Check, Please! Bay Area, season 20, episode 7, airs Thursday, July 24, at 7:30 pm, on KQED 9. See other television airtimes.

On our final episode of season 20’s visit to the Monterey Bay Area, we start in Monterey at Woody’s at the Airport where elevated comfort food meets panoramic runway views and a laid-back, welcoming vibe. Diners tuck into buttery sautéed sand dabs, honey chili wings, and “Wills Fargo” steak bites alongside a cucumber sesame salad — all before takeoff. Next, we head to Lucy’s on Lighthouse in Pacific Grove, a hot dog shop that pays tribute to NorCal surf and skate culture with over-the-top toppings and big personality. Crowd favorites include the bacon-wrapped Asilomar dog with house-made chili and grilled jalapeños, the Cobblestones dog featuring pulled pork and barbecue sauce, and crispy tots with Lucy’s sauce. We wrap up at Home in Soquel, where Chef Brad Briske serves seasonal dishes made with locally butchered meat and backyard produce in a former house-turned-restaurant. Standouts include the fried chicken with anchovy aioli, campanelle pasta with maitake mushrooms, and a candy cap mushroom panna cotta topped with porcini filo. And in Cecilia Tries It, reporter Cecilia Phillips winds her way through Castroville, chasing the story of the humble artichoke — a vegetable rooted deep in local soil and lore.

Host Leslie Sbrocco joins guests Julia Madden-Fulk, Percival Lammie and TJ Thomander from KQED in San Francisco.

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Episode Transcript

Leslie Sbrocco: We’re jetting in for coastal comforts in Monterey.

TJ Thomander: When you stick your fork in, it goes down inches.

Leslie Sbrocco: Hot dog heaven in Pacific Grove.

Percival Lammie: A little bit of mustard on it, call it a day.

Leslie Sbrocco: And a homey date night destination in Soquel.

Julia Madden-Fulk: It did have a nice umami flavor.

Leslie Sbrocco: Just ahead on a special Monterey Bay area edition of “Check, Please!”

Jonathan Saguil: Eat the heart. Eat your heart out.

Leslie Sbrocco: Hi, I’m Leslie Sbrocco. Welcome to a special edition of “Check, Please! Bay Area.” Today we’re venturing down the coast to explore the scenic Monterey Bay area. We have three guests, and each one recommends one of their favorite spots. And the other two go check them out to see what they think. Joining me at the “Check, Please!” table today are historical tour guide Julia Madden-Fulk, design program manager TJ Thomander and orthotics practitioner Percival Lammie. Welcome, everyone.

Percival Lammie: Thank you.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Good to be here.

Leslie Sbrocco: Percival says his pick offers elevated food that will take your taste buds to new heights. Don’t worry. Whether you’re a jet setter or just passing through, there’s no boarding pass required to kick back in Monterey at Woody’s at the Airport.

[music playing]

Tim Wood: If someone was to ask me what it’s like to own a restaurant at the airport, I would say it’s one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever had. Turn that puppy up. And that’s what’s exciting about it. We gear our food towards what people want to eat, whether they’re on the fly, no pun intended, or whether they want to sit and have a really nice meal.

Woman: Oh, man, that’s good.

Tim Wood: We have locals that come in every day.

Man: Yeah!

Tim Wood: Some folks, they’re just grabbing a bite before they get on a flight.

Man: I’d travel over 700 miles for a chicken wing like that.

Tim Wood: One of the biggest compliments we get is the menu has something for everyone. If I was to describe the cuisine, it would be locally sourced, Monterey-based, American-style food. This is our world-famous beet salad. It is all from here in Monterey County and up north a little bit in Hollister. Boom! Let that puppy get cooking. My favorite thing to eat would be a burger. There you go. We make a really good burger. Boom, boom. And that is a burger. What are we known for? It’s 100% the sand dabs… world-famous Monterey sand dabs… and the prime rib.

Man: Oh, that’s my dinner.

