July 5, 2016 – As if the cuisine of talented executive chef Matt Bolton and the dramatic views of Monterey Bay were not enough, Intercontinental The Clement Hotel’s C Restaurant has dreamed up some new ways to lure you in this summer: two novel cocktail offerings and a new take on the ice cream cone.
The latest addition to the C’s cocktail program is a twist on the flights of wines that our wine-loving region is so fond of. But instead of tastes of wine, the restaurant is offering an innovative “Single Malt Sampler,” a selection of one-ounce pours of single malt whiskies, one American, one Japanese and one from Scotland.
For devotees of the Monterey Bay’s fresh and flavorful local ingredients, the Build Your Own Bloody may sound even better.
Launched just last month, the extremely popular new spirits option makes it easy for guests to design their drinks. Using a preprinted questionnaire, guests can pick from among three mixes made from scratch, including classics like tomato and clamato, as well as a tangy and surprisingly tasty tomatillo base. And to spice them up? The options are Sriracha, Tabasco and horseradish.
Spirit choices include El Jimador tequila, Bombay gin and both Absolut and Stoli vodkas.
For the rim? Here’s where it gets really interesting: Dustings include combinations like a cumin, coriander and celery salt, or cayenne pepper, fennel seeds and sea salt. Garnishes include bacon strips, house-made salami steamed gulf shrimp and pickled green beans.
Just in time to make the most of the new Bloody Mary, Bolton has also launched a new breakfast menu that includes similarly spicy options like Flat Iron Steak & Eggs Chilaquiles with mole, avocado and black beans, and Chile Relleno & Eggs, which includes a corned beef and ricotta-stuffed poblano chile with chipoltle hollandaise sauce.
And for dessert lovers that come to the restaurant during dinner hours (5:30–10pm) Friday–Sunday, pastry chef Michelle Lee has taken the occasion of National Ice Cream Month to kick off a “Cone of the Week” program. With that in mind, she’ll be creating an elaborate new ice cream cone-based dessert each week.
This taster had the opportunity to try the July Cherry S’Mores Cone, which combined cocoa nib ice cream (Lee’s favorite, as it reminds her of the drug store chocolate malted crunch of her childhood), Swank Farm cherries, smoked marshmallows, chocolate pudding and gram cracker crumble.
After a revelatory tomatillo bloody mary and a sublime lunch of Monterey Style Cioppino, Kampachi Sashimi and Roasted Beet Carpaccio, it was a delicious ending.
About the author
SARAH WOOD—founding editor and publisher of Edible Monterey Bay—has had a life-long passion for food, cooking, people and our planet.
She planted her first organic garden and cared for her first chicken when she was in elementary school in a farming region of Upstate New York.
Wood spent the early part of her career based in Ottawa, Canada, working in international development and international education. After considering culinary school, she opted to pursue her loves for writing, learning about the world and helping make it a better place by obtaining a fellowship and an MA in Journalism from New York University.
While working for a daily newspaper in New Jersey, she wrote stories that helped farmers fend off development and won a state-wide public service award from the New Jersey Press Association for an investigative series of articles about a slumlord who had hoodwinked ratings agencies and investment banks into propping him up with some early commercial mortgage securitizations. The series led Wood to spend several years in financial journalism, most recently, as editor-in-chief of the leading magazine covering the U.S. hedge-fund industry.
Wood now lives with her family in Washington, DC, where she is a freelance writer and manages communications for Samaritan Ministry, an antipoverty and antiracist nonprofit that provides struggling Greater Washington residents with highly personalized and compassionate life counseling and coaching.
