Twilight, the dinner not the stupid movie

Pierino has spent an indecent amount of time crashing the Central Coast on his way to and from....points north and south. On our return trip from Hercules/Pinole we spent 20 hours in Monterey (we love Monterey) and after a long drive from East Bay landed ourselves at Stokes. This was fortuitous. Because Stokes has now closed. Shock, horror, awe, grief. New chef, but not his fault. We really liked the frogs legs. Bones were frenched so that you had nice toothy morsels of flesh like a lollypop on a little stick of amphibian tibia. The "Buffalo Sweetbreads" were flat out wierd, but they did taste good. Alas, folks this is Twilight for fine dining in Monterey. We'll miss restaurant bartenders Mario and Dino---but they'll turn up someplace soon. And the original chef Brandon Miller is cooking it up in Carmel.

At our hotel we picked up a copy of the free newspaper "Monterey Weekly" and as a consequence had a quick morning confab with Daren Warnick, the brains behind "Cannery Row, Sardine Co." Do you like sardines? Pierino love sardines. Pierino loves fish in tins. Daren got some timely press that pretty much wiped out his inventory almost over night, and it took him a little time to restock it. Price of success. But he has a good product carrying on the heritage of Steinbeck Country and you should go visit him at 700 Cannery Row.