Tim Wood: This is our honey wing sauce. The craziest part about having a restaurant in the airport is that, like me, it doesn’t have any boundaries. We just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And everybody loves a little bit of the Monterey Bay sea salt. Bang! The vibe at Woody’s at the Airport is pretty hustle and bustle. People coming, people going. You never know when you’re gonna hit turbulence. But whether you’re a diner or whether you want food and get out of here, our staff is really there to take care of you. And that’s really what makes the difference at Woody’s.

All: Woody’s!

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Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, Percival, this seems like a real locals hangout.

Percival Lammie: Yes, yes, yes, it is. But first, I’m your friend, so call me Percy.

Leslie Sbrocco: Ah, okay, Percy. Percy. Are they friends, too?

Percival Lammie: Yes. They’re friends, too. Yes, yes, you are. So, yeah, what I like is that any place you sit, you actually see the runway where the planes land.

Leslie Sbrocco: I wore my flight attendant scarf.

Percival Lammie: Yes, yes, I noticed.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Perfect for the occasion.

Leslie Sbrocco: When you’re watching the planes…

Percival Lammie: Yes.

Leslie Sbrocco: …what do you order?

Percival Lammie: Well, first, I like the Wills Fargo steak bites. Wonderful. Tender, dipped in teriyaki. They garnish it with cucumber and red peppers, and then they sprinkle it with sesame. I didn’t try any of that. I just ate the steak bites.

Leslie Sbrocco: Give me the meat.

Percival Lammie: Yes, yes.

Julia Madden-Fulk: I had some beer-battered onion rings. I can’t resist an onion ring. And they came really quickly. They were nice and thick, a little oily, but they had some really good sauces. Ranch. And then a spicy ketchup. It was so good.

Leslie Sbrocco: And what did you start with?

TJ Thomander: The plating really struck me. Even with the bread that they brought in, that they had sliced into small pieces with roasted garlic on top and parsley with drizzled olive oil. And so we ate that right up and chased it down with some honey wings.

Percival Lammie: Honey chili wings.

TJ Thomander: The honey chili wings. Exactly. And even on the menu, you know, it said award winning. So of course we got it.

Leslie Sbrocco: And it is award winning?

Percival Lammie: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, let’s talk a little bit more about the honey chili wings because obviously that’s a popular item.

Percival Lammie: Yes, yes. It had a glistening like it was wet but it wasn’t. So I’m sitting there, I’m chewing. I’m like, “Wow, these are amazing.” I’m talking to my wife. And we were just having fun with it. And I was like, “Wow.” I needed more. I needed more.

TJ Thomander: For the main course, I had the sand dabs and they were herb-floured, so slightly breaded with a beurre blanc caper sauce that was just drenched from top to bottom with another side of tartar sauce, steamed veggies on the side. And it’s a very generous helping.

Julia Madden-Fulk: I had the Swank Farms beet salad, and I love beets. I don’t eat meat, but I feel like a beet — like, I crave that like people crave meat.

Leslie Sbrocco: A beet is kind of like a meat.

Julia Madden-Fulk: It’s like the meat of the vegetable world. And it was really delicious. It had baby lettuce, a little radicchio, which added a nice bitterness to it.

TJ Thomander: It was ginormous.

Julia Madden-Fulk: It was huge, yeah.

TJ Thomander: And I mean, there were beets in it, but there was a lot of other, you know, fennel and citrus and it was a big salad.

Leslie Sbrocco: Mm-hmm.

Julia Madden-Fulk: And for a main, we had the pasta of the day. It’s got a nice brothy tomato sauce with ricotta and a little fennel and Parmesan on the top.

Leslie Sbrocco: And do you ever get the pasta?

Percival Lammie: I would usually get the burger.

Leslie Sbrocco: Okay.

Percival Lammie: It’s charbroiled. So you have that smoky flavor. Get the fixings of bacon and everything is crispy. What I really like is that when you get a burger, the bun has to be toasted.

Leslie Sbrocco: Yes, no soggy bun.

Percival Lammie: That is the killer. No soggy — No, no, I don’t do that. I don’t do that. It just adds to the flavor. So we enjoyed it. We enjoyed with the fries and everything. What I did order this time was the fish and chips with the cod fish, and I like that it’s crispy, it wasn’t oily and it was flaky. And they give you enough. They give you a generous — I mean, if you’re gonna eat there, you might as well know you’re gonna take some food home.

