The Squid Brothers

Monterey Jack meets Squid Sammich at the Golden Tee!

2010-05-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

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

http://goldenteemonterey.com

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

"First Awakenings" is King of the Calamari Breakfast!

2010-03-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

FIRST AWAKENINGS

In the American Tin Cannery

125 Ocean View Boulevard

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-1125

www.firstawakenings.net

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

Rosine's in Monterey rules!

2010-01-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

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

Kula Ranch Island Steakhouse

2009-06-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Kula Ranch Island Steakhouse is located at the Marina Sanctuary Resort, next to the Marina State Beach, just off Highway One at Reservation Road, Marina, CA.

3295 Dunes Rd
Marina, CA 93933
(831) 883-9479
www.kula-ranch.com

Calmari Sandwich (lunchtime)

A great value at $8.95! Chose outdoor deck seating with a view of Monterey Bay & Pacific Ocean.
Choice of regular or sweet potato fries. Tangy and complex tartar sauce and sweet pototo fries dip.

These guys know how to do calamari steak. Perfectly done, uniqely seasoned; the first tase of the calamari hanging out of the bun reminded me instantly of really good abalone! The sweet potato fries, however, weren't right out of the fryer. A glass of Longboard made it all nearly perfect.

Marks:
Presentation: 9 (out of ten tentacles)
Taste: 9
Service & Atmosphere: 8
Value: 10
Overall Squid Brothers Rating: 9 out of ten tentacles!

This calamari sandwich, in an Island theme restaurant, sets a new standard in our Monterey Bay area experience. The rest of their Pacific Rim menu is well worth the trip to the dunes of Marina (just north of Monterey on Highway 1).

Review by Squid Brother Hemp

Thursday, June 4th, 2009.

Willie’s Smokehouse, Cannery Row, Monterey, California

2009-04-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Willie's Smokehouse, Cannery Row, Monterey, California, March 2009

Calamari Appetizer (lunchtime)

For Eight Dollars it was disappointing: rather heavily breaded;
nothing special about it.

Marks:
Presentation: 6
Taste 6
Service & Atmosphere 8
Overall Squid Brothers Rating: 6.7

Uninspired calamari at a restaurant that excels at many other items.
Posted by Squid Brother Hemp

Sealord Calamari Strips from New Zealand

2009-02-20T08:04:00.001-08:00

I've been in my own personal squid drought for the last 2 months. I've run out of good local places here in Los Angeles to try new squid dishes. Los Angeles has just about any kind of food you could hope for but it can't rival Monterey county for opportunities for squid. It looks like we need to take another road trip to squidland.

Here is one from the archives. I picked up this SEALORD brand calamari chips box when I was in the Cook Islands. Even though I'm not a big fan of prepared frozen foods this was pretty good. The calamari strips were a little soggy. Next time I'd try a higher bake temp. Like beer, any squid is better than none. I rate this as a C+ or (6 tentacles, 6 out of 10).

Allied (brand) Squid Can Label from WWII

2008-12-26T09:42:00.001-08:00

Here is a Cannery Row, Monterey, California squid label from the 1940s. This Allied brand squid label is the type of plain label that was used on cans that were meant for military use during WWII. Most of the sardine and squid labels I have found that were meant for military use had a simple white or pale yellow background like this one. These kinds of labels remind me of modern day private label food packaging which is often very simple and using only a few ink colors. If you want to see more vintage California squid or sardine labels go to http://www.sardineking.com

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T14:09:00.001-08:00

I liked this image so much I stole it from today's blog post at: www.squid.us. I guess we're not the only people that like squid although I think for different reasons.

Original squid.us post:

(Hine Mizushima, a Vancouver based illustrator/animator who makes great squid art and amazing They Might Be Giants videos, recently posted a wonderful "Beware of Giant Squid" holiday card that she made two years ago. The next time you walk by a public Christmas Tree you might think of the happy giant squid that lurks below the surface.

illustration by Hine Mizushima)

Found at: http://squid.us/beware-of-giant-squid/

More Reviews Coming Soon

2008-11-05T17:53:00.001-08:00

We have a big appetite for squid. Here is a wish list of some places
we hope to visit this month. Check back for more reviews coming soon.

Big Nick's Pizza
1110 N Gaffey St., Ste G
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-732-5800
(cheap fried calamari)

The Buggy Whip Restaurant
7420 La Tijera Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-645-7131
(calamari appetizer)

Cafe Gazelle
191 LA Verne Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-438-5033
(side order of sauteed calamari)

Fishwife
1996 1/2 Sunset Dr.
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
831-375-7107
www.fishwife.com
(calamari steak & fried calamari appetizer)

Paco's Tacos
4141 S. Centinela Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066-4908
Phone: 310-391-9616
(Mexican-style calamari steak prepared 7 ways.)

