Monterey: Peter B's and Restaurant 1833

What I love about craft beer is, like food, almost every city or region has beer that is locally made. I love the concept of eating local and what better way to experience the city you're in than through your stomach. I highly encourage getting fat and getting drunk like the way the locals do.

Restaurant 1833

I like to research what restaurants to visit whenever I am in a different city. I stumbled upon a blog, a lot like this one that raved about Restaurant 1833, so I had to see for myself.

Restaurant 1833 sits on the corner of Hartnell and Polk Streets in the historic Stokes Adobe home. They promise an experience of a “storied past retold.” The restaurant has seven unique rooms some with a more romantic ambiance and others meant for large gatherings. I sat in what was once the “living room” which is the more casual bar area. According to locals, the restaurant's popularity skyrocketed after landing a semi-finalist spot for the prestigious James Beard award for best new restaurant. 

I ordered the pan-seared rock cod with leeks, mussels, tomato, Yukon gold potatoes in cream sauce. I enjoyed the dish though I devoured it in minutes along with my glass of wine because I was starving. The fish was well seasoned, the mussels tasty and the tomatoes provided a good bite of freshness. The one criticism I do have (sounding like a Food Network judge) is the uneven proportion of sauce to starch, too heavy on the sauce side. But, I am a starch fiend so I prefer a lot of more potatoes. Dishes are priced around $15 to $40. You can tour each of the rooms, which I unfortunately did not do. 

Peter B’s

Monterey is not really a beer town and they only have one brewery in the city: Peter B’s which fortunately for me was located behind my hotel at the Portola Hotel and Spa. I met a few regulars and the conversations I overheard were all talk about beers and beer week indicating that I was at a legitimate beer place. For me, regulars are an excellent indicator of any establishment. If you like the regulars at a place, there’s a good chance you’ll like the place. We tend to flock to our own kind.

I enjoy sitting at the bars in different cities because I meet interesting people. At Peter B’s, I sat next to these two guys, one of whom turned out went to my college (but about 20 years ago). We chatted about living in Sacramento and all of the changes it has gone through since he’s moved and of course, we talked about the beer.

I had the IPA and the Red Ale, two of my favorite types of beer and the place is decent. The IPA was pretty hoppy, initially a little too hoppy for me but had a good aroma (that I like to say smells like flowers but I’m told it’s not flowers, it’s the hops). The more I drank the IPA, the more I liked it. The Red Ale was a little more smooth and malty. I did it wrong, I went hoppy IPA then went to the Red Ale, you should reverse that order because your pallet is overwhelmed by hops and you aren’t able to fully taste the flavors of the red ale. I had to order an artichoke which Castroville, a Salinas Valley town is famous for.

Until the next pint, cheers!