Mark Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay Journalist Profile

Articles

Found Treasure: 'Teacher Beers' at Fruition Brewing

6 days ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 18, 2025—Go ahead. Name the best single block for food in the tri-county Monterey Bay area.
Salty Sea Otter to Open as Soon as Next Week

1 week ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 15, 2025 – Lost Boys hadn’t yet appeared in theaters when Rachael Carla Smith found her heart home in Santa Cruz. This was back in 1986, on a road trip with her mom, at 14 years old. “Santa Cruz always stood out to me,” she says.
Found Treasure: Congo Go! Cambodian

1 week ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 11, 2025—Some things you can make up. Others you cannot. Those both come into play at 1-year-old Congo Go! in Seaside, and help rank it as one of the most compelling restaurants that I’ve encountered in several years. If that sounds like a mouthful, fair enough. But, after learning a little more about the tragedy that led to Congo Go’s inspired Cambodian food—cuisine impossible to find elsewhere locally—it might feel more like an understatement. First the food.
Found Treasure: Surprise Cheese Revelations in 24 Photos from Sonoma

2 weeks ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 4, 2025—Between the stone walls at Vella Cheese Factory, complicated feelings result from simple craftsmanship. The emotions run from sudden joy (Is that price real?) to self doubt (Is it responsible to buy this much cheese?) to deep satisfaction (Is it OK to lay down here and die?). Meanwhile Vella’s family leadership and approach to cultures, care and hands-on practices remains far less complicated.
Padrino Oaxaqueña Debuts With Authenticity and Enthusiasm

3 weeks ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 1, 2025—El Padrino, Spanish for “godfather,” makes an offer you can’t refuse. That offer, in a word, is Oaxaca. El Padrino Restaurant on Broadway in Seaside draws from Oaxaca in a way that’s authentic but inventive, vibrant but earthy, recently opened but old-school, with regional identity on the plate and on the walls and on the tables too. The menu covers a lot of ground, but all of it (you guessed it) in the foodiest state in Mexico.
Ad Astra Bread Co.'s Surprise New Spot: A Q&A(ish)

3 weeks ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

April 1, 2025—A number of questions have already leapt to the minds of Ad Astra Bread Co. fans now that it’s adding a second location at Mid Valley Shopping Center in Carmel Valley. Among the comments that nestle beneath the nearly 1,600 likes on social media: Is it dog friendly? Will there be vegan-free options? What does this mean for the Monterey store? Let’s label those “TBD” for now. The most important question would be: Is this really happening? The answer there: Oh yes.
New otter statue to be unveiled April 17

1 month ago | csumb.edu | Mark Anderson

By Mark C. AndersonClose your eyes and picture a sea otter in the wild. Likely, you’re seeing a frolicking or shell-cracking or deep-diving or pup-cleaning or otherwise super-active otter. After all, Pacific sea otters are so active that they burn 7,500 calories daily, which demands they eat 25% of their body weight to keep up. These are not marine mammals that sit still for long.
Found Treasure: Big Basin Empanadas (and Dubs Basketball)

1 month ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

March 21, 2025 – The game plan is in place. Then long-held passions get in the way. And everything gets that much better. The plan: Santa Cruz appreciation, coastal mountain vineyard version. The strategy: Make an overdue visit to a tasting room whose vineyard is participating in the upcoming Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains Grand Wine Tasting, and ask a question.
Sneak Peek at New Rice & Roots Vietnamese Cuisine

1 month ago | ediblemontereybay.com | Mark Anderson

March 18, 2025 – An interesting paradox emerges in talking with new downtown Monterey restaurant-to-be Rice & Roots co-owner/operator Niki Nguyễn. She really wants to focus on the food, not herself or her husband-chef-restaurant partner Ty, or her fellow Vietnamese-American collaborator Hua Ho, who will do the bubble teas, fresh fruit smoothies, Saigon coffees and desserts like the three-bean she mau or the grass jelly with chia seeds.
Found Treasure: Hindquarter Bar and Grille Happy Hour

1 month ago | ediblemontereybay.com | ” Byrd says |Mark Anderson

March 14, 2025—Vital signs vary among real-deal neighborhood bars. Maybe there’s a brisk billiards scene, underrated food, stiff drinks, personality-plus regulars or all of the above. One key indicator ranks right up there, and proves mightiest for my money: Authentic connection between staff and audience. That’s a major hallmark at The Hindquarter Bar and Grille, one of the very oldest institutions in the area, and one which can make a case for one of the region’s best happy hours.