The Carmel-by-the-Sea edit, pt. 2

If you read Part 1 of this guide, you’re aware that Carmel has evolved, from the time my parents first moved up here almost 30 years ago, into a sort of crucible of the American high-low. This, naturally, carries over into its many cafes, restaurants, tasting rooms and grocers. Because having a bad meal on holiday is something I would wish only on my most abiding and deserving enemies, here’s the work done for you.

IN THE VILLAGE:

The farmer’s market is Thursday mornings until 2 pm on Sixth Ave between Mission and Junipero. AdAstra, everyone’s favourite Monterey bakery, has a stand with fresh loaves, and there’s abundances of everything else: produce, sweets, jams and juices, nuts, insanely good salsas made by someone’s abuela, hummus and olive oils and a great coffee truck, a book stand or two (where I once found a 1960s edition of MFK Fisher’s ‘The Gastronomical Me’).

La Bicyclette - Walter Georis — about whom more below — is a local treasure. His classic seaside French bistro brings the oysters and champignons and some nice fish and salads. But what you come for is breakfast (8:30-10 am), with its bowls of cafe creme and brioche French toast and wood-fired eggs. For a nice Franco-Italian dinner in a lovely old cottage, Casanova, Georis’s haute-er restaurant (and a Carmel stalwart), is a good bet.

Grasings will not bowl you over with its sleek interiors, nor with its unduly sophisticated menu (Carmel is still an American town of 4,000 people). But every single thing on that menu is excellent, including a green salad with the simplest vinaigrette. The wine list is a low-key institution (good enough to have made the FT’s Jancis Robinson's list of the US’s best). Grasings is a burger at the bar, or a parents’ 60th wedding anniversary with a nice Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru. Or, a burger with a Gevrey, which is perhaps how we should all roll while on holiday here.

Il Fornaio may be part of a California chain (albeit a small one), but Carmel’s outpost is a sui generis thing for a few reasons, among them its situation in the hilariously thowback Pine Inn (do yourself a favour and come into the restaurant via the hotel’s lobby), the early-evening bar scene (generally an entertaining and authentic local-life outtake), and the pretty garden room, which has the tables to get. Super-central, and an easier booking on busy weekends (it’s a sprawling space).

Mission Ranch Clint Eastwood’s hotel-with-restaurant gets equal shares of tourists and locals. They serve classic Americana, nothing that’s going to send you into paroxysms — though they do a great breakfast, according to my dad, who’s currently a bit obsessed with it. Anyway you’re here for the view (gorgeous, toward Point Lobos over a sheep meadow) or, if it’s after 5 pm, the bar (also classic Americana, and a vibe — probably the best bar in town these days).

Flying Fish Grill The Japanese-Californian seafood is not precisely authentic, but the results are pretty delicious, and the cosy izakaya wood-panelled booths hit the spot on a foggy or chilly evening. Lovely, kind owners and staff.

Pizza Heaven for your takeaway. Good, cheap, and fast if you want something to eat at your little rental cottage (or on the beach; again, south of 13th Street is wide-open picnic land, and the sunsets are rad).

Rise and Roam for classic French patisserie, donuts, muffins, buttermilk biscuits (so good), a few sandwiches, good coffee, and servers who speak in gnomic grunts and yet will not scruple to flip the iPad towards you so you can tip them UP TO 30 PERCENT for handing you your flat white. Ah, American capitalism.

Carmel Belle’s indoor-outdoor ‘organic larder’, for fresh yummy sandwiches and salads on the go. The California Cobb is scrumptious and big enough for two.