January 10, 2025 – Found Treasures don’t have to be hidden or historic. But a little camouflage and heritage do deepen the feeling of discovery.
The General Historic Bar tucks almost out of sight behind Dametra Fresh Mediterranean in Marina, which gives it a speakeasy feel.
Instead of a sliding bookshelf or fake walk-in fridge, the cloaking device is a fast casual joint doing some of the best lamb-beef gyros, falafel wraps and chicken shawarma in the region.
The most compelling part of The General’s modest space isn’t up for debate: That would be the 30-foot-long, L-shaped, parquet-surfaced bar top.
The vintage beauty hails from the former Fort Ord’s Stilwell Hall, a legendary social venue for officers stationed at the base—the largest of its kind in the wider West, per Wikipedia—named for General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell.
(Sidenote: The nickname was inspired by his harsh notes on field exercises, but it would seem the guy knew how to have a good time too, hence the hall. #drillhardplayhard)
Built in the early 1940s, the Stilwell Hall had a storied 50-year run, before erosion and deterioration hastened its demolition, so that its lead paint and asbestos materials wouldn’t end up in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Today the reclaimed wooden bar anchors the General space, and provides a nostalgic link for veterans who frequent the Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic down the road. But the bar is only one of many elements going on.
Other vintage Fort Ord gear populates the shelves—period posters, combat helmets, soldier MRE meals—and, in the case of the paratrooper rig, hang from the ceiling.
That makes The General-Dametra Fresh a rare spot for greater Monterey Bay, but it’s also an outlier in Marina, which doesn’t enjoy many sports bars or fully stocked watering holes, period, and within the Dunes Shopping Center, as its only non-franchise restaurant and the only one with a full bar.
The happy hour is solid if unspectacular. It happens daily, 4-6pm, and taps $6-$8 craft beers, $8-$10 wines, $9 cocktails like Long Islands, Mexican Mules, Margaritas and top shelf G&Ts, and discounts on heaping plates of falafel fries.
On my last visit, I was happy to learn the Sriracha honey mustard wings ($12 for a half dozen during HH) are excellent, and the hummus-pita plate ($8.50 for HH) is huge.
And, after all, the front room remains excellent at its craft, as does its sister spot—sans bar—in Monterey’s Del Monte Center.
Both nestle into a popular family of restaurants including the original cult darling Dametra in Carmel-by-the-Sea, plus Catch (formerly Mediterranean) and Portobello on Ocean Avenue, the latter evoked with a painting in The General.
Bashar Sneeh—perhaps most famous for plucking the oud guitar during rousing dance-singalongs at Dametra Carmel—steers the operation.
He wasn’t thinking of adding a bar to Dametra Marina, but pieces of the equation started falling into place, including opportunity provided by the lack of sports bars (and bar-restaurants) and the discovery of the slab sitting in storage at the Veterans Transition Center, who receive a portion of net proceeds annually as an ongoing thank you for their service.
“I’m very proud to go around the whole Fort Ord and see it now being developed—with commercial and housing and everything,” Sneeh says, “And then you walk into The General and you can see the history right here.”
More at dametra.com and The General Marina’s Facebook page.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
