People gather in a courtyard during an open house party for Mammone and Mama’s Boy, two new businesses from the owners of the Stationæry,
Courtesy Coel Mayer
The owners of Carmel’s the Stationaery, a popular brunch destination, are opening a new restaurant and deli nearby.
Nic Coury/Special to The Chronicle
People walk along Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which is getting an influx of new restaurants.
Nic Coury/Special to The Chronicle
Many of the food businesses that dot Carmel-by-the-Sea’s quaint streets have endured for decades, if not more: the 127-year-old Carmel Bakery, which also claims to be California’s oldest bakery still operating in its original location; Village Corner California Bistro, around since 1948, is steps away from Little Swiss Café, opened in 1956, and not far from Casanova, whose history goes back to 1978. They have not changed much in the ensuing years, and are beloved for that reason.
A flurry of new restaurants is coming to Carmel, an unusually high rate of openings for the picturesque seaside town, once a Bohemian artists’ enclave that’s become a vacation destination for celebrities and the well-to-do. The openings come as Carmel-by-the-Sea grapples with tensions over tourism, which can be seen in the city’s congested streets, testy City Council meetings and lines outside small businesses, which rely heavily on visitors for revenue.
The new wave was arguably kicked off by Chez Noir, which won a Michelin star less than a year after opening in 2022. In the last year, at least five new businesses have opened in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Carmel Valley, and at least four more prominent ones are on the way. The owners of the Stationæry, Carmel’s most popular brunch spot, which opened in 2018, are expanding for the first time next year with Sicilian restaurant Mammone and casual deli Mama’s Boy on Dolores Street. Justin Cogley, executive chef of the two-Michelin-starred Aubergine in Carmel, is going more casual with the Corner Market, a seafood restaurant opening in 2027. Banju, a “nostalgic” brunch restaurant from owner Ashley Wolff of Korean spot Jeju Kitchen, is slated to arrive late this year. Char Steakhouse, which serves $95 bone-in rib-eye and high-end bourbon, arrived in July on Dolores Street, around the corner from Nora’s, which a team of local operators opened last summer. The owner of Char is also turning the former home of longtime dive bar Sade’s into a cocktail spot. Carmel Valley just gained Gather, where chef Matthew Zimny blends Eastern European and Japanese foodways, near Ad Astra Atelier, a 1-year-old café spinoff from Ron Mendoza’s hit Monterey bakery Ad Astra.
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“There are restaurants that are wonderful for what they are but Carmel is largely made up of restaurants that don’t really change,” said Anthony Carnazzo, who runs the Stationæry with his wife, Alissa. “There is a certain charm and wonderful sense of comfort and nostalgia that the consistency of those restaurants provides. Something new happening is historically rare.”
Inside the future dining room of Mammone, an Italian restaurant opening in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Courtesy Coel Mayer
Though the Carnazzos are known for the Stationæry’s seasonal, hyper-California vibe, Anthony Carnazzo has long wanted to open an Italian restaurant. His father’s side of the family immigrated to America from Sicily in the 1930s, eventually landing in what’s now known as Spaghetti Hill, a historic neighborhood named for the Sicilian and Italian-American fishermen and families who settled there. His grandmother’s small, two-bedroom house was often filled with people and food.
“I always wanted to, in a sense, chase my own childhood — all those really happy memories from growing up in Monterey, surrounded by food and family and warmth and laughter and seemingly too many people to fit inside my nonna’s house,” he said.
But the couple decided to first open the Stationæry, inspired by their time living in Los Angeles, where Anthony worked in the coffee and restaurant industries and Alissa in graphic design and letterpress printing. After the Stationæry’s success, they got many expansion offers over the years, but with three young children and a thriving business, they weren’t tempted until they were approached recently about the Dolores Street property, two minutes down the street from the Stationæry. Formerly attorney’s offices, it’s home to two connected spaces: a street-facing building, plus another accessible through a red wooden gate into a courtyard with a secret garden in the back.
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Mammone, located in the rear building, will channel Anthony Carnazzo’s memories through southern coastal Italian food served family-style with lots of fresh seafood, vegetables and herbs, as well as pasta and Neapolitan pizza. Antipasti may include sea bream crudo with Meyer lemon, crispy garlic, Taggiasca olives and basil. For pastas, expect spaghetti alla Nerano, made with fried zucchini, or orecchiette with Monterey Bay squid and shell beans. Pizzas may be topped with culatello, a cured meat, or smoky blue cheese with pears and arugula.
