Authentic Monterey County California Lunch at Woody’s in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I ate an authentic Monterey County lunch at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport the day after Christmas that was healthy and delicious.
The three of us started our meal with iodine-rich shellfish from the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. Florence ate chunky, clam chowder with salty oyster crackers. Laurent ate a jumbo shrimp cocktail with piquant cocktail sauce made with horseradish. I ate a plateful of lightly fried calamari with creamy tartar sauce and tangy cocktail sauce. I squeezed lemon juice on the calamari for a zingy addition of Vitamin C.
Seafood tastes superb in rainy, cold weather like the winter of 2025. I snuggled up in my sweater and hoody jacket and thoroughly enjoyed each bite of calamari squid.
Laurent ate one of his favorite Monterey County meals as his main dish – sand dabs fillets sautéed in lemon-butter with mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables.
Florence ate a Cobb salad that Woody’s made with organic produce from Swank Farms and Country Store. The salad also had organic chicken and bacon from San Benito County. Florence likes Woody’s house made ranch dressing.
I ate one Woody’s large, fork-and-knife sandwiches – the mahi mahi sandwich with citrus aioli, citrus-flavored garlic mayonnaise. Mahi mahi is fished from the Pacific Ocean and is also known as dorado and dolphin fish.
Mahi mahi is a Hawaiian term for this predatory fish. Mahi mahi eat protein-rich prey like crab and other smaller fish. The flesh of mahi mahi is firm from hunting.
Mahi mahi’s flesh is also white and readily picks up flavors in poaching water like onion. At Woody’s, the mahi mahi seems to be poached with water, onion, and olive oil.
The fillet is placed on a toasted Palermo bun with citrus aioli and lettuce and tomato. I added salt to the fillet along with dill pickle and red onion.
The sandwich is too slippery to eat with your hands, but very delectable when eaten in bites with a fork and knife. I understand why the mahi mahi sandwich at Woody’s is a Monterey County classic dish.
I ate the mahi mahi sandwich with sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes grow in parts of Monterey County with sunny, warm weather and sandy soil. I always associate orange vegetables with Vitamin A, which is good for the eyes.
For a terrific, authentic Monterey County lunch, the seafood and salads at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport in Monterey, California is a welcoming spot for travelers and locals alike.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
