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| Courtyard at Little Napoli |
Carmel has gradually been growing on me
over the past few years. I used to go down there once a year for the
car show associated with the Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach.
One year I persuaded Frieda to accompany me and, after enjoying the
rare cars, we ducked into Little Napoli on Dolores and Seventh to
grab some lunch. There was a wait for a table so we set off down
Dolores with a buzzer and quickly came to a winery called Caraccoli.
We liked the wines there so much that we joined their club. Now we
have to go down at least twice a year to pick up our semi-annual
shipment of wines. Plus, whenever we're in town we can taste there
for free, so that provides another incentive to visit.
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| Carmel Beach |
In mid-October we were there for the
day and enjoyed it so much we decided to schedule an overnight in
early November to take advantage of the last of the warm, sunny fall
weather and bring Dino, our white collie, along, seeing as how the
town is so dog friendly. It turned out to be a beautiful day, about
70 degrees with brilliant sun. We got there around noon and Frieda
was hungry so we went straight to Little Napoli, one of our favorite
stops, and sat in the very pleasant patio with Dino. It was a
Thursday so few people were around. We ordered PepeCello spritzes, a
specialty of the house that are marvelously refreshing, and split an
order of fried calamari and papardelle in bolognese sauce. We'd
brought dog treats with us for Dino.
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| Dino |
After lunch we drove down to Scenic
Road, found a parking place, got out and walked along the paved path
that overlooks the beach, shaded by wind swept cypress trees locked
in stationary dance. The beach there is brilliantly white and the
ocean is clear because no creeks or rivers dump sediment into it.
Dino didn't like the sand because it was too soft for him to run in,
but it was lovely to sit on. It's a beautiful beach, but the water
is too cold to swim, unless you're part polar bear. Dino looks a bit
like a small polar bear but he doesn't like water.
It was after 3 by the time we got back
to the car and headed to the Carmel Lodge, nothing fancy but clean
and adequate at a reasonable price and in a good location, quiet but
next to downtown. After getting settled there we crossed Ocean
Avenue to Caraccioli. The town is small enough that you can pretty
much walk everywhere, at least in the downtown area. The young women
behind the counter welcomed us, and especially Dino, who one of them
rolled around with on the floor. (Dino was a hit everywhere we
went.) After getting slightly drunk for free (not Dino, of course),
we walked back to the Lodge, sat out on the balcony, chatted, and
watched the sun go down.
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| Carmel Lodge |
When we started to get hungry we walked
across the street to a restaurant called Casanova. Of course, being
with Dino, we had to sit in the patio area in the front, and it was
dark already and getting chilly. The sommelier turned on an electric
heater above our table but it took a while to warm up and I began to
get impatient, thinking I was never going to get tolerably warm. The
prices on the menu were expensive and I didn't feel like paying them
while I shivered in the cold in my coat. Also, the wine list was
ridiculously pretentious. It was the size of a metropolitan phone
book and had wines for $2500 a bottle. I mean, really? About the
cheapest wine we could find was $35 a half bottle. Many of the
entrees on the menu were just designated “MP” for market price,
which made me suspicious. The combination of all these factors
started to make me grumpy, but finally the heater began to crank and
the waitress, who had at first seemed stiff, robotic, and artificial,
began to loosen up. She brought me an excellent ossobuco that just
fell off the bone and my mood began to improve. Frieda had a risotto
with wild mushrooms that had been foraged that morning and soon we
were chatting and laughing with the waitress and the sommelier and
the evening began to seem enjoyable after all. In the end the bill
came in at just under $200, including tip. Not cheap but not
completely off the rails, either.
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| Casanova |
In the morning Frieda took Dino for a
walk around downtown looking for the Court of the Fountains. She
said downtown was deserted except for a few other early morning dog
walkers. Shortly after her return, breakfast was delivered to our
room and we ate on the balcony. The weather, again, was virtually
perfect. Afterward she led me on a scenic stroll through downtown,
including the Court of the Fountains, to the tourist information
office to pick up some materials on Carmel Valley, on the other side
of Route 1, where we intended to taste wine in the afternoon.
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| Court of Fountains |
After a farewell cruise along Scenic
Road, we headed for the valley, stopping first at Boekenoogen Winery,
where we bought a bottle each of Viognier and Syrah. Then we crossed
the road to Café Rustica for lunch, a pleasant patio where Dino and
I shared a burger and everyone, as usual, fawned over him. Finally,
we all walked a short distance down the highway to the Bernardus
Winery where Frieda and I sampled a few more wines without finding
any we liked enough to buy. To keep our heads clear for the drive
home we even poured most of them into the spit bucket. By then it
was 3 in the afternoon and the traffic was starting to thicken so we
got on the road for home. Tired from all the activity, Dino settled
down in the rear of the V60 for a nice snooze.
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| Cafe Rustica |