Rosine's Restaurant
434 Alvarado St.
Monterey, CA 93940
831-375-1400
www.rosinesmonterey.com
(calamari & eggs)

Spumoni Italian Cafe
14533 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
818-981-7218
(drowned squid)

Los Laureles Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA

2008-11-04T16:50:00.001-08:00

The Los Laureles Lodge is a great place to stay when visiting Monterey or Carmel. The hotel is an old fashioned country inn that seems like little has changed in 40 years. Although we love staying here we think the best thing about this hotel is the restaurant. And the best thing on their dinner menu is the calamari steak. In our opinion their calamari steak is the gold standard in Monterey county. The calamari steak comes lightly breaded with a garlic butter sauce with capers. It comes with green beans and basmati rice. But, if you ask nicely you can substitute the rice for garlic mashed potatoes which is excellent. They also make a great caesar salad. Make sure you ask for extra anchovies too. The former chef, Rob Carter, is no longer here but he must have trained the cooks properly because this dish is still very, very good. Our rating would be a perfect 10 out of 10 if Rob was still running the kitchen. A very solid 9+ tentacles (9 out of 10).

Los Laureles Lodge
313 West Carmel Valley Road
Carmel Valley, CA 93924

831.659.2233

http://www.loslaureles.com

Caco Squid Can Label

2008-11-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

After Cannery Row, Monterey ran out of sardines in the late 1940s & 1950s they started canning squid at a ferocious rate. Today, squid is the biggest commercial catch in the Monterey bay. Here is a squid label from an earlier period. This label is from around 1910-1930. This is one of the oldest Monterey squid labels I have ever found. From time to time I'll post a squid label or two. It's sort of off-topic but squid is squid. If you want to see more squid labels go to www.sardineking.com.

The Running Iron

2008-11-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

The "Running Iron" in Carmel Valley Village, (Monterey Peninsula) California, is a well known old cowboy and country restaurant and bar. And they do an honorable breakfast of Calamari & Eggs. Presentation: 7; Taste a solid 7, thanks to the seasoned batter; Service and Atmosphere an 8 (hard to beat a real "Locals" country restaurant). You can't leave hungry! Overall Squid Brother's Rating a solid 7.5 (out of 10 tentacles).

Running Iron Restaurant

24 E. Carmel Valley Rd.

Carmel Valley, CA 93924

831-659-4633

Flavors Cafe & Grill, Cannery Row, CA

2008-10-30T14:01:00.001-07:00

Although this restaurant has been closed for more than 5 years its still burned into our collective memory because here is where we had the best calamari eggplant parmesan sandwich we've ever had. Flavors was just across the street from Ed Ricketts' lab right in the middle of Cannery Row. Flavors is long gone but will be remembered. RIP. (10 tentacles, 10 out of 10)

Flavors Cafe & Grill
807 Cannery Row
Monterey, CA 93940
831.646.8488

Welcome to the quest for perfect calamari

2008-10-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

When you gotta have really good calamari—or find calmari at all, wherever you are—it can be really hard to know where to look or where to go. And, if it's going to be any good at all.

The Squid Brothers are going to try to make it easier for all of us squid lovers to enjoy the search, discover interesting new places in Calamari World, enjoy some neat eateries, savor good company and the appreciation of calamari properly done.

You can not only come along on this journey and help your own Squid Brothers where you are, but also help provide feedback and comments on your Calamari Adventures for squid fans everywhere. As in, all over the world!

SquidBrotherHemp

Wagon Wheel Coffee Shop, Carmel Valley, CA

2008-10-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

We've been here about a dozen times. Probably not the best calamari in Monterey county but we like it there. The place is filled with mostly locals. You won't see a lot of tourists in here. We had calamari steak and eggs. If you like squid for breakfast its worth a visit.

Wagon Wheel Coffee Shop

7156 Carmel Valley Road

Carmel Valley, CA 93923

831.624.8878

Welcome to The Squid Brothers Blog

2008-10-29T04:29:00.000-07:00

The Squid Brothers are in search of the perfect squid sandwich, calamari & eggs, calamari eggplant parmesan and just about any other ways to eat squid. We love calamari. Check back soon for restaurant reviews that serve our favorite seafood: squid.