Even hotels, spas and restaurants with the most glorious views have to reinvent themselves from time to time.
It happened with the recent grand opening of Vue restaurant in Dana Point’s Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa. Until a month ago, we’d enjoyed many good lunches and dinners in the resort’s former Regatta Grill and sometimes marveled at the high level the cuisine attained.
In those cases, I probably worked my thoughts into a column.
A month ago, the resort unveiled Vue and it is so much more than just a remake of an old and proven restaurant. I’d heard that it was very attractive and quite different than the old decor and that the food had taken on an even more intriguing edge.
Since my dance card is usually pretty full, it often takes me longer than this to ready a column,so little time, so much food to taste,but fate gave me a span of days at the end of June when nothing else was pressing my stress buttons.
In short order, several meals were consumed and even other amenities of the resort were enjoyed. We actually turned three days into a mini-vacation that allowed us to take in a lot of what this resort is offering.
The hotel’s former restaurant, which existed for more than a decade, resembled the salon of a yacht meeting a southern veranda. All of that is gone.
Vue has a very modern edge now with just the right amount of sophistication befitting a cliff top getaway. Local architect Wes Litzinger readapted the space with a feeling of much comfort and dignity.
There’s a giant fireplace facing the seafront wall of French windows. Sleek black granite tables are set with upscale amenities and surrounded by maple and leather chairs.
The mood of the room goes from beautifully bright and airy by day to romantic in the evening when the candlelight flickers. Artwork from local artisans fits the psyche and the style of the whole space. It is a room of pleasantries that sets a tone of anticipation for good food.
The culinary team here is strong. At the top of the list is the resort’s general manager, Jim Samuels, whose career has been forged in some elegant resorts, and he admits to a passion for good food and wine.
Executive chef is David Scalise, who began working in a restaurant at the age of 15, went to work as a cook and ended up as executive sous chef at a Four Seasons resort and ventured through the kitchens of two other large hotel operations before this job.
I cornered him one afternoon for some culinary repartee, quickly discovering that he’s got plans for adding to the food and wine adventures at Laguna Cliffs. Cooking classes and winemaker dinners are on the horizon.
The chef de cuisine for Vue is Anton Cossi who loves discussing the menu with guests and exudes enthusiasm for the top-of-the-line cooking equipment and presentation plates they’ve bought.
In yet another step toward positioning Vue as one of Orange County’s premier dining spots, Brian Collins, a chef himself, has been hired as the restaurant manager.
The food is described as California coastal cuisine. It incorporates a distinctly creative California style of cooking built upon premium products and ample use of fresh seafood. Adequate attention also is splurged on red meats and free-range poultry.
Food presentations offer a nice dose of drama. Each of the menu items come on an asymmetrical or geometric shaped dish deemed the best match. It’s so appealing to have this m & #233;lange of tableware rather than more and more round plates.
One evening, a steak came on a square plate while a fish entree took center stage on a rectangular dish with al dente broccolini on one end and a fresh tomato risotto on the other. Triangular and elliptical shaped service pieces support other culinary items.
Breakfast is served every day. All the elements of the first meal of the day are honored so one can eat as heartily or as lightly as desired.
At this time of year, it’s quite nice on the terrace outside the restaurant for the morning meal or for dinner. The temperature’s just right and the fresh ocean air is extra invigorating.
Vegetable spring rolls with a Thai chile sauce as an appetizer are a textural treat: part crunchy, part soft, all quite flavorful.
For lunch, seafood becomes part of an interesting salad. It has sun-dried cherries, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and spinach gilded with a mango-cilantro vinaigrette and topped with ahi tuna.
I love the healthier take on the lunch taco: grilled wild salmon with guacamole, tomato, sour cream and cilantro wrapped in romaine lettuce leaves.
Sandwiches that look like art hold up in the taste department, too, and if you are looking for an absolutely outstanding burger, the half pound sirloin burger (especially the one with blue cheese for me) is memorable. Pizzas and soups also are offered.
Dinner items on the new menu are pretty chic. There’s a lettuce wrap appetizer that has jumbo lumps of crab meat and papaya tucked inside bibb lettuce leaves.
One small plate has portions of saffron-perfumed shrimp, ahi tuna and lump crab meat on it. Tuna tartare takes us on a new taste avenue with its adornments of pickled eggplant and avocado.
I can’t imagine anyone not loving the wild salmon glazed with the chef’s orange barbecue sauce,it’s a delightful match. Linguine does a balancing act of flavors with the Hawaiian prawns, tomatoes and a bit of garlic and cilantro afloat in a chardonnay broth.
Rack of lamb has risotto on the side that’s studded with cambozola cheese flavor. Of a few steaks, the bone-in rib eye with onion rings and tempura style asparagus is really satisfying.