TJ Thomander: Or on the plane.

Percival Lammie: Or on the plane. On the plane.

Julia Madden-Fulk: It was definitely generous helpings.

Leslie Sbrocco: And what about desserts?

TJ Thomander: Yeah, we had the cheesecake, which again was just beautifully plated. It was a generous helping for two, maybe three people.

Percival Lammie: Yeah.

TJ Thomander: It was just the classic kind of crunchy graham cracker crust. And I mean, when you stick your fork in, it goes down inches until you hit that crust.

Percival Lammie: Yeah.

Leslie Sbrocco: It sounds good.

Julia Madden-Fulk: I also had dessert. Similar but a little different. We had the crème brulée. It was topped with strawberries and a little homemade whipped cream. Had a good crack of the sugar crust. So really delicious. We gobbled that up. It was quick.

Leslie Sbrocco: Now, talk about service because you go back again and again.

Percival Lammie: I like the atmosphere and I like how they treat people really, really well. Impeccable service.

Leslie Sbrocco: Did you feel the same about service?

Julia Madden-Fulk: I did feel the same. It wasn’t too busy, but they were super on top of it. I’m sure they would be if it was busy as well.

Percival Lammie: Right.

Leslie Sbrocco: Right. Is this a place you’d go back to?

TJ Thomander: Oh, absolutely. You can hang out there seeing these big airplanes land right there in front of you. It’s one of the most unique atmospheres I’ve experienced.

Leslie Sbrocco: It’s really fun.

TJ Thomander: Yeah.

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright. If you would like to try Woody’s at the Airport, it’s located on Fred Kane Drive in Monterey. And the average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $60.

[music playing]

Joleen Green: Lucy’s on Lighthouse is everything I love and know. You guys good? My whole family skates, surfs, and I played roller derby for 13 years. This basically looks like my house. I have surfboards all over my yard, skateboards all in my house on the walls. 30 years of collecting stickers. This is Lucy, the dog that the restaurant is named after. I love me a hot dog. I love me a hot dog. We get them at concerts. We get them on vacation. We get them everywhere. I eat a lot of hot dogs. When you bite into a hot dog, the crispness, the snap makes a really good wiener. We have 18 different kinds of gourmet hot dog creations. We have really good sauerkraut, homemade chili, nacho cheese, all the good things. You could put anything you want on your wiener. [Laughs] All the names of our hot dogs are surf spots around the area, and the names of our sides are skateboarding tricks and roller-derby moves. Our most popular hot dog is named the Asilomar. It’s definitely the most surfed spot in Pacific Grove where all the locals surf. We have tasty milkshakes with whipped cream. We have beer, wine. We have mermaid mimosas, which is Brut champagne with a scoop of Marianne’s Raspberry sorbet ice cream. And it’s really good.

Man: This song I like to call “Check, Please!”

Joleen Green: Pacific Grove is the most amazing community. I was born and raised here. My whole family is still here. All the customers I’ve met over the last five years, just getting to know everyone in the area has been very special. It really means a lot to me to be in this town.

All: [cheering]

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, Julia. This is a meaty-centric place. What’s a vegetarian like you doing at a place like this?

Julia Madden-Fulk: I know, I don’t know how I found myself there. Um, but the nice thing about Lucy’s is you can substitute any hot dog for a bacon-wrapped dog or for a veggie dog. And as a vegetarian who grew up not really eating alternative meat, it’s been a fun experience to dive into the hot-dog world. I usually go for the bone yards, which is bell pepper sautéed with onions, and it has the Lucy’s sauce on it, which is some sort of mixture…

Percival Lammie: What’s in the Lucy’s sauce?

Leslie Sbrocco: It’s their secret sauce and it’s secret.

Julia Madden-Fulk: They’re not telling us. It seems to have a little bit of a honey mustard taste to it. Really good vinegary sauce.

Leslie Sbrocco: I love that it’s a vegetarian called the Bone Yard.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Yeah.

