This is a reversible state of greatly reduced metabolism and development. Seeds, spores and the dormant stages of some small animals can remain viable for years until cues such as water, temperature, light or nutrients signal that conditions are favorable again. Then they can resume growth, often rapidly. I suspect you may experience a comparable upsurge in the coming weeks, Gemini. A project or aspiration that seemed inert may reawaken. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Novelist Kurt Vonnegut advised us to try some task that scares us every day of our lives. That may be a viable experiment for a Scorpio like him, but is it a wise prescription for us Cancerians, who like to feel secure and protected? Normally, I would say no. I’d recommend that you and I dare ourselves to wrestle with one of our fears no more than once per month. But the coming weeks may warrant a departure from our typical rhythms. I suspect we can fortify our long-term safety and peace through more frequent encounters with unpredictable episodes that rouse our hidden reserves of courage. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The ancient Greeks believed that the goddess Harmonia presided over the blending of opposites into balanced beauty. Her dad was the god of war and her mom the goddess of love, so she had a lot of practice. In her line of work, tension between different forces could produce elegant unity rather than conflict. In alignment with astrological omens, I’ve appointed Harmonia to be your guardian angel in the coming weeks, Leo. I urge you to call on her frequently. Rifts and divisions that have never before been possible to heal are now swayable by the collaborative efforts of you and the goddess. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If I were writing this horoscope for the Gun Lovers’ Gambling Porn website, I might counsel my Virgo readers to maintain strict control over their wickedness, debauchery, and decadence. Why? Because now is a time when vices and sins are even more likely than usual to sow chaos and spawn big messes. However, since you are reading my oracle in a more genteel publication and are almost certainly a refined person of high integrity, I’m confident there will be minimal uproar if I dare you to tap into your raw animal energy and unruly instinctual nature. I believe it’s time to at least experiment with wilder aspects of your deep self. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The Real You and the Semi-Real You have been embroiled in a showdown with the False You. This is as tough and heroic a struggle as you’ve had to deal with in quite some time, though it has often been subtle and partially cloaked. I am of course rooting for the Real You and the Semi-Real You to emerge victorious from the conflict, though I also hope you don’t feel the need to humiliate and crush the False You. That part of you has sometimes served a valuable purpose and doesn’t deserve to be trashed. And what will become of the SemiReal You after this drama is finished? I suggest you give it a modest place in your repertoire. Like the False You, it sometimes proves to be useful. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Hummingbirds can fly backward. This requires extraordinary wing flexibility and energy expenditure, but it gives them access to nectar that forward-only fliers have more difficulty sampling. Let’s treat this as a useful metaphor for you in the coming weeks, Scorpio. It may be that your progress and success won’t always come from advancing. Some rich resources may require the equivalent of reverse flight. Consider returning to conversations you thought were finished, revisiting places you’d mentally filed away as “done,” and extracting value from sources you’ve already passed by. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In chemistry, catalysts are substances that accelerate reactions without being consumed in the process. A tiny amount of catalyst can dramatically transform how quickly elements combine. An example is the enzyme catalase in our cells, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen millions of times faster than it would decompose on its own. I believe you are now in a phase when your catalytic powers are at a peak, Sagittarius. Be careful where you point that potency of yours! Make sure you really want to change what you’re capable of changing. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Every species adapts to its surroundings. Even harmful microbes evolve over time in order to survive. Syphilis, for instance, was once ferociously swift and deadly, but that intensity limited how far it could spread. So a gentler strain evolved that allowed its hosts to live longer and pass it on more widely. Let this serve as a metaphor for how you handle your dark moods and odd compulsions. Befriend the mild, manageable versions of these states and give them space to be felt and understood. Over time, the harsher, more destructive versions will lose ground and fade from power. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Paleontologists know that some dinosaurs traveled in herds with a specific formation: the most vulnerable members gathered in the center, protected by stronger individuals on the perimeter. I hope you’re willing to borrow some dinosaur wisdom, Aquarius. The coming weeks will be a good time to apply it to your own life. Who or what needs protection? What vulnerable projects or relationships deserve to be surrounded and shielded? Are you willing and able to use your strength to guard what’s tender? Be a shepherd, a steward, a defender. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In ancient times, Hawaii’s Coconut Island was renowned for its healing powers—on one condition. Those who sought its medicinal help couldn’t just expect the local spirits to do all the work, but had to take part in awakening the magic. Legend tells us a seeker could be cured by swimming three times around the island. This participatory approach to healing mirrors your current situation, Pisces. You are close to a source of renewal, but if you hope to unlock its full strength, you must coax it out with your ingenuity. FREEWILLASTROLOGY In addition to this column, Rob Brezsny offers EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES and DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. To buy access, go to www.RealAstrology.com. Audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700. By Rob Brezsny • September 17-23, 2026
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