Editors , Picks Picks BEST UP-AND-COMING PARISIAN BAKERY THAT’S ACTUALLY IN PACIFIC GROVE Maison Iris 219 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove contacts@maisoniris.us Paris is the birthplace of the modern circus, where shows featuring trick horseback riding, jugglers and acrobats became very popular in the 1700s. It went on to become the circus capital of the world by the mid-1800s. Today a little bit of Paris has landed in Pacific Grove with the opening of Maison Iris in August, in the spot that used to hold Pavel’s Backerie. Owners Iris and Reda Hamade migrated to P.G. to open the bakery, featuring Reda’s delectable creations. The skilled pastry chef uses only French-imported butter, flour and chocolate to craft unique croissants, tarts almost too pretty to eat, fudgy brownies, choux pastries filled with mousse and baguettes. They also use imported ham and cheese to make their Parisian sandwiches. More treats are on the way as the business gets up and running. BEST SHOUTOUT TO A LOCAL AT THE OSCARS Producer Conall Jones’ win for Best Documentary Short Film All the Empty Rooms netflix.com/title/82058494 It’s not every day you see a guy from Cachagua and Carmel Valley wearing a tux on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, but producer Conall Jones has been there twice—and in 2026, made it to the stage to accept an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film for his work on All the Empty Rooms. It’s a heartbreaking 34-minute documentary in which the camera brings viewers into the bedrooms of children who were murdered in school shootings. For Jones, the recognition was much more than a glitzy career highlight—it was a continued call to action that we can and must do something to save kids from being gunned down at school, because we come to connect with them and their families’ grief. “Great films create empathy and understanding,” Jones said at the time. “It feels especially important now, when so much of our media landscape is designed to fragment rather than connect us.” Congrats to him for connecting us, and for his well-earned victory. BEST EFFORT TO GET TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE BUILT Sand City’s pitch to the Transportation Agency for Monterey County for a bike trail (831) 394-3054, sandcity.org The Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail runs along roughly 18 miles of waterfront and dunefront from Pacific Grove to Castroville. There’s a 1-mile gap in Sand City, where city officials have long dreamed of replacing rundown, littered railroad bed with a paved path for bicyclists and pedestrians. And in the past year they’ve taken some major steps to elevate it from dream to reality. They negotiated with car dealers who previously used the strip as cheap vehicle storage. They applied for funding from California State Parks. And City Manager Vibeke Norgaard is now negotiating hard with the owner, a fellow government agency, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County. She pitched their board on Aug. 31 to ask for reduced rent of free, pulling no punches. “We are asking that Sand City not be charged for its efforts to beautify the corridor—for putting in trees, plants, flowers and trailside amenities like benches,” she said. “And also not be charged for what we consider to be transportation supportive infrastructure: trailside parking.” Whether they can negotiate from somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000/year to zero remains to be seen, but we’re giving Norgaard and her team an A for effort. BEST PLACE TO USE THE PHRASE “IT TAKES A VILLAGE” AND HAVE IT MEAN SOMETHING LITERALLY East Village Cafe 498 Washington St., Monterey (831) 275-7752, eastvillagemonterey. square.site Circuses draw on different cultures, making them unique. At East Village Cafe, people from different interests and cultures gather at the coffee shop and build community. It hosts an international potluck, where locals share dishes from their home countries. It’s home to different clubs and groups that meet regularly to talk about books, learn a new language or make crafts. The hospitality makes it feel like everyone is welcome in this village. 116 BEST OF MONTEREY COUNTY® 2026 montereycountynow.com/bestof Katherine Lavin Thank you! VOTED BEST LOCAL MUSICIAN in “Best of Monterey County” Please FOLLOW me! Search: KATHERINE LAVIN MUSIC , Katherine ’26 BEST ANIMAL NONPROFIT THANK YOU MONTEREY COUNTY! Thanks to your support, SPCA Monterey County is always here for pets, people, and wildlife in need. ADOPT your next pet. DONATE to support local animals. VOLUNTEER your time and heart. www.spcamc.org
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