A Fine Dining Hideaway Yields Polished Cooking in a Cozy Carmel Home | Eater SF

"Bringing the tremendous talents of former Quince chef de cuisine Jonny Black to Carmel-by-the-Sea, this Michelin one-star feels like a local’s paradise with tasting menu ambition and an approachable tiny side bar and front patio, and it’s so inviting it can feel like I’m eating in someone’s home — I am, since Jonny and maitre d’ Monique Black live upstairs with their two children. The daily tasting menu ($165) essentially fixes the approach of the weekday a la carte menu offered only at the bar or the patio, with add-on appetizers and upgrades such as a caviar funnel cake ($44) that can bring the price up to between $250 to $300 before drinks. Seasonal cooking shows effortless finesse: grilled oysters with espelette chile butter and passionfruit deliver a thrilling blend of gentle heat and rounded tang over juicy shellfish; delicata squash frito misto arrives in an ineffable, airy crust laced with hot honey and dusted with nutty Hollyhock cheese, the kind of fried pieces I inevitably polish off; Wolfe Ranch quail appears as a textbook pate en croute with a flaky, buttery pastry shell and a shimmery rectangle of chopped fowl, with diced pickled chanterelle on the side bringing an earthy punch; and locally caught black cod with puntarelle, sea beans, and bagna cauda is a dreamy, umami-packed main course that displays thoughtful elegance. To drink, the Persimmon fizz — a gin number with hints of Earl Grey and baking spices — is a terrific cold-weather cocktail, and the heated patio is pet-friendly; I bring a jacket and sweater for nippy Carmel evenings, though blankets are on hand." - Matthew Kang