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food for thought High Tide Opens, Jeninni's Unusual Options, Tales from the Sardine Factor y, and Healthy Eating for All B Y L A R R Y H A R L A N D HIGH TIDE FOR COCKTAILS When Mundaka owner Gabe Georis signed the lease to take over Ody's bar next door, it would have been convenient to just tear down a wall and expand his Spanish-themed empire. But Georis and executive chef Brandon Miller had other ideas — inspired from the wooden bar inside the new Carmel watering hole named High Tide. The handsome bar drips with histor y, inscribed with the name Sally Stanford, a colorful San Francisco madam who opened the Sausalito restaurant Valhalla (she later became mayor). Valhalla opened in 1893 as Walhalla, and became a destination for bootleggers during Prohibition. In the 1930s, notorious gangster Baby Face Nelson tended behind the bar, serving soft drinks in the open, and moonshine on the sly. And Al Capone put his elbows down there. Georis wanted High Tide to stand on its own, and Miller (who helped open San Francisco's Fog City Diner) plans a throwback menu, with items such as Celery Victor (invented in 1910 by Victor Hirtzler, chef at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel), and Hangtown Fry (popular during the California Gold Rush). Yes, he will use this plat- form to serve his famous Mundaka burger, along with other bar-food favorites. As for the cocktails, they will be legal (and assuredly lethal), with customers leaning against the most famous bar in Carmel. Mundaka and High Tide are located on San Carlos Street between Ocean and 7th, Carmel. 831/624-7400 or www.mundakacarmel.com. ATYPICAL FOOD AT JENINNI You know a restaurant is deliciously differ- ent when its menu includes a glossary of terms. Jeninni Kitchen + Wine Bar opened in November inside the Holman Building in Pacific Grove, and immediately turned heads with its avant garde approach. Wunderkind chef Jeffrey Weiss is a former world-class ice skater and author of the book "Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain," an introduction to Spanish butchering and meat-curing. The menu glossary explains, for example, that "freekeh" is roasted wheat, that "ras el hanout" is a North African spice, and that a "mollete" is 190 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 Executive Chef Brandon Miller and Mundaka restaurant owner Gabe Georis stand at the famous bar at High Tide, newly opened adjacent to Mundaka. The actual bar structure once hosted famous gangsters such as Baby Face Nelson and Al Capone. Photo: Kelli Uldall 190-191 Food for Thought_Layout 1 1/26/14 12:48 PM Page 1