Found Treasure: Sandbar & Grill

October 15, 2021 – Where should I go to eat?

It’s a question I field a lot, and one that begs a little context. So I answer with questions to narrow it down. 

Is budget relevant? Healthier or heavier? Are we talking date night? Would a little roar help cover the chaos of the kids? How adventurous are you feeling? How important are outdoor seating and other COVID considerations? Any genre you’re craving?

Give me a little something to go from, and guidance gets a lot easier to generate.

All that said, I have a few places I love to take locals and visitors alike, no questions asked. Chief among them is Sandbar & Grill, which tucks under the Municipal Wharf (aka Wharf Two) in Monterey, California. 

The reasons to love it multiply past the foundation of great food at a solid value in a welcoming and relaxed environment. 

For one, Sandbar hovers virtually inside the harbor, at otter eye-contact altitude, with big windows to maximize the marine element. 

It enjoys the sort of staff retention only true houses of hospitality that really take care of their team can claim. 

It serves honest drinks, including a Bloody Mary to match any in the area code. It also maintains a solid and rotating wine list with good choices ranging from Burgundy to Santa Lucia Highlands to pair with fresh seafood, all poured around a social U-shaped bar. 

Sandbar also just brought back a quality happy hour specials menu (an increasingly lost art), 4-6pm weekdays, and does deals during Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, S.F. 49ers, Oakland A’s and San Jose Sharks games.

On the food front the Dungeness-crab-and-shrimp cocktail, seafood puttanesca and grilled sand dabs make the world a better place. The calamari and clam chowder, two Monterey classics, rank among my favorites on either coast, partly because they do them differently than everyone else in a region flush with both.

The thick chowder provides prodigious clam chunks and an understanding that the soup should be a potato, cream and vegetable choreography, not a competition. The chef-kiss clincher is a little float of sherry that helps pull the flavors together, so remember to request it.

The calamari, meanwhile, comes cut into mini steaks instead of rings and tentacles (though that’s also on the menu). Meaty, tender and ungreasy, they enjoy a crunchy herb-inflected coating that make return visits mandatory. The calamari steak, gently floured, olive oil sautéed and finished with capers and lemon—also available as baked calamari Parmesan—is otherworldly itself.

Among the many regulars is Jim Davenport of New Monterey, who goes there once a week, at least, as he has for nearly two decades, and even tastes through new wine offerings with the vendors who visit. One of his latest obsessions is the chipotle shrimp tacos.

“[Owner] Craig Ling gets the best seafood and spares no expense,” Davenport says. “For lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch—check out the hangtown fry and crab Benedict—it’s a smart choice.”

The bonus treasures found right around here also multiply: Municipal Wharf happens to be one of those mini-miracles that occur in our orbit, where a bundle of complementary places appear within a few steps. (I’ve spotlighted two areas in this column earlier this year: Lighthouse Avenue in New Monterey and the Watsonville Airport District).

One of them is my favorite wholesale supplier of seafood, period. Robbie’s Ocean Fresh Seafood is a Monterey Bay Aquarium and chef darling for his sourcing, freshness and Robbie Torrise’s outsize personality. He and his team hide on the north side of the structures at the end of the pier, and they’re not always there—call ahead at (831) 212-0231—but when they are they simply have the best stuff. 

Next door, similarly sustainable Monterey Abalone Company will sell you shells, live abalone and vacuum-sealed steaks. If you’re lucky, they might give you a tour of their under-the-boardwalk wonderland of abalone-growing cages down the trapdoor in the floor. 

Adjacent to MAC awaits another excellent option for fresh seafood in Monterey Fish Company, which stocks local and further afield filets, whole fish, shellfish and more, off-the-boat that day and frozen alike. Staff is reliably friendly and informative.

Finally, back down toward Sandbar sits yet another community institution, Loulou’s Griddle in the Middle, whose storybook little kitchen counter, kitschy salt shakers and “hubcap” griddle cakes can feel too good to be true. 

When I read Deborah Luhrman and Raul Nava’s March piece compiling all the Monterey Bay restaurants lost to COVID closures, it was traumatizing in general, but shocking more specifically to learn Loulou’s ranked among those gone. The big relief there: It reopens soon, per the white board messaging in its window.

“We know you have all been waiting a VERY long time,” the sign says, “but the wait is over…ish! 🙂 Stay updated with us on Instagram!!! We will be seeing you all very soon!!! We miss you all so incredibly much. Your love & support has kept us going!!!”

The verbiage concludes with four multicolored hearts. That feels appropriate: With all five of these Wharf Two spots, each of them devoutly local, independently owned, homey and personable, there’s a lot of heart at work.  

More at sandbarandgrillmonterey.com.