They be ballin'

Bringing bigger balls to Carmel Mountain Ranch than Gerard Butler did that one time he took a break from shredding Mavericks to shop at Pier 1, CMC's essentially a stripped-down, casual version of their previous fancy Italian resto in the OC, featuring wooden tables, gray booths, and photos of the patriarch's home of Salerno.

The hand-formed meat spheres are made from your choice of beef, beef & pork, beef & bacon, turkey, and even zucchini (sacrilege!). They're then drenched in either meat or marinara sauce and available a la carte, in sets of three, on sub rolls with cheese, or squeezed into Smash Ball Sliders, also that episode where Jerry O'Connell slides into a world where everyone plays delightfully pointless beach games, while the fat dude with the beard wears his shirt in the water. You can also get 'em family style, with up to 16 meatballs and eight sides ranging from various salads to Italian-style mac & cheese, while the ball-shy can opt for heavy petting over the pants pasta dishes like rigatoni/ spaghetti/ ravioli/ mostaccioli, and turkey or salami paninis with roasted red peppers, and marinated eggplant.

Drinks-wise, they're slinging a handful of Italian and Californian vinos as well as non-local brews like Newcastle and Peroni -- a solid move considering even the choicest balls can always use a good wash down.