Beach House excels in seafood selections

Glori Fickling

In addition to a tropical lanai patio welcoming guests as they

saunter down the stairs to the entry, Laguna’s popular Beach House

offers four other inviting dining areas.

Walk past the cozy cocktail lounge and discover two interior rooms

posed high above the sandy beach. The view from a surrounding

perimeter deck, now festively strung with sparkling Christmas lights,

often reaches clear to romantic Catalina Island. Once the vacation

home of old time motion picture actor/comedian Slim Sommerville, this

fascinating vintage beach cottage offers much more than inviting

ambience.

Since the summer of 1968 when local restaurant mogul Gale Pike

acquired the property, the place relies on much more than this

picturesque location. The ambitious menu, under watchful guidance of

ambitious chef Luis Zorian for the past five years, easily holds its

own as a lure to dedicated foodies. Small wonder this romantic

hideaway, provocatively nestled at the foot of Sleepy Hallow Lane,

has twice been cloned, first on the southern point of Dana Point

Harbor, again much farther south at the edge of celestial Cardiff by

the Sea.

While the bill of fare has been slightly scaled back in the last

year or so, the diversity of starters and entrees features an

appealing variety. Wrapped in a cover of brilliant flora designed by

Pike’s artistic wife Lenore who also created the interior decor, the

menu offers a baker’s dozen of starters in a $12 to $16 range. A

quintet of salads, chowders and bisques are $3 to $6; as many grilled

specialties at $22 to $28. The octave of finfish entrees averages $24

to $30, and ten shellfish favorites are in a $23 to $40 range going

to $40, $50 and $54 for Maine lobster and Pacific lobster tails in

concert with a petit or 12 ounce filet mignon or New York steak. Main

course presentations include fresh seasonal vegetables and individual

variations of potatoes for which an interesting creative approach is

taken.

For instance, macadamia wasabi-seasoned mashed spuds complement

such dishes as Pacific salmon with coconut prawns, steamed Maine

lobster with drawn butter, and the fabulous New England clam bake

offering a one pound Maine lobster sided with little neck clams and

corn on the cob. Ginger mashed sweet potatoes accompany a giant

baseball cut of swordfish caramelized with orange-honey sauce.

Potatoes au gratin enhance baked halibut in green peppercorn and

lobster sauce. Wild rice pilaf accompanies lobster thermidor baked in

the shell and sauteed with cream, sherry, tarragon, shallots and

mushrooms in a rich hollandaise/ parmesan cheese blend. And a pasta

du jour accents pan-grilled sea bass with horseradish root over

crispy leeks in lemon chive butter. Each plate becomes a tempting

work of art with lovely accents of curled purple cabbage leaves and

sculpted yellow turnips.

Sunset specials, available from 4:30 to 6 p.m. every day, are an

enormous bargain for early diners Nine delicious variations of the

dinner menu start at $11.95 for such entrees as sand dabs amandine

with jalapeno tartar sauce; twin breasts of chicken Marsala with

mushrooms and capers, fettuccine over grilled strips of spicy chicken

with roasted bell pepper and artichoke hearts. Noteworthy, too, are

poached salmon chardonnay, char grilled swordfish in jalapeno tartar

sauce, roast prime rib au jus, and petite bacon-wrapped filet mignon,

these at $14.95 to $16.95. Topping the list at $18.95 is broiled local lobster tail served with drawn butter. Included with each are

fresh vegetables and choice of any pasta, potato selection or wild

rice pilaf. Add $1.75 for a baked potato with all the trimmings. A

crusty loaf of sourdough bread and creamy cluster of whipped butter

deliciously prefaces every repast.

Convivial family atmosphere established by the Pike entourage, is

reflected in the hospitality of sons Mathew and Noah who rotate

management of the three units along with Mike Williams, Jackie Fisher

and Audrey Manning who also books the banquets here.

NEWS BITES

It was a real French soiree, the Joyous Noel at Sylvain’s annual

Christmas party Thursday night. The popular principal of Laguna

Coffee Company stole the show with his delectable assortment of

delicacies -- salmon, duck and vegetable mousses, foie gras, pate en

croute, tuna tarragon canapes, wild chanterelles and perky little

snowmen decorated eggs. Some 200 guests contributed pot luck dishes

ranging from steaming squash soup and hot hobo chile to a whopping 15

pound apple pie. Credit local decorator Don Vector for turning the

sizable parking lot into a cozy nightclub replete with colorful

lighting, scads of hay carpeting and the celebratory music of Gary

Hogan and Glen “Rusty” Gillette. Information: (949) 494-6901 for next

year’s invitation and a cup of Sylvain’s Columbia brew.

NEW YEAR’S EVE HAPPENINGS

If you plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve at one of Laguna’s more

upscale restaurants, there may still be time to check out the

following. Romantic Ti Amo offers a four-course dinner with seatings

at 5:30; 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. tabbed at $65, $75 and $85 respectively,

the last extending to midnight, includes free pour- ings of Mumm’s

champagne. Information: (949) 499-5350. Seatings for elegant hush at

6, 6:30 and 7 p.m. feature a four- course dinner plus a glass each of

champagne and sauterne wine. The final 9 p.m. dinner at $160 per

person, includes five courses with the same flute of champagne and

sauterne stem plus a champagne toast at midnight. Information: (949)

497-3616. At splendiferous Savoury’s in La Casa del Camino Hotel, the

lobby will be trans- formed into a festive nightclub replete with a

rhythmic band, and a four-course feast in the restaurant will include

bottomless flutes of champagne. Seatings at 5:30 to 6:30 are $65 a

person. Guests arriving for the midnight celebration, 9 to 10 p.m., a

blessed with a $95 tab. Information: (949) 376-9718.