Leslie Sbrocco: And when you say hot dogs and ice cream, you know, you’re thinking limited menu, but there is a lot to choose from.

TJ Thomander: Oh, yes.

Leslie Sbrocco: What’d you get?

TJ Thomander: I think it was called the Dick Verde, which are Brussels sprouts. What was special about them is they had tons of flavor but were still crispy. Our whole table just demolished them.

Julia Madden-Fulk: I have the same note that they’re really crunchy and crispy, but they also have so much of the caramelized balsamic glaze. So they’re really drenched in that sauce. Don’t know about healthy, but they’re delicious.

Leslie Sbrocco: They’re delicious. Alright, what did you get, Percy?

Percival Lammie: Well, I had tater tots. The Ollie is the tater tot. It’s wonderful. Just crispy all the way around. I like that they’re crunchy. I tried to use my fork to dip in the sauce and stuff. I couldn’t get my fork in. I was like, it’s perfect.

Leslie Sbrocco: That’s a real tater tot.

Percival Lammie: That’s a real tater tot. So I had to grab it and just shove it in there.

TJ Thomander: Ollied it right into your mouth.

Percival Lammie: Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much. I don’t know what the Ollie is, but do you — Do you know what…?

TJ Thomander: Yeah. It’s just when you jump on a skateboard and it sounds like that’s exactly what you did with the food.

Percival Lammie: Yeah. Jumped into the Lucy’s sauce.

TJ Thomander: Yeah.

Leslie Sbrocco: What about a hot dog?

Percival Lammie: Hot dog — I had the Asilomar. It’s a Nathan’s hot dog, which I’m from New York. Nathan’s hot dog, carnivals and all that. Nathan’s hot — wrapped in bacon with a spicy chili sauce and cheese melted. It was really, really good. What really threw me was that there was so much stuff, and you can’t pick it up because it’s too heavy. So you got to use a fork and knife, which really is silly using a fork and knife on a hot dog.

Leslie Sbrocco: Yeah, you got to pick up a hot dog.

Percival Lammie: If I picked it up, it’d have been all over me. It was a lot of food. This thing was heavy.

TJ Thomander: So the dog I got was called Freights. And it’s a full spear of pickle with a tangy mustard on it, relish and sport peppers. So it had, like, the sweet and the spicy and just felt kind of like the most classic dog that you can get. And then my parents got the Cobblestone, which was a bacon-wrapped hot dog that also had shredded pork on top. So I mean, again, very heavy, but so indulgent. And after a long day at the beach, I can’t imagine anything better.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Right.

TJ Thomander: And then my children got the mac and cheese, which actually has, like, a Tabasco onion ring on top.

Percival Lammie: Yeah. They dip it in Tabasco sauce and then they deep-fry it.

TJ Thomander: That was one that we passed around and really loved.

Leslie Sbrocco: Excellent. What else did you get?

Percival Lammie: I got the corn dog. Now, I appreciate a really, really good corn dog. I’ve had them at the carnivals here, but nothing like what’s at Lucy’s. It tasted like they actually took the Nathan’s hot dog, and they cooked it a little bit before they dipped it and deep-fried it. And it’s a sweet cornmeal that they use. Wonderful. A little bit of mustard on it. Call it a day. We were fighting over that.

TJ Thomander: Yeah. We got the corn dog or my boys got the corn dog, too, but we ate it.

Percival Lammie: You will not be disappointed.

Leslie Sbrocco: So we got taters, we got dogs, we got veggie dogs. Let’s talk ice cream.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Yeah, they have Marianne’s ice cream, a Santa Cruz company, and they have a lot of the special flavors. My favorite is 1020, which is like caramel and Oreo and all that good stuff.

Percival Lammie: Oh, we had the banana split, but I discovered — I discovered something and we fought over it. It’s called the butter brickle.

Leslie Sbrocco: Oh, I love a butter brickle.

Percival Lammie: I didn’t know what a butter brickle was. You know, vanilla ice cream with, like, toffee bits in it. It was crazy. And then we had basic vanilla and mint chip. If the whole thing was butter brickle, I’d have been fine. It was — Oh, we gonna have to go back and get that.

