Found Treasure: Phoebe’s at Asilomar

January 19, 2024 – A standard diamond has 58 facets.

This gem has a comparable number of qualities.

So let’s start shining them up.

To start, Phoebe’s Cafe is a Found Treasure tucked in a Found Treasure (stately Hearst Social Hall, complete with pool tables, huge fireplace, tall ceilings and a ton of comfy seating, all open to the public) wrapped in a Found Treasure (the timeless Asilomar Conference Grounds).

It enjoys a tiered outdoor deck flanked by massive river stone columns and Monterey pines.

It unleashes a limited but thoughtful handful of items 7am-5pm daily, including hot oatmeal, hearty quiches, panini and daily soups. 

It pours Peet’s Coffee, Tazo teas, Naked juices and various sodas.

Phoebe’s also does grab-and-go PB&Js, turkey-brie sandwiches, plus a few bottled beers and Pacific Grove-centered California Co. seltzers. 

It stars architecture by Julia Morgan, whose birthday I’ll be celebrating tomorrow. (She hatched Jan. 20, 1872.)

It benefits from fresh leadership. Chef David Baron—who can lead a mean Watsonville food tour by bike—continues his kitchen hopping tour of Northern California, dishing well-sourced food for as many as five conferences of folks at once. 

A fun side note there: Baron has delighted in soaking up property history, of which there is no shortage. He rattles off intel on how the cafe’s namesake, Phoebe Hearst, was a socialite and philanthropist who adored meeting halls like this one; he spins yarns of the acreage’s earlier days as a YWCA leadership camp for young women; and weaves tales of how ACG works as the rare State Park that is entirely self-funded.

The State Parks collaboration, Baron adds, means pricing is reasonable by rule. 

“Everything is meant to be approachable,” he says.

That seems accurate as far as the quiche ($9) and the satisfying turkey-bacon-havarti melt I tried ($12 with fruit) but not the plastic cup of C+ Chardonnay from Josh Vineyards ($14). 

Perhaps the best part about Phoebe’s is how it empowers enjoyment of Asilomar Beach and the conference grounds, which also hosts free regular naturalist walks like my personal favorite, the bird-watching tours, which unravel a three-hour odyssey, led by the head of the local Audubon Society (every second Sunday, RSVP requested). Nature, History and Architecture tours go down Fridays and Saturdays at 10am, starting at the hall, and Asilomar Dunes tours, which highlight the preserve’s native plants and creatures break out 3pm Friday and Saturday, also starting at the Hearst.

Then comes perhaps my most  treasured element amid all of this: Despite the fact it’s been part of a legendary property for decades, many long-time locals don’t know Phoebe’s is there.

If a cafe thrives in a forest, does it make a sound? 

More at visitasilomar.com/dining/phoebes-cafe.