The Squid Brothers: Vineyard Bistro bolsters Carmel Valley Village squid fame

Carmel Valley may seem an unlikely place to find outstanding calamari—but the enjoyment gets even better. Check our SquidBrothers Blog comments on the Los Laureles Lodge for a great calamari steak, and now—you can add an outstanding squid sammich to Carmel Valley's tentacled laurels.

The Vineyard Bistro is another of the embarrassment of great little restaurants in sunny Carmel Valley Village—12 miles up Carmel Valley Road from Hwy 1 on Monterey Peninsula's southern side. This venerable establishment has been around under a number of monikers, but has finally settled into a comfortable identity as an informal outside/causally classy inside dining experience. We recommend squid outside in the sunshine where you can dive into one of the Monterey Peninsula's truly exceptional calamari sandwiches—lovingly referred to by SquidBrothers as "Squid Sammich"—as you may have already noticed.

Now, on to the best part. A look at the Vineyard Bistro calamari steak sandwich (around $14) comes with fries or salad. The salad is as exceptional as the ciabatta roll. The only recommendation SquidBrother Hemp would make is to ask the artists in the kitchen to hold the tomatoes and onion; it's a preference thing, of course, but they tend to distract from the more traditional (or should I say purist) taste of the delicate taste of the enormous squid steak at hand.

Experienced calamari lovers will appreciate that the Vineyard Bistro knows the secret to a light batter that stays put through the entire experience of a squid sammich (and accompaniments) that rate a rare near-perfect SquidBrothers score. The salad of spring lettuce and balsamic vinaigrette is awesome.