The places in Carmel-by-the-Sea the guidebooks miss.
The places in Carmel-by-the-Sea the guidebooks miss. locals-only counters, after-hours rooms and the spots tourists walk past.
Akaoni serves traditional Japanese cooking and sushi at Mission and 6th in Carmel, a small room listed in the Michelin Guide and booked by phone.
Order: Sushi from the day's fish list, called out at the counter.
Why locals love it: No online booking, minimal signage and a 90-minute lunch window three days a week keep this Michelin Guide-listed counter a local secret.
Tip: Seats are few and hours are short; call ahead, and remember lunch only runs Thursday through Saturday.
Il Tegamino hides in Carmel's Court of the Golden Bough off Ocean Avenue, a small family-run room cooking Italian comfort food behind a candy shop.
Order: The night's baked tegamino, the namesake pan dish.
Why locals love it: You enter through a courtyard tucked behind the Cottage of Sweets candy shop; from Ocean Avenue there is almost nothing to see.
Tip: Find the courtyard entrance tucked behind the Cottage of Sweets; the room is tiny, so book before you plan the rest of the evening.
Windy Oaks pours its estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on Lincoln Street in Carmel, a quieter tasting room a block off the Ocean Avenue current.
Order: The estate Pinot Noir tasting flight.
Why locals love it: It pours on Lincoln Street, a block the wine walk crowd rarely reaches; most visitors never leave Dolores and San Carlos.
Tip: Fridays and Saturdays it pours until 19:00; the Lincoln Street location keeps it calmer than the Dolores Street rooms at weekends.
Cottage of Sweets has candied Ocean Avenue in Carmel since 1959, hand-making fudge in an ivy-covered cottage stocked with imported licorice.
Order: A quarter pound of house fudge, cut from the slab.
Why locals love it: Tourists photograph the ivy-covered cottage without realising the fudge and chocolates are still made by the shop's own confectioners.
Tip: The house fudge and chocolates are made by the shop's own confectioners, and the licorice shelf is imported from around the world.