The overall ambiance of this restaurant makes it a perfect choice for fine dining, a special occasion or just an evening out with friends. Located in a historic adobe just on the outskirts of downtown Monterey, Stokes Restaurant cuisine is inspired by the Mediterranean region. Their menu includes Tapas & Crostinis, Wood-Oven roasted fish and meat, hearty soups and "live" salads, Tagines, Tortes, and more.
Chef Brian Christensen's rustic cuisine combines two essential elements: prime regional produce and a respect for Mediterranean style. Local producers of vegetables, fruits, meats, and cheeses are featured in every dish. To live and cook on the Monterey Peninsula is to know the local foragers and growers and to seek their bounty; wild mushrooms from Big Sur, family farmed organic produce & herbs, fish brought from Monterey Bay to our kitchen door.
Posted on Stokes Website http://www.stokesrestaurant.com/home.htm
Olivier and I went here for dinner, the ambiance was great! The food on the other hand was just OK. We were not very impressed - all the reviews of Stokes restaurant were great; and I was looking forward to eating here.
We shared these items to start:
Caramelized peaches with prosciutto - was good - sweet and salty
Homemade Mozzarella & heirloom tomatoes - not so great - mozzarella didn't have enough salt; there was no taste. The tomatoes were too cold so they were flavorless.
Our Air dried Beef Carpaccio with a salad of baby arugula, Grana parmesan and truffle oil - the Carpaccio was homemade and this dish was good.
Then we order two more dishes to share as our main course. The owner said to us, lets start with the three items first then we'll see how you guys feel. Well we ended up ordering the other two dishes below.
Crispy Duck Confit and Warm Curley Spinach Salad with roasted garlic and Hobbs bacon and a gnocchi with mushrooms.
The duck was good - how could you mess that up? I don't know much about gnocchi but it was crunchy- Olivier said it wasn't good.
Olivier order Sea Smoke with dinner. We also had two desserts - chocolate molten cake, and an apple tart. The chocolate cake wasn't as chocolately as you would expect, the apple tart was good.
Overall we weren't too impressed with the food - the service was good, and ambiance was nice. Not sure if we'll go back - maybe for lunch.
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