|
L'Auberge Carmel a Perfect Setting for Dreams By George Medovoy, Editor "Dreams Start Here." I saw these words, posted for everyone to see, in an Old English garden near Carmel's beach. What a fitting introduction, not just for the garden, but for L'Auberge Carmel, David and Kathleen Fink's seductive inn and restaurant carved out of a building that dates back to 1929.
(The patio area of the inn) Their auberge is located on a quiet residential street about four blocks from the beach and just around the corner from their other recent offering, a frenetic Italian trattoria called Cantinetta Luca. Settle into a Modern Guest Room At the auberge, a great starting point, you can settle into one of 20 modern guest rooms in a white-stucco, three-story building. Rooms come with modern amenities like flat screen TV, a small refrigerator, and a bathroom with a big soaking tub, perfect after long walks to the beach or to Carmel's quirky shops. A full country breakfast is included, with warm croissants, preserves, fresh squeezed orange juice, coddled eggs, organic yogurt, and French pressed coffee. You can have the breakfast in your room, in the dining area, or out on the patio. The building that houses the auberge was built by Allen Knight, Carmel's 1920's mayor. Knight had asked noted San Francisco architect Albert Farr to design a classic wood-frame-and-stucco inn around a brick courtyard, where the upper rooms would come with views of Carmel Bay. Farr modeled his design after a building in the city of Prague, Czechoslovakia. The eccentric Knight may have been mayor, but his heart was really at sea. So next door to his house on Sixth Street, he built a dwelling that vaguely resembles a boat, including parts from 57 shipwrecked vessels, and a water-tight metal door from the USS Farquhar. Something Special... A stay at the auberge is something special, beginning with a gracious welcome in a cozy lobby that looks a bit like an English drawing room, what with its generous assortment of port and single malt whiskeys. But the real piece de resistance is the distinctive 12-table restaurant.
(Nothing beats the enchanting beach in Carmel!) Dinner was a six-course affair with cheese and wine served by waiters in white gloves. Wines come from throughout the world's grape-growing regions, including Monterey County, other areas of California, and France. The wine cellar lies directly underneath the inn's courtyard, so when you've decided to take breakfast outdoors, well, you're sitting above a prized collection of 4,500 bottles! With only 12 tables, the restaurant is obviously very intimate, but I found that it a lot easier to get to know other guests - which is just what I did, chatting up two couples from England who, like me, were fans of the hilarious British TV series, "Faulty Towers." While the middle hours of your stay in Carmel can be filled with leisurely walks to village shops and the stretch of beach, another evening can offer a change-of-pace experience at Cantinetta Luca, a cavernous place with a high brick ceiling and big Italian wall posters, where the menu also features fresh seasonal ingredients. There were delicious pizzas, baked in a big wood-burning, Italian-style oven in an open kitchen, handmade pastas, a variety of fish and meat dishes, and the trattoria's own dried salamis. Delicious Pizza My pizza was made with tasty wild mushrooms, caramelized onion and fontina cheese, while the pesto ravioli came with ricotta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and lemon. Much of the inspiration for Cantinetta Luca derives from David and Kathleen's interest in the combination of antique and modern that they have discovered in Italy, including a brick ceiling they saw in a 600-year-old Florentine restaurant. WHEN
YOU GO: | ||
 |
