Prime Pork Chop Dinner at Pub's Prime Rib in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Prime Pork Chop Dinner at Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of the best times of year to order a pork chop meal at a locals’ favorite restaurant like Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California is October when the weather turns from very hot to very cool. 

This is the time when areas with strong animal husbandry traditions separate the spare, weaker hogs and cattle for slaughter from the animals that will be kept for breeding over winter. What this means for the consumer is the abundance of pork products in fall like brats, sausage, bacon, and pork chops. One classic example of how this seasonal abundance was used in Germany is the Munich Oktoberfest, which was started to celebrate a wedding with many guests. 

Pork chops made from freshly killed hogs are very tender and some say more flavorful than pork that is preserved in various forms to last throughout the winter. What is true for hogs is traditionally true for cattle as well. 

With that backstory told to my family, my husband Laurent, our daughter Florence Paget, and I set out for a delicious meal at Pub’s Prime Rib downtown. Pub’s was established in the 1940s, and I like to think that John Steinbeck ate there. 

Our favorite family writer, Florence Paget, and her dad began their meals with French onion soup that was full of savory onions with gruyère cheese melted over the top of the bowl and down the sides just like you see in French cookbooks. It was a golden delicious stew. 

I started my meal with a wedge salad made with cold and crunchy iceberg lettuce with lightly salted blue cheese dressing, chopped fried bacon, and chopped, succulent tomatoes from the blistering hot summer even in Monterey County. I like this salad, because it is a nice contrast in texture, taste, and cooking method – raw. Good appetizers are supposed to contrast in this way with a main dish. 

For our main dishes, Florence had the prime rib with baked potatoes and vegetables. Laurent had lobster ravioli. Both of these dishes came with a large dinner salad beforehand. Laurent ordered seafood in a month with an “r” in it, which the French say are good months for seafood due to colder water. Florence was getting prime rib from freshly killed October cattle. 

I ordered the pork chop dinner, which I considered a German hauptgeriichte, or main dish from elite cuisine: 

 -a one-inch thick, large pork chop that came with caramelized apples, roasted baby potatoes, and sautéed spinach in a rosemary-mustard red wine sauce. 

The pork chop was easy to cut and the lovely side dishes filled me up, so I did not order dessert, but the crème brulée and New York Cheesecake both looked tempting. 

Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California is a cozy place for dinner with a full bar in front and a good choice of meat and seafood dinners. 

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

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Grown-Up Kid at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

Grown-Up Kid at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget 

When my daughter Florence Paget was a child, my husband Laurent and I liked to take her to the pumpkin patch at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California, which features farm-to-table organic produce that you can buy or eat in the café. 

We would take pictures of her and buy two pumpkins – one to carve as a jack-o-lantern and one to use for roasted pumpkin seeds and soup. 

At home, I would cut a hole out of the top of one pumpkin and pull out the seeds that are entwined in slimy membranes inside the pumpkin. I separated the seeds from the slime and rinsed them clean. I put the seeds in a bowl and poured in peanut oil and sprinkled salt on them. I turned the seeds to fully coat them in oil and lined a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

I baked the seeds at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes to an hour depending on the color and tuned them once. Florence liked the crunchy seeds with a chewy inside. (I know I can buy these, but the roasted seeds project is a low-cost STEAM activity.) 

For the soup, I cut the pumpkin into eighths and roasted the pieces in the oven till soft. I cut between the flesh and skin and scooped out the flesh. I sautéed onions in a Dutch oven and added vegetable or chicken broth along with the pumpkin flesh and a potato for thickening. 

I let the soup boil for half an hour and then mixed it with an immersion blender till it was smooth. Florence and Laurent do not like pumpkin soup, so I ate it all. I like this savory version that is full of Vitamin A from the pumpkin and Vitamin C from the potato. Vitamin A helps with vision and the immune system and Vitamin C is an antioxidant. (This is another low-cost STEAM activity.) 

Now that Florence is older, she is the one who takes me to Earthbound Farm in October for lunch. I like the organic Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches with sweet, juicy, and bright red tomatoes; delicate baby greens; and lean bacon on grilled brown bread with a baby greens salad on the side. 

The vinaigrette at Earthbound Farms keeps people coming back for their spa cure – yellow Anne raspberry vinaigrette, which is full of antioxidants and makes salad taste like dessert - almost. 

I discovered a great drink to go with my lunch: Goat Rock Hard Cider made with rosé and passion fruit from Sonoma Valley. It registers at 6.7% alcohol and costs $6.50. It makes you pucker at first, but goes well with the raspberry vinaigrette. 

We had chocolate chips cookies and soft serve ice cream for dessert. 

The 2024 Pumpkin Patch Outing was fun for Big Kid Mom. 

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

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Labyrinth Walk with Pastry in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

Labyrinth Walk with Pastry in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget 

A low-budget cultural outing I used to do with my daughter Florence Paget when she was a child was to visit the free, outdoor labyrinth walk at the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula. 

Our first stop on the way to the labyrinth was the Carmel Valley Roasting Company in the Barnyard Shopping Center. They pride themselves on fine coffee roasts and smiled when I requested a creamy and fatty latte. 