Leslie Sbrocco: Did your kids get any ice cream? Did you get any ice cream?

TJ Thomander: So we did get the mint chip milkshake. We shared it and it went down too fast, so we had to order another one. It’s exactly the way that you want to top a meal like this with these hot dogs. And so we were just all delighted.

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright. If you would like to try Lucy’s on Lighthouse, it’s located on Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove. The average tab per person without drinks is around $20.

Many chefs want you to feel at home in their restaurant, but the owners of TJ’s favorite place take that sentiment to a whole new level. Step inside the cozy house and you’re treated to a rustic meal inspired by the bounty of the coast, plus whatever’s in season in the gardens right out back. Located in Soquel Village, it’s the appropriately named Home.

[music playing]

Bradford Briske: Home Soquel is truly Santa Cruz County’s food destination. This area produces food that feeds the country and the world, you know. So we’re so lucky to be here in the middle of it. People come and they just see a little house and they’re like, “Oh, how weird. Like, what a weird restaurant.” And then you take them outside and it’s the whole expansive space, you know, it’s a street to creek property, and it’s kind of special because it’s like a little hidden gem. That smoked flavor? Mmm.

Bradford Briske: Yeah. The mustard. I made the menu based off of the way that I like to eat, with a focus on just strictly California ingredients. Welcome to the Home garden.

Linda Ritten: In our garden, the herbs are always fresh. The rosemary, the fresh Buddha hand lemons, the fingerling limes, all the satsumas.

Bradford Briske: This is a beautiful garnish. Not having to even go to a farmer’s market to get that, but be able to come out and pick it just an hour before we start dinner service, that’s what makes Home so special and so unique. We have a whole animal-butchering program. A lot of that lends itself into this homemade charcuterie program. Copa Lomo, our fennel salami. We make all our own bone-in prosciutto. We cure copas. We cure loins. We cure sirloins.

Linda Ritten: We like to keep it homegrown. We want people to feel comfortable.

Bradford Briske: The vibe is so Santa Cruz. It’s like classic combination of flip-flops, swimsuit to fancy dinner with family, date night. There’s no particular style or dress code, that’s for sure.

Man: For three years.

Bradford Briske: It’s definitely worth the wait.

Leslie Sbrocco: Now, TJ, you know, we use the term “farm to table” a lot. Backyard to table. But this truly lives that, right?

TJ Thomander: Exactly. This really embodies that whole philosophy. The chef is looking to see what’s in season, what is ripe and what is delicious. Every time you go, there’ll probably be something different. So I always start with the focaccia with the sea lettuce butter. When else are you going to have sea lettuce butter?

Leslie Sbrocco: Sea lettuce butter. No, I’ve not heard of that before.

TJ Thomander: It’s served in an abalone shell. It’s like this tangy, umami seaweed flavor in your butter that combines with the crispy focaccia. And it’s just a perfect combination that you didn’t know could exist and really could only exist in this area.

Leslie Sbrocco: Focaccia. Focaccia?

Julia Madden-Fulk: Focaccia indeed. It was so beautiful in the presentation. It had a nice garlicky flavor to it as well. I loved the texture of the seaweed. It was a little bit of a crunch in each bite of the butter.

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright, after the focaccia, what did you have next, Julia?

Julia Madden-Fulk: Yes, we had the baby lettuce salad, which was also presented beautifully. And it came with fennel. It had some crumbles on top that were actually fermented almonds.

TJ Thomander: I was surprised that it says “Parmesan.” Which is the fermented almonds.

Julia Madden-Fulk: So it’s like “Parmesan” in quotes. Um, but it did have a nice umami flavor from that fermented almonds. And so that was really delicious. And the thing that really pulled me in was the cauliflower that I think was quickly fried. It had a bit of a chili-oil seasoning and currants on top as well. It was very delicious. I could just, like, drink that and I’m going to go back for that cauliflower.

Leslie Sbrocco: Just for that?

Julia Madden-Fulk: Yeah.

Leslie Sbrocco: What else did you have, Percy?

