The Wild Plum Café, Bistro & Bakery

"When it comes to my café I have three loves: ingredients, people, and place. We spend an enormous amount of time procuring our ingredients through farmers markets and farm-to-restaurant delivery services. But it’s the people who make the café, and creating a space they want to be in is as important to me as the food."

Local, sustainably harvested house-smoked fish with house-made condiments and bread; savory porridge with poached eggs; mac and cheese with uncured bacon and summer vegetable jam.

The Wild Plum Café strives to be good for both its customers and the environment. The colorful dining room, with its high ceiling, was designed to be accessible to all, while 90 percent of the ingredients on its largely plant-based menu hail from local farms, dairies, ranchers, and fishermen.

You won’t find plastic in any form at the café, but you will find bountiful salads, burgers made with grass-fed beef from Big Sur, and, at breakfast, an impressive roster of organic egg dishes. It is impossible to miss the care that chef/owner Pamela Burns has poured into all of the details of her business; it may be the most exuberantly conscientious restaurant in all of Monterey.