They had other beverages I liked that Florence liked as well, which include: 

-Rishi Chai Latte – a spicy black tea infused with what seems to be star anise and cloves. The spices made it seem sweeter than it was. This drink originated in Central Asia. I took some to work with me everyday when I sold Persian carpets in addition to Tibetan art and Russian icons to set the mood as an art dealer of the exotic and wonderful. 

-Ghirardelli hot chocolate – San Francisco’s primo merchandise was one of Florence’s favorites to go with a pastry. 

 -Mexican hot chocolate (probably Ibarra brand or Abuelita) – I knew chocolate originally came from Mexico, so I just had to try this for variety. Mexican chocolate is flavored with vanilla and cinnamon in the modern day, which makes it sweet and exotic and a perfect brew for the art gallery job where I also sold milagro miracle crosses. 

Carmel Valley Roast Company smells buttery and sugary – all good scents to go with strong coffee. Florence ate a plain croissant or a chocolate croissant. I opted for a large bear claw filled with marzipan, almond paste. I ate half of the bear claw and gave the other half to Laurent at home. 

With our provisions in hand, Florence and I would go down Carmel Valley Road from the Barnyard Shopping Center to the labyrinth located at the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula. 

The labyrinth is a small model of the floor labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France. We would walk through it doing a pilgrimage in Carmel Valley with mountains on either side of us on the valley floor. 

Florence was young, but I did tell her that people still went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. 

I was happy to teach a little church history as Florence munched on a croissant and drank Italian hot chocolate. 

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

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Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad at Elli's Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad at Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I usually order Cobb Salad when I go to Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California on South Main Street. However, when I want a treat, I order Elli’s Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad. 

Both these salads remind me of the kinds of salads you could get in fancy department stores when I was growing up like Hudson’s in downtown Detroit (Michigan) – now closed. 

For the Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad, Elli’s rolls a flattened chicken breast in crushed pistachios and grills it before chopping it up into strips. 

These strips are then placed on a bed of mixed organic greens with chunks of Granny Smith apples, diced cranberries and cherries, sliced almonds, roasted onion, and goat cheese. Honey-mustard dressing and a slice of grilled flatbread come on the side. 

I feel like I am in a show biz entourage with a delicious and elaborate salad like that. If I sit in the glassed-in terrace, I could eat the Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad with my sunglasses on and feel like a movie star myself at Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California. 

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

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Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine at Atlanta Fish Market by Ruth Paget

Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine at the Atlanta Fish Market by Ruth Paget 

You can enjoy fish from all the US including lobster just 15 minutes away from joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base at the Atlanta Fish Market in the ritzy Buckhead neighborhood. 

My husband Laurent and I started our meal with raw oysters from Maine. Cold water supposedly creates the plumpest and most delicious oysters, which is why we chose the Maine oysters. 

The oysters arrive with seafood sauce and crushed garlic on top and a sauce mignonette on the side. Sauce mignonette is made with red wine vinegar and minced shallots. “Ette” is a suffix meaning “little” and “mignone” is a French word for “cute.” All together mignonette means “little cutie sauce.” I tried some with my oysters and thought it was great for dipping. 

For my main dish, I ordered Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine for $29. “Amandine” means the fish comes with sliced almonds that have been sautéed in butter. The almonds are spread across the top of the fish. The fish itself came with brown butter made with emulsified herbs and seasonings. 

The trout was served with thin green beans and whipped mashed potatoes and butter. Both vegetables soaked up the excess brown butter and greatly enhanced the fish. 

The local catch trout amandine and Maine raw oysters at the Atlanta Fish Market were delicious, rather French, and a great deal for Georgia’s Buckhead neighborhood. 

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

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Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

There is so much food available at Chinese buffets on the East Coast like Chow King in Marietta, Georgia that you need a strategy to navigate them, especially as they now have pan-Asian offerings like Vietnamese phô soup, Japanese hibachi grilled food, and sushi in addition to piles of Chinese fried and stir-fried food. 

People from the West Coast should know that before going wild on all the sushi that the white they see in the maki rolled sushi is not octopus, but Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I like sushi and cream cheese, but not together. I ate what I took, but will pass the next time I see them. 

For the buffet offerings, I have taken my cue from Chinese senior citizens about what to eat. Most buffets have mounds of seafood refried rice and lo mein egg noodles that I always head for. The seafood rice is made with seafood broth, which gives it a bright orange color. It is then refried with egg, peas, and carrots. I fill half my plate with this item. 

The other half of my plate I fill with lo mein egg noodles that have been stir-fried in peanut oil with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil added at the end. 

On top of the rice and lo mein noodles, I fill ¾ of the plate with stir-fried broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots flavored with nuoc nam or nam pla salty fish sauces from Vietnam and Thailand. The remaining ¼ of my plate, I fill with tangy orange chicken, which I consider dessert. 

I do two rounds of this combination and then eat chocolate pudding for dessert. 

Almost all Chinese buffets have these delicious items like the ones at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base. Chow King has five large rooms, plenty of parking, and air conditioning, which add to the reasons for trying Chinese food. 

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

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