Percival Lammie: I had the beet salad. How they cut the beet, it almost looked like tuna. The way it was shaped and everything. I was like, “Is this…” And I said, “No, it’s beet.” It was a beautiful presentation tossed with a light vinaigrette. And I was like, “Mmm, eat this.” And I like the beets. She tried and she thought — You know, she doesn’t eat beets, but she ate that.

Leslie Sbrocco: Your wife?

Percival Lammie: Yes. She took it.

Leslie Sbrocco: She likes beets now.

Percival Lammie: She likes that beet.

Leslie Sbrocco: Anything else?

Julia Madden-Fulk: Well, I also had a mushroom campanelle pasta, which was insane. And I don’t know what kind of mushroom was in there, but I think it was maybe a blend of different types. It definitely had, like, a really savory porcini flavor to it in a really creamy sauce. By that point, I was getting full and I was excited to have that for leftovers.

Percival Lammie: I had the lasagnette. It has a porcini bechamel sauce in it, and they put it in a skillet and they bake it. The edges were crispy, which I like my lasagnas crispy. It came hot to the table and we just barreled right into it.

TJ Thomander: So we also got the black cod, which they source locally, same-day-caught fish and it was just so flaky, so tender, drizzled with golden raisins and capers. I didn’t know you could cook fish like that.

Leslie Sbrocco: Wonderful.

Percival Lammie: I had the fried chicken and they actually do a rice flour, which makes it extra crispy.

Leslie Sbrocco: And GF!

Percival Lammie: Gluten free, and they serve it with an anchovy aioli sauce. But the chicken is so good I didn’t even dip it. I really enjoyed it. I’d go back just for that.

Leslie Sbrocco: Let’s talk about the drinks program.

TJ Thomander: Well, they’re true to their name. They source all their wines from the home state of California. It’s really an impressive wine room that you can dine in as well. And they source local ciders. I had a Don’t Make Me Blush cider from Santa Cruz.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Yeah, they have some really good drinks. I decided to opt for the homemade apple soda and it was very refreshing.

Leslie Sbrocco: What about dessert?

Julia Madden-Fulk: We had the candy cap panna cotta.

Percival Lammie: Oh.

Julia Madden-Fulk: And it was also a mushroom dish. Very beautiful. But I wouldn’t have tasted the mushroom in it if I didn’t know it was candy cap. That has such a sweet maple-y flavor. It had some pistachios on top and a porcini phyllo strip on top. We ate that right up even though we were full, so it was delicious.

Percival Lammie: We had the chocolate torte, it said GF on the front, and it didn’t clue into my head that it was supposed to be gluten free. I thought it was good food. So I’m looking at this going, “Okay.” We were full, but we finished it. Ice cream. It was just all this goodness just sitting there waiting to be eaten. It’s beautiful.

Leslie Sbrocco: Talk in terms of ambiance and price. Is it a special-occasion place? It’s a place you can bring your kids?

TJ Thomander: I go on special occasions or just whenever. I probably wouldn’t bring my kids.

Percival Lammie: It feels like a place that you would take if you were going to ask someone to marry you, or you go on a first date. You have a fireplace going in the back. You got these lights dim. It was beautiful.

Leslie Sbrocco: It really felt like home.

Percival Lammie: Yes, yes.

Leslie Sbrocco: Alright. If you would like to try Home, it’s located on North Main Street in Soquel. The average multi-course tab per person without drinks is around $65.

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And now, can you name California’s official state vegetable? Reporter Cecilia Phillips has the answer as she heads to Castroville for more Monterey Bay area bites you’ve just got to try.

Cecilia Phillips: So we’re here in Castroville, which happens to be the spot for artichokes, California’s state vegetable.

Sean Pezzini: Yeah. California produces 99% of the artichokes that the US consumes, and Monterey County produces 90% of those artichokes. My great grandfather immigrated from northern Italy in 1929 and started farming artichokes. And we grow them from the same rootstock that he was farming 100 years ago. I do not recommend boiling artichokes. Most people go the easy route and they just throw them in a tub of water.

Cecilia Phillips: I’ve only ever boiled them.

