A Passion For Passionfish

“People who are most afraid of their dreams convince themselves they don’t dream at all.”  I understand what John Steinbeck meant when he wrote this, but this has never been a problem for me.  I take great comfort in my dreams as they serve as an entré to my subconscious desires.  Dreaming has served me well during this year of sheltering at home during the pandemic.  It allows me to travel where I am unable to go, and to savor meals I am unable to enjoy in the settings where I have encountered them in the past.  

Recently I posted about the first time I ordered sand dabs which are a popular game fish in northern California and found on menus in the Monterey Bay and San Francisco areas.  I found them on the menu at Passionfish, my favorite restaurant in Pacific Grove, near Monterey, but it was not until a couple days later when I ordered them at Salito’s Crab House in Sausalito.

http://lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2021/03/sand-dabs-in-sausalito.html

I had opted instead for the sea scallops at Passionfish (more on this in a moment).  

I first visited Passionfish, located at 701 Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove, in the late 1990s, notvery long after Chef Ted Walker and his wife Cindy first opened for business.   It was already turning eyes and tempting palates in and around the Monterey region when I first read about the restaurant in a feature story on Monterey in an airline magazine (with a photograph of Ted and his daughter Meghan) on a flight from Washington to San Francisco and I vowed to check it out if my schedule permitted.  Happily it did.  I have returned twice more since.

Passionfish is quite different from so many seafood establishments I have visited over the years.  It is not just a question of what fare is offered and how it is prepared.  Here the emphasis is on sustainability of the endemic fish populations off the California coast.  The Walters became trend setters in establishing an eco-friendly restaurant and gathering their ingredients from local fisheries, farmers markets, and smaller sustainable organic farms which necessitates a menu change almost daily depending on the season and availability.  What results are dishes far more interesting and flavorful than what the diner might find elsewhere. 

My first visit came at the end of a beautiful Saturday exploring some of my favorite spots in Pacific Grove and neighboring Monterey and Carmel.  I have long had an affinity to this area since my first visit (since childhood) in 1979 due to my interest in the life and works of John Steinbeck.  Pacific Grove is a quaint Californian town founded in 1875 as a seaside Methodist meeting camp on the Monterey Bay.  It is known for its charming beaches, a monarch butterfly preserve, a diverse marine life, purple ice plants along the rocky shores, and aesthetically pleasing architecture.  The Steinbeck family in Salinas 30 miles away would frequently spend weekend getaways at their Pacific Grove  cottage built by his father.  The cooler sea air came as a welcomed relief from the hot and dry weather of the Salinas Valley.  

John would later bring his first wife to live here in 1930 before he built his own home nearby.  At thesame time Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts who lived in a handsome house on Lighthouse Avenue not far from what is now Passionfish.  After Rickett’s wife left him he moved to his small rented laboratory among the sardine processing plants not far away along Monterey’s Cannery Row.  Ricketts and the denizens of Cannery Row would soon show up in Steinbeck’s popular fiction – Cannery Row (1945) and Sweet Thursday, a sequel published in 1954.  Tortilla Flat (1935) is set nearby in the hills above Monterey.  Steinbeck would join Ricketts as he gathered marine specimens among the tidal pools at Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove and later would join him on a collecting expedition to Mexico which he documented in The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951).  After exploring Cannery Row I was ready for some good seafood and Passionfish did not disappoint.

On that first visit I selected the fennel seed and sesame crusted albacore tuna prepared medium rare while sealing in the subtle flavor and giving the flesh a diaphanous succulence.  It was served over a bed of bacon gremolata beside a mound of cauliflower puree over bacon-wilted chard.  It was a difficult choice selecting an appropriate wine given the impressive wine list of local California varietals.  I eventually selected a very reasonable Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey Country and I was set for the evening.  Most seafood restaurants favor the yellowfin and bluefin tuna, but North Pacific albacore tuna, also known as the longfin tuna, is frequently found on West Coast menus since it is endemic from Baja California north to Oregon and Washington.  Albacore has long been the cornerstone of canned tuna in this country, and I never realized just how good it is if properly prepared until I fished for them off southern California coast between San Diego and Catalina Island.  I mentioned to my friendly server that I had read about the restaurant on my flight to San Francisco and she told me that the owners were both raised in Monterey County and were very devoted to serving only dishes based on sustainable sources and ingredients found locally.  

A few years later my wife and a dear friend from the East Coast accompanied me on a return visit to Passionfish.  Before dinner we had explored some of the same tidal pools that 

Steinbeck andRicketts had worked seven decades before, including the Great Tidal Pool near Asilomar Beach, a narrow, one-mile strip of sandy beach and rocky coves. Today this area is located within the confines of the Asilomar Marine Reserve, a Marine Protected Area where it is prohibited to disturb any of the resources, birds animals, fish and natural features, including shells and rocks.  These days Steinbeck and Ricketts would have to look elsewhere.  This beach also overlooks the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary established in 1992 and encompassing more than 6,000 square statute miles in which drilling, mining and dumping are prohibited in order to protect its marine life and other natural resources and to provide fish populations a haven where they can

feed, breed and thrive.  We were content just to look around and watch the sun sink below the Pacific horizon before we headed off to dinner just a few blocks away.  I had enjoyed the tuna so much on my previous visit that I ordered it again and it was just as tasty as I had remembered it.  Since tuna adapts just as well to a white wine as to a red, this time around I selected a Sauvignon Blanc which worked out very well.  Bringing others with me on this return to Passionfish on my recommendation, I hoped that it would be as good as I remember.  Suffice it to say we all left very satisfied with our meals and friendly service. 

My most recent return to Passionfish came after a more than breathtaking 100 mile drive up the Pacific Coast Highway (California One) from Morro Bay where I had spent the previous night after wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley north of Santa Barbara (more on that adventure in an upcoming post).  I was looking forward to my return to the Monterey area and the first order of business after settling in would be dinner in Pacific Grove.  I was curious what would be on the menu this time.  Actually, there was something new – sand dabs – and having never heard of them before I asked my server just what they are.  Passionfish had never served sand dabs before because they were not sustainably harvested.  With a sweet and delicate flavor they sounded interesting, but I decided on the sea scallops instead.  As fate would have it I would try sand dabs for the first time a couple nights later in Sausalito.

http://lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2021/03/sand-dabs-in-sausalito.html

Dinner was simply plated yet it was a wonder to behold; three large, lush sea scallops over a tomato-truffle butter drizzle with bacon-wilted chard and an artichoke risotto cake.  I was pleased tosee that the wine list now featured bottles from Ryme Cellars in Sonoma County owned by the Walker’s daughter Meghan (the one photographed with her father for that airline magazine) and her husband since 2007 and where they produce wines from organic or sustainable vineyards.  It seems the acorn did not fall far from the tree.  I selected the Cabernet Sauvignon and hunkered down for a delightful dinner on a rainy night in Pacific Grove as I mapped out my local plans for the following day – a trip over to Salinas to wander Steinbeck’s boyhood haunts and to visit the National Steinbeck Center. 

It has been a few years since my last visit, but there is no doubt I will return to Passionfish the next time I am in the area.