New Restaurant-Motel The Isabella to Supplant Old Caruso’s Corner

Sept. 16, 2025—From a certain perspective, this is a story about the demolition and rebirth of a high profile North Monterey property.

But it’s really about family. And it’s not crazy to think family’s about renewal too.

The longtime community linchpin Caruso’s Corner, within view of legendary Monterey Fairgrounds and its endless iconic moments, lived up to the ambitions on its menus: “family restaurant.”

For years, though, it’s wasted away on the corner of North Fremont and Casa Verde, next to similarly listless Casa Verde Inn.

Until now. (OK, until soon.)

Arguably Monterey’s most famous restaurant family has announced—with a big banner at 2101 N. Fremont St. and some local TV sizzle—that it’s building out a new restaurant and boutique named for the Shake fam’s guiding light, Isabella.

Keeping with the regeneration theme, third-generation restaurant pro Austin Shake will help steer the project after growing up in his family’s restaurants—including Old Fisherman’s Grotto, and Fish Hoppers in Monterey and Kona, Hawaii—earning a degree in business management from the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management and working in residential real estate before coming home.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to return to the place that shaped who I am,” Austin said upon his return. “To have the opportunity to carry forward what my grandfather and father built, and to grow alongside my family, is both an honor and a responsibility I take to heart.”

Now he’s citing a different family member as inspiration for the restaurant-hotel.

Spoiler alert: It’s not dad or grandpa.

“My grandmother, Isabella, she’s the matriarch of this family, [and] truly is a light in all of our lives,” Austin, now VP of Chris Shake Enterprises, told KSBW’s Joyce Kim. “One of the most positive people that I’ve ever met. So it’s really great that we can do something like this, create a project that honors her and all the hard work. She’s not only put into our businesses, but the whole community that we have here. So it’s a blessing for sure.”

Per Kim, the building is undergoing “a complete renovation and facelift,” with a restaurant which will seat 100+ and a motel with around 20 rooms.

The hopeful debut date lands in time for Isabella’s 94th birthday on May 5, 2026.

Movement at Caruso’s after so long inspired me to call a family friend who introduced me to the place, local dentist and—yup—family man Dave Hatton of Monterey.

“It was the go-to place when we didn’t feel like cooking,” he says of Caruso’s. “They were so friendly, and the pizzas were good and the atmosphere was so open and approachable.”

Last week Hatton welcomed his first grandson into the world. A couple weeks before he dined at Old Fisherman’s Grotto, and it was a besuited Austin who stopped by to check on the table.

So a certain theme keeps regenerating on.