Sean Pezzini: But they get very waterlogged and they lose a lot of their flavor. Put the artichoke face down like this when you steam it, and the steam goes up in between the leaves, and it steams it a little bit quicker and a lot more evenly.

Cecilia Phillips: So you have all these beautiful fields, you’ve got the farmstand. And if somebody wants to get a bite while they’re here…

Sean Pezzini: Yeah, we have it. We have a food truck out there. It’s called The Choke Coach.

Cecilia Phillips: I’ve never seen this before. You do artichoke tacos?

Jonathan Saguil: We do artichoke tacos. That’s a whole heart of artichoke. We grill it, mix it with onions in there, and then put the dressing in there, which is the lemon dill.

Cecilia Phillips: Okay. My first artichoke taco.

Jonathan Saguil: Cheers. Okay.

Cecilia Phillips: Mm-hmm. If you’re going to eat an artichoke, eat the heart.

Jonathan Saguil: Eat the heart. Eat your heart out.

[Both laughing]

Cecilia Phillips: We are here on our next stop for the artichoke trail. I think that this is the biggest artichoke I’ve ever seen.

Juan Salazar: It’s the world’s biggest artichoke. 18 feet tall by 22 feet wide. We have about 30 artichoke dishes, including cream of artichoke soup, artichoke enchiladas, artichoke bread, a little bit of everything with artichokes.

Cecilia Phillips: And you also have a giant sampler plate that people can order.

Juan Salazar: Well, actually, this is our medium artichoke sampler.

Cecilia Phillips: This is the medium?

Juan Salazar: This is the medium with fire-roasted artichoke, jalapeño artichoke dip, artichoke nachos, the deep-fried artichoke hearts and the Castroville rolls.

Cecilia Phillips: Wow. It’s like an artichoke chimichanga.

Juan Salazar: Yeah, it’s like an artichoke chimichanga kind of.

Cecilia Phillips: Oh.

[music playing]

Cecilia Phillips: Final stop on the artichoke trail. And as they say, it’s 5:00 somewhere. And right now, that place is Pearl Hour in Monterey. Tell me about this spot.

Katie Blandin: Pearl Hour is a cocktail bar and lounge. And it’s been a bar here since the 1940s. The cocktail that put us on the artichoke trail is the Black and Yellow, and it is a take on the Bee’s Knees because it’s got lemon juice, honey and gin. We’ve added the Carciofo amaro, made with three varieties of fresh artichoke.

Cecilia Phillips: Oh, yeah. So this tastes like a traditional Bee’s Knees cocktail that’s been running through an artichoke field.

Katie Blandin: Exactly. It’s got a little bit of a bitter, earthy element to it, which I think is complimentary of the Prohibition-era classic.

Cecilia Phillips: So after somebody’s been traveling along the artichoke trail, this is the spot to get a very classic signature cocktail or maybe something with a twist. Cheers.

Katie Blandin: Cheers.

[music playing]

Leslie Sbrocco: I have to thank my fantastic guests on this week’s show. Julia Madden-Fulk, lover of veggie dogs with all the fixin’s at Lucy’s on Lighthouse in Pacific Grove. TJ Thomander, whose happy place is at Home in Soquel, and Percy Lammie, who always grabs the window seat at Woody’s at the Airport in Monterey. Join us next time when three more guests will recommend their favorite spots right here on “Check, Please! Bay Area.” I’m Leslie Sbrocco and I’ll see you then. Cheers, everyone.

Julia Madden-Fulk: Cheers.

Leslie Sbrocco: Did you have fun?

[Indistinct conversations]

Cecilia Phillips: So the artichoke cupcake has really piqued my interest.

Sean Pezzini: People think it sounds a little funky to have an artichoke in a cupcake, but we compare it to a zucchini bread, which is pretty delicious, or carrot cake. And we put a cream cheese frosting on the top, and you can’t beat that. Yeah. See, right there you can see that nice big chunk of artichoke heart in there.

Cecilia Phillips: Alright, here we go. Mm. It’s got the tiniest earthy flavor, but it’s mostly just delicious, sweet, cupcake, sugary goodness.

Sean Pezzini: Exactly.

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