Pan-seared diver scallops in a ruby Port reduction, Kobe-style braised short ribs with wild mushrooms and chicken with a ragout of vegetables also sing with flavor.
Thank goodness more restaurants are tuning in to the importance of cheese as an alternative course for a meal. Here, the chef makes up a plate of either three or five California artisanal cheeses and sides them with a fragrant sauce, some tomato jam and a fig compote, plus organic flat bread wedges.
The wickedness of calories from dessert has not yet triggered my skip tab either. I’ve powered my way through several.
A fried banana split certainly takes the American classic into the mod age with the creamiest and sweetest banana cuddling freshly made ice cream. Rich chocolate permeates the lava cake, almost like a semi-dense chocolate brownie.
Cheese cake is presented with a seasonal personality. When cr & #269;me br & #369;l & #233;e is perfumed with Starbuck’s coffee, it’s on the trendy road, too. A very fashionable sundae is constructed with the help of freshly baked Tollhouse cookies.
If you are around on a Sunday, there’s an a la carte breakfast until 11 a.m. and then a full-fledged brunch. The way the food’s presented is far more attractive than usual and the diversity is very appealing.
Very noticeable are the state-of-the-art induction chafing dishes that keep foods at the perfect hot temperature without drying the food out. No more little candles trying to do a grown-up pan’s work.
Various food stations have their own built-in refrigeration units, cooking arenas and specialty display tables. All this and ocean views. How lucky we are.
The wine list is really well conceived. They’ve arranged it in the most consumer-friendly way by categorizing wines from lighter through advanced intensity within each varietal.
Most of us know how big of a chardonnay or how mellow of a pinot noir we like and this makes choosing a snap. Wine possibilities also include tasting flights to pair with the food. And, I love the prices.
The list is five pages long and there are dozens of fine wines in the $22 to $40 range. You might want to consider dining on a Thursday when a majority of the wines are half-price,lower than you might pay at the wine shop. The aficionados already are showing up regularly on Thursdays.
Commodore’s Lounge adjoining Vue restaurant also has been given a face-lift.
The soaring cupola ceiling oversees a congenial curved bar with more ocean views. It’s one more place to slip away from the work world and breathe in the refreshing briny smell of the water while having a favorite cocktail or something from their accommodating list of Ports, single malts and cognacs.
In fact, my preference is to have my dessert and after meal drink in this lounge.
A little about the resort as a whole. It overlooks Doheny State Beach and Dana Point Harbor, so strolling and lolling on the beach are possibilities, as are bike rides. There are two ocean-view pools at the resort for fresh water enjoyment.
An impressive spa is decked out with quiet rooms, saunas, jacuzzis, an assortment of nicely appointed treatment rooms, state-of-the-art fitness center and those magical rain forest style showers. Several spa treatments are offered and we took advantage of some of them. There’s a kids’ club to keep youngsters occupied.
There are 376 guest rooms, many with full ocean views and some with partial ocean and marina views. They are very nicely decorated and feature work desks, Internet access, complimentary newspapers, safes and even the newest comfort mattresses. I found myself longing for more time in the room. It was so pleasant.
Ah, yes, it’s nice to watch the sunset from such a place. And the addition of live music,steel drums, jazz artists and classical guitarists,on certain evenings is just one more added bonus.
The Bible of Steaks
Clear your calendar for this Tuesday evening,Aug. 8 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,so that you can join me and other wine and food lovers at Morton’s Steakhouse in South Coast Plaza Village.
The event: meet Klaus Fritsch, cofounder of Morton’s and author of the Morton’s Steak Bible. The cookbook features never-before-published recipes and inside lore from the legendary American steakhouse.
The reception is part of a coast-to-coast city tour to 41 Morton’s restaurant locations. The public is invited to attend and enjoy Morton’s signature hors d’oeuvres and meet Klaus Fritsch. The cost is $30 per person and includes a copy of the cookbook.
Morton’s was established in 1978 in Chicago and the chain became Morton’s Restaurant Group in 1989. The chain has 70 restaurants in the U.S. and four in Canada and Asia. Morton’s Restaurant Group is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
I plan to attend on Tuesday evening. Reservations though are a must.
Call Gina Mauri at (714) 444-4834 to get your name on the reception list. Morton’s is at the corner of Sunflower and Bear in South Coast Plaza Village.
AT A GLANCE – VUE RESTAURANT
Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa
Address: 25135 Park Lantern,
Dana Point
Phone: (949) 661-5000
Prices: Lunch entrees $8.95 to $16.95; dinner entrees $23.95 to $33.95; Sunday brunch $31.95 for adults, $13.95 for kids
