Quick! Need Lunch Idea that Involves Artichokes around Watsonville
 

Hey, fodorites, need some quick advice:

Am in San Francisco area on business, and a coworker (who is from Kansas) who is with me appears to have an addiction to both artichokes and garlic. We have tomorrow free (Sunday), and since he has not seen the ocean before either, I'm taking him on a drive down the coast -- thinking we'll go as far as Watsonville.

Any ideas where we could eat, so that I could surprise him with artichokes and garlic?

P.S. He's also a John Steinbeck fan. Wish I had known all this before, could've planned better. (Any other suggestions also welcome.)

We're leaving around 8-9am, will check in before we go. Heeellllpp!

Just FYI -- we're staying in Daly City, spend the day today in San Francisco. Thanks Stu Dudley for your "things to do" post!

Here are some restaurants in San Francisco with a number of different artichoke dishes:

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...rancisco%2C+CA

And here are a few listings for artichoke restaurants as you drive down from SF to Watsonville:

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...sonville%2C+CA

On John Steinbeck, the National Steinbeck Center is in Salinas which is inland from Watsonville. You could do a loop by going down the coast, then cut over to Watsonville and then over to Salinas. Then up Highway 101 to Interstate 280 and thus back to San Francisco.

http://www.steinbeck.org/MainFrame.html


For more of John Steinbeck, also stop off several locations in Monterey - hope you have some sort of map of the area!

http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-mty-stn...steinbeck.html

Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing might be a good choice. I had a great fire roasted artichoke there last time I was driving through the area. It's a favorite restaurant amongst friends who live in the area. Casual, but good food. Not much further to make the drive for a visit to the Steinbeck Center.

For the complete and total artichoke experience, consider driving just a little bit farther <http://tinyurl.com/5j35cb> and go to Castroville instead.

Castroville is known as the Artichoke Center of the World! Take a look <http://www.beachcalifornia.com/castrov.html>.

When in the area I always, always stop at Pezzini farms - smack dab in the middle of artichoke fields. I love the dipping sauces & spreads, in addition to the huge supply of straight from the field produce.

There is usually a trailer parked in front offering fried artichokes.

http://www.pezzinifarms.com/

Thank you so much! Ya'll are AWESOME. I do have a GPS, and I've made notes from everyone's suggestions. Looks like Castroville and Salinas are added for the day. I'm not telling my coworker about the Steinbeck center until we get there. As he also used to be a chef and still is as a hobby, your suggestions will make for a great day for him.

Will let you know how it goes, and thanks again.

We just returned from a 4 day stay in Carmel, we made 2 stops to the Giant Artichoke for the Fried Artichokes there, very yummy! Phil's Fish Market has some really good Cioppino, very casual atmosphere, you can walk right out to the beach in back of the restaurant. ***kim*** ((*))

OK, we're back -- here's how the day went:

Headed out around 9am from Daly City. Hopped on Hwy 1 and took a leisurely drive down the coast. I'll give him credit for calmness on the windy road, through Devil's Slide, etc. There are some especially beautiful stands of trees to drive through as well; I just wish I could have stopped and spent hours at some places.

It was a beautiful sunny day as we drove, sharing the road with multitudes of people on bicycles (which in itself was great, as my friend is also a budding bicyclist in Kansas. He did note that 30-40 miles in K.C. is very different from Hwy 1!) My friend was mesmerized by the ocean, so we stopped here and there along the way. Most particularly, we stopped at Cowell Ranch Park (along the shore) and took the walk through the artichokes to the ocean. As we pulled up, he was asking "what are those things in the field," never guessing they were artichoke plants. He was thrilled. What a beautiful place as well. We did not go down the stairs to the beach, but did enjoy the views of the ocean and the seals on the rocks.

Worth noting along the way are some of the old "art deco" type of signs and buildings. Santa Cruz had quite a few of interest.

We didn't feel quite ready for lunch, and so did not stop at Phil's. At Watsonville, we continued on towards Castroville, and stopped at the first artichoke/ produce stand we found. It's satisfying to see somebody who fancies himself a foodie to exclaim in amazement over the variety of artichokes, sorted by size. Almost bought a box of chokes ($5/box of about 10-12). How to get them home, though? Same for the stalk of brussel sprouts; my friend doesn't like them, but they're a particular favorite of mine. Wish I could get those precious little ones back home, instead of the ones that are so big and coarse and expensive...

We did stop at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville. Kitsch at it's best -- of course we posed next to the giant artichoke for pictures. Had lunch there -- I had the "giant artichoke platter" -- a steamed artichoke, some fried artichoke hearts, and artichoke bread. The steamed artichoke was not so good --heart was mushy and it had been sitting around awhile. But the variety on the plate was really fun. Well worth a stop, but maybe should have stopped for lunch along the coast, as sightseer suggested.

I didn't divulge our Salinas destination, but my friend spotted the sign for the National Steinbeck Center as we approached. Well, that was quite the experience for him. Thank you so much, easytraveler, I think you made his whole trip. He seemed to know every character from every book and took great pleasure out of the excellent tableaus for each book. The little section of town right by the museum was also the subject of some photos.

We did come back up 101, which was quick if not so scenic. One stop at Gilroy (the Garlic Shoppe, I believe) -- I bought dried garlic flakes (like almond flakes), he was busy sampling the garlic spreads.

Back to Daly City by 4:30, which was perfect. This was quite enough to do in one day, and I wouldn't have wanted to add on, say, Monterey. Had we more time to spend here, Big Basin and Pt. Lobos would have merited a visit -- just not in the same day as what we did. As it was, we did not have time to linger overmuch anywhere.

Thank you again, everyone -- I gave you all full credit, and only took the credit for driving without getting lost.

sludick-
Thanks for the great trip report. Glad the day was successful!

Orlando_Vic, I would be remiss if I did not thank you for the helpful links -- they helped quite a bit. By the way, both my father and my son are named "Vic" -- good name!