4 above-par golf course restaurants in Monterey County

With the number of golf courses approaching 30 — a half dozen of them bucket-list lofty — it’s fair to call the Monterey Peninsula a mecca for golfers.

[...] lately, four chef-driven places are using setting, skill and sustainably sourced ingredients in ways that elevate golf course cuisine well above par.

[...] while golf remains a largely upscale and exclusive experience, these restaurants are open to everyone with an appetite and a modest dining budget.

When Chef Johnny DeVivo left fine dining at Casanova, one of Carmel’s most storied properties, for a golf clubhouse in Pebble Beach, many scratched their heads.

At Porter’s in the Forest, he has total creative freedom and one of Monterey County’s more dynamic and intriguing menus.

Lunch highlights include a pickled papaya-cabbage salad with chile-lime vinaigrette and an array of condiments, sprouts, Thai basil, lime, jalapeño and sauces ($12.95).

The baked asparagus and egg covered in salmon roe comes as a bargain at $13; the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with crunchy kohlrabi slaw and house-fermented chile sauce, and the Korean Philly cheesesteak with shaved tri-tip, handmade kimchi and Muenster cheese, with Sriracha aioli, are best-sellers and solid values too ($14 and $15, respectively).

A summer dinner menu stars a seaweed-wrapped local sea bass ($32) and short-rib tortellini with tempura mushrooms and carrot croquettes ($14).

Cocktail creator Carlos Colimodio plays along, with drinks such as his “bacon-and-blue” martini, with thick-cut bacon cured in-house, a blue cheese-stuffed olive and a spritz of Ardbeg single-malt Islay-island Scotch to open up its smokiness ($12).

At his resort’s primary restaurant, the Lodge at Carmel Valley Ranch, that takes the form of lobster-sweet corn pizzas, bun cha Vietnamese grilled pork-veal meatballs, Moroccan-spiced beef carpaccio and candy cap mushroom-crusted Colorado lamb.

Down the hill on the golf course, he sources some of his ingredients from the ranch’s garden, chicken coop, lavender fields and beehives.

Best bets at lunch include the catch-of-the-day fish tacos with shredded cabbage, salsa fresca and jalapeño creme fraiche ($13), and the double-stack burger, with two Angus patties between caramelized onions, a choice of cheese and other toppings ($16).

Leaning on Carmel Valley neighbor and organic pioneers Earthbound Farm, he uses fresh greens with aplomb in salads like arugula, grilled asparagus, roasted onion and white beans dressed with a fig balsamic ($9/$15).

Edgar’s grass-fed burger on an incredible Gayle’s Bakery brioche bun ($15) tops a sandwich menu that includes a robust Cuban ($12) and fried-egg club ($13).

Point Pinos Grill at Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Course

Owner and Executive Chef Dory Ford — who made his name as Monterey Bay Aquarium’s leader in locavore sourcing before it was Webster’s Word of the Year — has built up such rich foodie momentum, Monterey County can no longer contain it.

General Manager Lucas Flores and chef Orlando Corona focus on details that make the menus pop: brown-sugar-and-pepper bacon, fried plantains or chicken with chile-and-corn waffles at breakfast ($12.95), and lunch and dinner items like pole-caught albacore melt ($13.95), green chile mac ’n’ cheese ($10.95).