The Mammone space resembles a house — the original owners built it so, planning to retire there one day, Alissa Carnazzo said. The bar and dining room each have a working fireplace. Upstairs, there will be a wine library and private dining room.
The owners will turn the front building into Mama’s Boy, a neighborhood deli with sandwiches, pre-made salads, takeout pastas, sauces, imported Italian goods and wine. All sandwiches will be made on fresh schiacciata, a Tuscan flatbread, with fillings such as mortadella, salami, pepperonata and Taggiasca olives; or burrata with marinated zucchini and roasted tomatoes.
Inside the deli, staff will make fresh pasta in a “fishbowl” station facing the street. The sandwiches are inspired in part by a deli in Florence where Stationæry executive chef Amalia Scatena, who will oversee food at Mammone and Mama’s Boy, worked years ago — at the same time that serendipitously, unbeknownst to them, Anthony Carnazzo was also living in Florence and a regular at the deli.
The Carnazzos, both Monterey County natives, said their new businesses will be explicitly for locals. They envision Mama’s Boy as a regular stop for quick food and provisions, while they hope to see Mammone filled on weeknights with locals celebrating birthdays or grabbing drinks before walking to the beach.
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“We’re building them for the people that live here, and then the visitors want to be there because the locals made it cool,” Alissa Carnazzo said. “We’re not building businesses that are dependent on tourists.”
The Carnazzos are hyper-aware of the divisions over Carmel tourism, including within their own families. They have family members whose work depends on tourists, and others who avoid going out to dinner because of overcrowding. They also live it at their business: Throughout most of the year, the Stationæry’s customer base is about 60% locals, 40% out-of-towners. In the summer, it flips the other way. According to tourism board Visit Carmel, the city depends on visitor spending for 60% of its annual budget.
Similarly, the line for hand-rolled pretzels and chocolate chip cookies at Carmel Bakery, which has been open since 1899, is packed with tourists on weekends, especially during the summer, and locals during the week and in the winter, said owner Gian Pepe. His father took over the bakery, Carmel’s first food business, in the 1980s. Pepe has watched his hometown transform in the last decade, with more people — especially younger visitors using TikTok to plan their trips — traveling there specifically to eat at restaurants.
“For a long time the read on Carmel was, ‘it’s really pretty but the inns are run down and the restaurants aren’t great,’” Pepe said. “Now that perspective I think has totally flipped.”
People wait to be seated at the longtime Little Swiss Café in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Nic Coury/Special to The Chronicle
In Carmel-by-the-Sea, the end of some longtime establishments have given birth to new ones — and in some cases, sparking controversy. When the nearly century-old Sade’s, Carmel’s oldest dive bar, could not reach a new lease agreement with the property owners and closed, the news that it would be replaced by a “high-end” cocktail bar was met with consternation from some locals in press and social media. Bashar Sneeh, who also owns Carmel restaurants Char, Dametra Cafe, Porta Bella and Catch, is opening an unnamed bar in the Sade’s space. (In response to the backlash, he told Monterey County Now that it’s natural for a new business to replace a closed one, saying, “I totally understand the emotions, but let’s be reasonable about things.”)
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Cogley took over the Forge in the Forest, which closed in 2025 after more than 50 years of business. The owners said they were unable to extend their lease with their landlord, Esperanza Carmel LLC, owned by Monaco billionaire Patrice Pastor, who has spent more than $100 million acquiring properties in the area. (This included the historic Rocky Point restaurant down the coast, where Cogley will eventually open another restaurant.)
Cogley spent the last 15 years serving a tasting menu at Aubergine, earning multiple James Beard Award nominations and graduating the restaurant from one to two Michelin stars. About 20 people a night sit for three hours to enjoy Aubergine’s $185 menu. “I’ve always wanted to have a casual restaurant and eat the food that I like to make at home,” he said. The 5,000-square-foot Corner Market, which has been in the works for two years, will be open for both lunch and dinner, with an emphasis on seafood and seasonal produce.
The expansive restaurant on Junipero Street, originally a blacksmith’s shop, needs a gut renovation, Cogley said. “I know there’s a lot of local attachment to it,” he said of the space. “Because I’ve had such a longstanding relationship with Carmel, being here for 15 years, that helps me with some of the possible, not conflict, but history, memories.”
Pepe, who was born and raised in Carmel, sees the new businesses as, yes, competition, but a rising tide lifts all boats.
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“It’s the most ambitious the town has felt in decades,” he said. “I think that’s really good for everyone.”
