Monterey County Agriculture, Food & Gardening Digest

Three restaurants in San Francisco, three in Los Angeles and one in San Diego have been added to the Michelin Guide. Two of the SF eateries also made Esquire’s list for best new American restaurants in 2023.

Sea Harvest, the family-owned fishing outfit with boats on the water and a constellation of market-restaurants on shore, has a new market that just opened in Moss Landing.

Local Dungeness crab is off the Christmas menu. And probably the New Year’s one also.

The California Department of Water Resources released an environmental impact report for a tunnel that the state would like to build through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The report identifies potential impacts to farmland, tribal remains and endangered species of fish.

Even though California is facing a crippling housing shortage, one potential source remains untapped. The state allows thousands of apartments used for part of the year by farmworkers to otherwise sit vacant for three to six months.

The Pebble Beach Food & Wine flashbacks strike like lightning, seemingly out of nowhere.

Water managers in Pajaro Valley are paying farmers for water they get back into the ground. The move comes as California has grappled with water shortages in recent years.

Chef Jean Pierre Iuliano—who helmed Café Mare in Santa Cruz for nearly 22 years—served his last meal Nov. 26. But don’t despair. Café Mare will reopen Dec. 1 under new ownership by Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro, who both worked there in the early days.

The Double Up Food Bucks program—with its proven ability to connect food-insecure families and individuals to more fresh produce—officially debuted in Monterey County.

This whole Lady & Larder thing is a lot to digest. That becomes clear within 30 seconds of talking with the twin sisters behind it, Sarah and Boo Simms, who have returned to the Carmel Valley to relaunch the business.

Alvarado on Main, the dining and drinking establishment in Oldtown Salinas, is celebrating its first anniversary with the opening of a new lounge on its mezzanine level.

HERBL, one of California’s biggest cannabis companies, collapsed earlier this year. The company, which sold $700 million of cannabis last year, reportedly shorted the state $17 million in taxes.

The 31-mile-long wine trail along River, Foothill, and Los Coches roads in the Salinas Valley is undergoing a name change and rebrand just as wineries along the route are reaping the fruits of an exceptional wine-growing season.

It was roughly 30 months ago when Edible reported Villa Azteca was adding an ambitious sibling on Carmel Plaza’s ground floor next to Alvarado Street Brewery & Bistro.

Center for Food Safety has filed arguments seeking to revoke the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of nationwide permit 56, which authorizes industrial finfish aquaculture structures in ocean waters around the country. CFS represents a coalition of conservation, tribal, and fishing organizations.

The Elmore Desert Ranch gets 22.5 billion gallons of water from the Colorado River, almost as much as is cleared for Scottsdale, Ariz. And that’s just a fraction of the 386.5 billion gallons from the river going to 19 other families in Imperial Valley.

Richard Yarnold of the Fishwife Restaurant in Pacific Grove won the “Papa Vince Award” at the Monterey County Hospitality Association’s 34th annual Hospitality Recognition Luncheon.

The vodka—shaped like a water pipe and inspired in part by the movie “Up in Smoke”—is being made in partnership with Scotts Valley spirits house UBlendIt.

In a study published in Nature Sustainability, scientists assessed the potential for wide-scale synthetic production of dietary fats. The raw materials are the same as those used by plants: hydrogen in water and carbon dioxide in the air.

A new cutting-edge agriculture research facility named for a long-serving Central Coast politician was ceremoniously opened with a ribbon-cutting on Nov. 3.

The acquisition includes the Daou brand, Daou Mountain Estate, four luxury wineries, and around 400 acres of vineyards in Adelaida District of Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County.

Janice and Joseph Gali of Gali Vineyards in Watsonville still have fruit hanging. There’s good news and bad news, as with anyone trying to ripen coastal syrah this season.

A new type of fishing gear in California is bringing high-quality swordfish to markets and restaurants in the Monterey Bay Area, with the added bonus of decreasing unintended catch.

After 17 years with Driscoll’s and the last six as president, Soren Bjorn has been elected by the Board of Directors as the organic berry company’s new CEO.

Pizza “with everything,” please. Pizza with live music on stage, pizza with a full-blooded tiki bar, and pizza optional with special events in a venue customized for private parties.

Hundreds of wells in Tulare Lake aquifer are at risk of going dry. Today's recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on local plans that fail to stop excessive groundwater pumping.

Water providers say rebates for residential areas are costly and residents may refuse to remove their lawns. The rules aim to save enough water for more than a million households a year.

Chef Butter started when Jane Shaffer, maker of the fresh artichoke hearts line called ArtiHearts, got a bit bored during the pandemic. The longtime chef turned entrepreneur had been toying with the idea of compound butters.

The European Union has banned certain additives that are used in American candies and baked goods. California is on the cusp of prohibiting their sale by 2027.

DeRose Vineyards in Hollister is well known to wine lovers for its casual atmosphere that somehow accentuates the serious intent of winegrowers Pat and Alphonse DeRose.

This qualifies as more than pretty good news. Pretty Good Advice in Soquel is welcoming a sister into the world.

Using intricate infrared images captured by airplane over California's Central Valley, researchers were able to distinguish Cabernet Sauvignon grape vines that were infected but not showing symptoms.