02 Oct Crema Espresso & Wine Bar Now Open in Pacific Grove
Crema Espresso and Wine Bar (375-1300) is not your typical Pacific Grove foodie enterprise, and not just because Manager Katie Minafo believes coffee should be its own food group (though that helps).
The just-opened locale, which occupies the victorian where Pasta Miaonce sat at the corner of Lighthouse and 13th, also enjoys a unique—but logically appealing—DNA: espresso bar by day, wine bar by night, special catering events whenever.
It’s a fun and natural play for Tamie Aceves, who has a chef, wine and foodstuffs from her La Creme Catering, and Minafo, who used to ownLighthouse Cafe. It might even spark a little life on an underwhelming edge of Pacific Grove’s food scene.
“A place that locals naturally gravitate to for their morning coffee or to share a drink with their friends,” Aceves says.
On the ground floor, people pick up their all-organic coffee drinks—favorites of the moment are Minafo’s signature iced-white mochas ($4.25) and breves ($4.25)—and a choice from a range of local pastry purveyors like Cypress Bakery and Parker-Lusseau and Patisserie Bechler. Then there are mimosas and breakfast burritos—and plates of Tony Baker Bacon—Saturday and Sunday. (That’s a photo by Terry Way of KatieMinafo, used with permission.)
For studying, sipping and chatting, lounge seating occupies the level above, including the cozy “peacock room.”
The espresso bar is open 7am-2pm daily; they’re aiming to open the wine bar 4-8pm (Thursday through Sunday) in November, once they have the coffee scene wired.
La Creme Catering, meanwhile, rockets on as in-house caterers for HollyFarm and with increasing events in the victorian. The house—which allows up to 70—permits midsized groups that a lot of restaurants can’t handle.
Weekly photog Nic Coury attended last week’s soft opening to snap pics of the dishes Chef Jon Moser was plating for a pop-up with PessagnoWinery, and of the Crema layout too.
Here’s a peek at the plates. (Scroll down for more on the spot…)
Pear and arugula salad with warm goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts and Pedro Ximenez vinaigrette, which Anthony Pessagno paired with 2010 Pessagno Santa Lucia Highlands La Estancia Vineyard Reisling.
Seared California white bass with winter squash, young carrots and bacon jam, paired with 2010 Pessagno Santa Lucia Highlands La Estancia Vineyard Chardonnay.
Grilled duck and fig sausage with sweet corn polenta, natural jus, paired with 2009 Pessagno Santa Lucia Highlands La Estancia Vineyard Pinot Noir.
Braised lamb shank with shelling beans, olive relish and gremolata. Paired with 2009 Pessagno Idyll Times Vineyard Zinfandel.
Fig and raspberry crostata elevated by some toasted almond crunch and elderflower ice cream. Paired with 2010 Pessagno Late Harvest Hames Valley Vineyard Orange Muscat.