Tom McNary does not run a vegetarian restaurant.

Discovering meat, poultry and fish on the menu has often come as a surprise to a number of first-time patrons to Carried Away, a café located in Aptos Center offering both dine-in and takeout with seasonally-based menus.

“Many people think that we’re a vegetarian place, but we’re just a restaurant that serves a lot of vegetables,” said McNary, owner and chef of Carried Away. “We’ve been basically buying from local farmers ever since the day we opened. We’re lucky that we have such a huge amount of farmers to draw from in this area.”

Established in November 1989, Carried Away quickly became and has remained a regular stop on early Saturday mornings for a number of farmers and vendors participating in the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Markets. Before the farmers arrive at Cabrillo College for the Aptos market, they drop off their orders at the cafe, which is located just down the road on Soquel Drive.

Although she had been cooking since she was a little girl, Pamela Burns needed some time before she felt comfortable referring to herself as a chef.

“Chef means master,” Burns explained. “I wouldn’t call myself a chef until I felt I was ready.”

Devoted customers of the Wild Plum Cafe, Bistro and Bakery would more than likely encourage Burns to wear the title proudly. As the owner and head chef of the popular Monterey breakfast and lunch spot, Burns, 56, has not only built a reputation as both a talented chef and pastry chef, but also as a keen businesswoman with high standards and a flair for design.

Established in 1999, the Wild Plum occupies a little more than 1,400 square feet on Munras Avenue. Breakfast and lunch are served daily, and the restaurant will begin serving dinner Wednesdays through Sundays in April. Burns estimated that between 70 and 90 percent of the menu is organic with plenty of both gluten-free and vegan options available.

Lionel Le Morvan never brings just one basket to the Aptos market.

A Saturday regular, Le Morvan averages at least one trip back to his car each morning to drop off one overflowing basket, pick up an empty one and head back to select more fresh produce. With a unwavering dedication to working with fresh and seasonal produce, Le Morvan is the head chef and owner of Ma Maison restaurant with his wife Janet.

Located on Soquel Drive in Aptos, Ma Maison is the third restaurant that Le Morvan, 54, has owned. His first restaurant was back in his home country of France; the second was on St. Martin in the Caribbean and geared toward the French natives living there.

“We are the only real traditional French restaurant in Santa Cruz County,” said Le Morvan, relaxing at a table after a weekday lunch shift. “French cuisine is so vast; it changes from different parts of the country. It may be one way in Paris and a different way in Bordeaux.

Michael Jones has grown to rely upon farmers markets.

The owner of A Moveable Feast, a social catering company he established in 1976, Michael, 62, has always been a big believer that the food he serves should be both organic and locally produced.

“We’ve been 100 percent organic and local since the beginning,” said Michael, a regular at the MPC market. “We used to grow all our own stuff, but we have farmers markets now — which have saved us a lot of time.”

Whether it’s putting together a fancy dinner party for a client in Pebble Beach or providing more casual food for crew on a film shoot, A Moveable Feast is dedicated to serving the freshest organic products of the highest quality that Michael can find.

“In the past, a lot of our clients could care less about ‘local’ and ‘organic,’” Michael said. “But they’re starting to. Organic produce tastes better and lasts longer. It’s been an education process.”