Ruth Paget

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Compagno’s Market and Deli Feeds Locals and Tourists Alike in Pacific Grove, California by Ruth Paget

Sandwich King Bennett Compagno keeps his neighborhood fed on the border between Monterey and Pacific Grove, California. My review follows:

Compagno’s Market and Deli

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

All-American Lobster Ravioli at Pub's (Growers Pub) in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

All-American Lobster Ravioli at Pub’s (Growers Pub) in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Lobster comes from the icy waters off the coast of Maine, making lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce an Italian-American classic that may have originated in a place like Boston’s North End Italian neighborhood. (Harvard, MIT, Boston University and Tufts all have a guilty splurge dish in lobster ravioli.)

When I saw lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce on the menu at Pub’s in Salinas, California on a recent outing there, I immediately ordered it and planned an Italian-American meal around it.

I began my meal with an order of fried calamari with chipotle aioli (garlic mayonnaise with chipotle peppers blended into it) dipping sauce. I love fried calamari with a light batter like they do it at Pub’s. That appetizer sets the tone for a delicious meal.

The lobster ravioli comes with a salad, so we next ate a mix of fresh friseé lettuce, baby greens, and chopped romaine lettuce. I ordered blue cheese dressing with my salad and liked thinking I was eating creamy Italian gorgonzola cheese with light cream as a dressing.

I guessed the blue cheese dressing was actually made with a creamy Point Reyes blue cheese from outside San Francisco. It was delicious and also set the tone for the much anticipated main dish.

The lobster ravioli looked great when it came and also had braised prawns and whole octopus in the sauce. The ravioli was stuffed with ricotta cheese with chopped lobster claw meat mixed with it. The tomato cream sauce tasted as if seafood broth had been blended into it. The delicious sauce tied everything together and made me feel exceedingly healthy as I ate it.

For dessert, I ordered tiramisu. To make this dessert, you place lady finger sponge biscuits in the bottom of a dish and dampen them with espresso coffee. Next, you spread whipped mascarpone cheese (like whipped cream) on top of the ladyfingers. Then, you sprinkle the top with cocoa powder and refrigerate the tiramisu before serving it.

This meal was delicious and a bit more luxurious than what I normally eat, but I enjoyed every bite of it and highly recommend the lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce at Pub’s in Salinas, California to everyone as a splurge meal to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, good grades, and graduations.

(Note: The dining room we sat in had photos of the Salinas Rodeo on the wall. The back wall was covered with brand marks from Monterey County ranchers – 35 in all. These marks were placed on livestock to help separate animals after grazing and to keep cattle together on cattle drives east for slaughter in the Midwest. The meat from the cattle was mostly sold to the Northeast.)

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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