Discovered the near-perfect restaurant this past weekend, almost too late 'cause we've just got two weekends left.
After our Friday afternoon Salinas valley re-tour, I suggested we go to Moss Landing to try out Phil's Seafood Market and Eatery. Moss Landing is only about 8 miles up the coast from us and we had been there visiting antique shops a while back. I had seen Phil's on a list of best Monterey Peninsula seafood establishments. Well, they serve great food in an boisterous, casual atmosphere. I really enjoyed my halibut fish and chips.
But, the best was yet to come: As we were leaving I saw a small poster saying that Phil's featured bluegrass music every Monday evening. So, we went back Monday evening.
The food was great -- I had halibut tacos. I'm conducting an ongoing search for the world's best fish taco, and this one leads the way. Large pieces of grilled halibut surrounded by fine California salsa-stuff, encased in a large wheat tortilla that was so heavy and leaky you could hardly handle it. But, hey, a little juice dribbling down your chin is part of the experience. What's more there were two of them -- tacos, not chins, but on second thought, ... .
Meanwhile a local bluegrass band entertained us -- a good group, not too professional, not too raw. Sounded good.
May go back next Monday, just for the halibut!
Speaking of fish, on one of my homework assignments, Mr. Kim, my student from the Korean AF, who has picked up some of my skeptical view of textbook data, wrote about the data in one homework problem: "It smells fish. (no y) It seems to be fabricated data." He's probably right (statistics means never having to say you're certain.)
Speaking of entertainment, the previous Friday we went to hear Emmy Lou Harris at a classic Spanish-style theater in downtown Monterey. She put on a nice show, but her band too often drowned out her words (for both of us, so it's not just my degraded hearing ability). I've seen that happen often -- on the road bands are given more leeway than they get on recordings. Numbers tend to be overproduced. And the stars let it happen to keep things in harmony, so to speak.
Meanwhile, between Friday night and Monday night, we made a Saturday afternoon drive about an hour up the coast to a stand of redwood trees in a state park near Santa Cruz. Jeff had expressed interest in seeing big trees while they're here and we wanted to check these out. Jeff has memories of a family vacation years ago and a picture showing our trusty Suburban, Old Blue, posed in front of a tree with a tunnel you could drive through. I think that was in Sequoia National Park across the state from here. These trees in the Henry Cowell State Park aren't quite that big, but they're impressive -- tallest is about 270 ft., if I recall correctly. They don't have the diameter of the sequoias, but they're still pretty awesome. A few pictures:
Cheers,
Rob and Susie
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