Friday, May 21, 2010

Monterey Jack meets Squid Sammich at the Golden Tee!







OK, all you loyal "Squid Sammich" fans rejoyce in a new twist on a great calamari sandwich: introducing the Golden Tee at the Monterey Peninsula Airport (now, would the Squid Brothers recommend a place not worth finding?)—upstairs in the main terminal.

A picture is worth a thousand words: the perfect bun, melted Monterey Jack cheese, and generous portions of perfectly done calamari steak make this Squid Brothers experience a winner. Fries, or potato salad (this one could have been made by your aunt; the one famous for her potato salads). Full bar and views of the plateau runway above the Pacific. And validated parking right out the terminal front door! Oh, and this is not an LAX terminal; it's Monterey scale: just park and walk in.

This calamari sammich is hard to beat and, with melted Monterey Jack cheese, a new local Squid Brothers favorite. Don't let the airport location fool you; this is a really good restaurant with really friendly and helpful staff. You don't have to be flying in or out of Monterey to enjoy the Golden Tee. It's got a great Monterey Jack twist to a really good squid sammich.


The Golden Tee
200 Fred Kane Drive
Monterey Peninsula Airport Terminal
Monterey CA 93940
(831) 373-1232


Squid fans, here are the ratings—out of a total of 10 tentacles each:

Presentation: 8.0
Taste and Quality 9.0
Service & Atmosphere: 9.0
Value: 9.0
Overall Squid Brothers Rating: 8.75 (Really Good)

Squid Brother Hemp



Sunday, March 14, 2010

"First Awakenings" is King of the Calamari Breakfast!



















FIRST AWAKENINGS

In the American Tin Cannery
125 Ocean View Boulevard
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
(831) 372-1125















The just about perfect calamari breakfast has been confirmed. In all honesty, we Squid Brothers have known for a very long time that First Awakenings—in the old American Tin Cannery sardine can making plant in Pacific Grove just over the City line from Monterey in the Cannery Row district—has been doing a great calamari breakfast for a long, long time. So it was about time to give it the serious Squid Brothers test. The results did not disappoint.
This is one of the Monterey Peninsula's most popular restaurants on weekends and holidays around Cannery Row, and it pays to avoid the tourist traffic if you can. If not, then just hang out and know that no matter how busy they are you can be assured the calamari breakfast is as good as it gets and the wait will prove well worth it for real squid lovers.
Their squid steaks are generous and well seasoned with a batter that stays on the shingle! Here's a big Squid Brothers plus: tell your waitress (many working there for way over a dozen years—which tells you a lot about the owners and their operation) that you'd like "Craig's special double-calamari breakfast." Craig is one of the two owners (his partner, Chris, runs a great sister restaurant in Old Town Salinas near the National Steinbeck Center). For just a couple bucks more they double the huge calamari steak that pushes the cottage potatoes and toast, or English muffins, and eggs-your-way, almost off the plate!
OK, so there's lots of food and and endless pot of coffee at each table. The best part is that the calamari you came for meets the highest standards for breakfast squid anywhere we've put squid to the breakfast test so far. And I promise it will be a tough time to knock First Awakenings out of the top spot in the Squid Brothers ratings so far.
Remember, a trip to the Monterey Peninsula isn't complete for a real squid fan until you've done breakfast calamari at First Awakeings, just around the corner from the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row. OK squid fans, here are the ratings—out of a total of 10 tentacles each:

Presentation: 9.5 (unpretentous value looking at y0u)
Taste and quality: 9.5
Service & Atmosphere: 9.5
Value: 10
Overall Squid Brothers Rating: 9.63
By SquidBrotherHemp






Friday, January 15, 2010

Rosine's in Monterey rules!






Lunch at Rosine's, a busy Alvarado Street landmark restaurant-cafe, is NOT TO MISS. Their calamari sandwich is the gold standard SquidBrothers "squid sammich." It's busy and noisy most of the time; renowned for it, actually—but their calamari sandwich rules and their SquidBrothers rating is in spite of it. This is just about the best calamari sandwich you can find.

A huge Sicilian seasoned squid steak, (the batter stays on the steak!) on a perfectly grilled soft roll that actually contributes to the great experience. The only condiment that comes with it (unless requested, of course) is a fabulous pesto sauce that makes the perfect compliment to the perfectly and lightly done squid steak. Salad or fries; you can order blue cheese and Italian on the side. Both generous and excellent. SquidBrothers everywhere: this is our new leader. This squid experience is not to be missed; ignore at peril to your squid satisfaction quotient.


Marks for Rosine's:

Presentation: 9 (out of ten tentacles)
Taste: 9
Service & Atmosphere: 9 though the busy, noisy envrioment is a Rosine's hallmark.
Value: 10
Overall Squid Brothers Rating: 9.3 out of ten tentacles!

By SquidBrotherHemp

434 Alvarado Street
Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 375-1400