Salt Creek Grille
Address:
32802 Pacific Coast Hwy. (at Crown Valley), Dana Point
Phone:
(949) 661-7799
Prices:
lunch appetizers $4.95 to $11.95, entr & #233;es $7.95 to $15.95; dinner appetizers $4.95 to $13.95, entr & #233;es $11.95 to $25.95; Sunday brunch $21.95 adults, $8.95 children
For your ASAP list:
Reservations for this Wednesday’s wine dinner
Alert! There’s a unique opportunity to attend a wine dinner featuring the fine wines of Ferrari-Carano this Wednesday, April 25, at Dana Point’s Salt Creek Grille. This is part of the restaurant’s new commitment to bringing customers the best names in California winemaking at reasonable prices.
This week’s dinner will begin with a first course of coconut-encrusted shrimp stuffed with honey cream cheese, paired with the Ferrari-Carano 1999 Chardonnay. The next course is a mixed green spring salad with teardrop tomatoes, apples and medallions of tenderloin tossed in plum-cherry vinaigrette. The wine for this second course: the acclaimed 1997 Ferrari-Carano Merlot. The evening’s main course is an oven-roasted venison chop with blackberry sauce, paired with the Ferrari-Carano ’96 Tresor wine. Finally, a special dessert will be matched with the winery’s 2000 vintage Fume Blanc.
A representative of the winery, as is always the case, will be on hand to offer entertaining and educational perspectives. This particular dinner is priced at $95 per person, all-inclusive. Since these wine dinners are consistently sold out, make reservations as soon as you read this and tell them, if necessary, that I “forced” you to make the call. That should help you to get a place at this special table.
On April 30, a special winemaker dinner benefiting the Laguna Niguel Girls’ Softball Team will highlight Benziger Wines, with Bobby Benziger as host. This is an annual fundraiser Salt Creek hosts. On May 23, the winemaker dinner will host the wonderful wines of Trefethen.
Customers today are always on the search for extras that make the dining experience more enjoyable, not the least of which is added value. The wine program par excellence joining very good food at the Salt Creek Grille is reason to make this a destination restaurant. The superb lineup of big-time wine names, not only at the monthly food and wine dinners, but also on the everyday wine list, adds dimension to dining. The restaurant has compiled an award-winning list of wines, heavy on California vintners, that represent not only top quality and value but also fully complement the menu centered around an open flame mesquite grill. Specialties include thick steaks, fresh seafood, chops, ribs, salads and pasta with mesquite grilled meats and fish.
In monthly seminars, the restaurant staff is trained to enhance the customer’s wine experience at every meal, including making the choice of wine casual and fun. Co-owner Tim McCune says, “Guests today are more eager to learn about wine. Noticing the interest, we decided to take the wine experience to the next level.”
Keeping the wines value-priced on the list was part of the plan. In the past year, I have very much enjoyed the direction the kitchen has taken as well. Now, with the added attention to wines, it’s to your advantage to partake of the total charm of this old Jimmy Cagney estate turned into a beautiful craftsman-style restaurant.
Monthly wine and food pairing themes have included “Best of Sonoma,” “Best of the Pacific Northwest,” “Award Wining Wineries” and “Best of Napa.” The latter included 20 wines from Grgich Hills, BV, Robert Mondavi and Beringer that were paired with a sampling of dishes from savory to sweet. In a show of community support, some of the proceeds from each tasting go to benefit a local nonprofit organization.
The attractively priced monthly food- and wine-matching dinners feature stellar wineries. The outstanding line-up for 2001 has already included Grgich Hills, Far Niente and Caymus. Upcoming dinners will feature BV, Hess, Cakebread, Joseph Phelps, and Benziger. One of the terrific things about these monthly wine dinners is that each of these wineries is also the featured winery of the month, making critically acclaimed wines available by the bottle and glass. Thus the customer is not restricted to enjoying and learning about the wines on only the evening of the grand food- and wine-matching event.
As part of the new focus, guests may also discover more about wine outside of the restaurants by participating in tours offered by Salt Creek Grille. This summer, 56 guests will take an escorted day trip to the Santa Barbara wine country, where they will experience a VIP tour of several wineries and an al fresco luncheon. Another trip is scheduled for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Guests will enjoy wine and appetizers en route, and a three-course dinner with wines will be served in the picnic grounds prior to the concert.
Monday and Tuesday are prime rib days at the restaurant, featuring soup or salad, prime rib and dessert for $21.95. For a la carte dining, no appetizer is better than the jumbo shrimp that are stuffed with horseradish and garlic and wrapped with applewood-smoked bacon. Well, I’ll backtrack slightly and also suggest the wonderful tomato basil bisque. At both lunch and dinner, there are most interesting salads, and the sandwiches at lunch rise above the norm. The Santa Maria barbecue plate at lunch is also a terrific tasting alternative. The menus also feature a few pasta specialties and some poultry. Of the grilled items, I am very fond of the center-cut double pork chop, filet mignon, baby back ribs, meatloaf with red wine and mushrooms and the sea bass and swordfish. The Sunday Brunch features not only unlimited sparkling wine, but a carving station plus omelet, waffle, salad, dessert and entr & #233;e bars. The latter includes niceties such as eggs Benedict, smoked salmon, seafood crepes and shrimp.
Finally, I must remind you that this lovely wooded setting, replete with an abundance of comfortable booths, also has one of the friendliest big bars in the county.
They’ve also managed a coup of sorts every Friday and Saturday evening: the music of the Derek Bordeaux Group, which plays and sings a lovely mix of R & B, rock and soul music starting at 9:30 p.m. Have a drink and a dance a while. It will make you love living in Orange County all the more.
