Thursday, October 27, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Cafe del Rey - on a Misty Day
Here's the first review from our ride on Sunday (yesterday). We left from the Montana Street parking lot in Santa Monica around noon, and the misty cool day was dreamy. Perfect for biking, and after being at DisneyLand the previous day - I was ready for fresh air and freedom! Note - these little lots cost less to park that the larger ones closer to the pier. Bring cash - no cards accepted~
We biked South toward El Segundo - which was the goal for the day.... 25 miles round trip seemed to be about the right distance. Using the MyMap app we track our trips and times - it provides justification for calorie consumption at the very least. One thing about the less than perfect blue sky days at the beach is that everything kind of slows down, quiets down, down south kinda crawl feelin'. Just requires a fleece.
On the way we checked out the places that we have not tried yet... thinking that we'll be at the backend of the brunch bracket by the time we're ready to stop for eats. Brunch action is not appealing to us - helmet head hair doesn't show well with the fashionistas that do brunch from 11 to 2, so we aim for earlier or later. Today is going to be later.
We decided today we'd try Cafe del Rey on the return trip. It's on the restaurant row strip next to the CA Yacht Club, the Warehouse and Tony P's Dockside Grill on Admiralty Way.
We biked South toward El Segundo - which was the goal for the day.... 25 miles round trip seemed to be about the right distance. Using the MyMap app we track our trips and times - it provides justification for calorie consumption at the very least. One thing about the less than perfect blue sky days at the beach is that everything kind of slows down, quiets down, down south kinda crawl feelin'. Just requires a fleece.
On the way we checked out the places that we have not tried yet... thinking that we'll be at the backend of the brunch bracket by the time we're ready to stop for eats. Brunch action is not appealing to us - helmet head hair doesn't show well with the fashionistas that do brunch from 11 to 2, so we aim for earlier or later. Today is going to be later.
We decided today we'd try Cafe del Rey on the return trip. It's on the restaurant row strip next to the CA Yacht Club, the Warehouse and Tony P's Dockside Grill on Admiralty Way.
cafedelreymarina.com
We were greeted by a lovely hostess that had charming oozing all over her - the kind of greeting that sets the mood for a lovely time - and as we were at the tail end of brunch, we had our choice of tables - and choose a cushy booth with a great marine view. There were lots of birthday parties, showers and the like going on around us - beautiful people everywhere.
The menu was prix fixe - and most of the dishes were interesting takes on brunch favorites. The three of us went in different directions: I just wanted two starters, my friend wanted the prix fixe, and my man wanted a starter and an entree. The menu came with a mimosa or something else I can't remember, but between us our desire was simply two coffee's and a glass of sauvignon blanc.
As it turns out, the waiter had to inform us that they were out of --- well, alot of things. But he was gracious and agreed to work with us on the cost since we were the sweep up customers for the day.
We tried the butternut squash soup (bland), the crabcake (dry and unappealing), the asparagus salad which came with fried eggs on top (nice presentation and pleased my friend who has a very refined palette), and the open-faced chicken sandwich - which my guy RAVED about. He started planning a return trip to order another! Between the 3 of us we had two desserts - a chocolate cake that we gave thumbs down to, and classic creme brulee which was classically perfect.
Finally score - 2.5 of 5 stars for the food; 4.5 out of 5 stars for the service; and 4 stars for the ambiance/location.
It's about a 25 minute ride from the restaurant back to the lot at Montana Street.
I invite you to dust of your wheels and give it a try. I'll be back next weekend with another review.
We were greeted by a lovely hostess that had charming oozing all over her - the kind of greeting that sets the mood for a lovely time - and as we were at the tail end of brunch, we had our choice of tables - and choose a cushy booth with a great marine view. There were lots of birthday parties, showers and the like going on around us - beautiful people everywhere.
The menu was prix fixe - and most of the dishes were interesting takes on brunch favorites. The three of us went in different directions: I just wanted two starters, my friend wanted the prix fixe, and my man wanted a starter and an entree. The menu came with a mimosa or something else I can't remember, but between us our desire was simply two coffee's and a glass of sauvignon blanc.
As it turns out, the waiter had to inform us that they were out of --- well, alot of things. But he was gracious and agreed to work with us on the cost since we were the sweep up customers for the day.
We tried the butternut squash soup (bland), the crabcake (dry and unappealing), the asparagus salad which came with fried eggs on top (nice presentation and pleased my friend who has a very refined palette), and the open-faced chicken sandwich - which my guy RAVED about. He started planning a return trip to order another! Between the 3 of us we had two desserts - a chocolate cake that we gave thumbs down to, and classic creme brulee which was classically perfect.
Finally score - 2.5 of 5 stars for the food; 4.5 out of 5 stars for the service; and 4 stars for the ambiance/location.
It's about a 25 minute ride from the restaurant back to the lot at Montana Street.
I invite you to dust of your wheels and give it a try. I'll be back next weekend with another review.
The Concept - Bike the Beach, Search and Eat
For my birthday in May, I received a bike. And since then I've become addicted to biking the beach on LA's Westside. It's a dream - fabulous view, interesting people, restaurants that poke themselves at you with provocative names and luscious aromas - and it qualifies as exercise.
Week after week, usually on Sunday but sometimes on Saturday, and occasionally during the week in the afternoons - me and my man and any friend that I can entice - head down there to soak it all up. And we pick off the restaurants one by one by one......
So we got this idea to share our findings - we'll report what we experience for anyone that cares to hear how this that or the other eatery has performed. Or just how the day went.
No agenda, never to be monetized, and a little anonymous - we'll just post our findings each week. If even one soul becomes inspired to abandon the TV or Facebook or other sedentary occupation and tap into the fabulous feel of being alive, in motion, in the sun (or the fog or the twilight or whatever God serves up) - I'll be thrilled.
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