The Resort at Pelican Hill
22701 Pelican Hill Road
Newport Coast
(855) 315-8214
Pelican Hill Golf Club
22800 Pelican Hill Road S.
Newport Coast
(888) 757-3767
There’s so much happening at The Resort at Pelican Hill all during the year. I’ll try to capsulize it but nevertheless want to bring you the best of the resort.
The property is gorgeous and oozes luxury, although some things don’t need to empty your wallet, like dining on food that’s always eye-catching and geared for high pleasure for the palate.
The general perception is that dining in hotels is very spendy. Really, possibilities for affordable dining exist. Whatever dining scenario you choose, the food is serious business, from Executive Chef Jean-Pierre Dubray’s toque all the way down the line.
One of the first gracious things everyone encounters is the free and ever-so-friendly valet parking at all times. That’s a big deal when we want to merely enjoy the resort for many things.
One personal reason would be to do a little shopping. They have great gifts, including items for the home; olive oil processed from the resort’s own trees and one brand from Italy that’s a singularly unique olive oil in the world; and fashionable clothing and accessories.
I’m a fan of having a little relaxation in the lobby of the resort or in the oh-so-attractive golf club lounge. The whole resort is so luxurious and yet friendly that I like to just stop by on the spur of the moment and sort of relax and repack my mental suitcase and perhaps have a meal.
Get Your Seat at the Coliseum
The restaurants garner our attention at the moment. There are cafe stops where all meals with small plates and simpler menu items satisfy the most casual dining needs.
In the realm of specialized dining experiences, there’s a trio of highly satisfying venues.
Springtime is in the air, and that draws us to the Coliseum Grill, whose seating overlooks one of the largest circular pools in the world. Cabanas, lush plants, vistas of the top-caliber golf course, and the ocean are perfect for enjoying our climate and preferred lifestyle. Call it an atmosphere of contentment.
Coliseum Grill is open for all three meals. It’s a fine choice for discussing business, wrapping up a deal, or for a friendly get-together with friends. Not bad for a little romantic meal, either.
Eye-openers—drinks enhanced with champagne or other alcohol—can open breakfast with a pop. House-smoked salmon and a lobster and egg scramble join several traditional morning-style dishes. At lunch, a section of small plates takes us on an international journey. Forward-thinking salads, globally influenced sandwiches and wraps, and even pastas, curries, steaks and four kinds of crispy pizzas are significant.
Dinner expands with a few more international dishes, a bit more fresh fish, and some dandy side dishes.
She’s Romantic
Andrea is the ultra-attractive signature restaurant in the resort’s main building. The restaurant is dedicated to keeping the food of Northern Italy authentic. In fact, all of the fresh pasta is made in a temperature- and humidity-controlled pasta-making room with imported equipment. It’s a space as respected as the vast wine cellar that coddles the wines for the resort’s restaurants.
Andrea’s backdrop is a soft, lovely, quiet atmosphere with very cushy seating. It’s downright romantic. There’s also a fantastic terrace with heated floors and far-reaching vistas that’s also very compelling. Lunch and dinner are served.
The restaurant offers a midday express lunch of two courses that will get you out in 45 minutes, but I linger so much longer. The food is upscale.
Bell ringers are chestnut and pumpkin soup with porcini mushrooms; grilled octopus with cannellini beans; steamed mussels with couscous; many of those fresh pastas with various proteins and a la minute sauces; and acquerello risotto with Italian mushrooms.
One of my lunches lasted almost four hours, because beyond the food, we all ended up just enjoying the peacefulness and talked a very long time over coffee and dessert—several luscious ones, of course.
Andrea brought superior dining to Newport Coast locals, who quickly made it their own part of fine living. It promptly became one of the most notable destination restaurants in Orange County for the rest of us. When we sit in that beautiful cosmopolitan space for dinner, chef de cuisine Marco Criscuolo oversees an expanded menu of sophisticated cuisine.
Crispy pork terrine with mimosa sauce, cannelloni stuffed with shellfish, and carpaccio of duck breast with Ciresa gorgonzola sauce jump out as appetizers I haven’t seen elsewhere.
Entrees with swag include steaks, a variety of fresh seafood, suckling pig with gnocchi, a good supply of pasta temptations, and specials of the evening.
I mentioned desserts, and this is where a plate of artisan cheeses makes an indelible impression. The gelatos are wickedly good, the tiramisu superb, and the seasonal berry crostatas might give you an Italian accent.
Fancy Course Fare
I’ve weighed in heavily for the resort at the top of the hill. Now I must put in my vote for the Pelican Grill in the Pelican Hill Golf Club just beyond the archway as you drive up the hill.
This dining room is almost as glamorous as Andrea and the most sophisticated golf club dining scene you are likely to encounter. It also has plush seating and a very attractive and serene demeanor, and the menu is loaded with upscale palate pleasers.
Pelican Grill has classic versions of ahi tuna tartare and a jumbo prawn cocktail. For lunch, I love their crispy crust pizzas, and I discovered that they have a burger that can argue with the best anywhere, made with American Kobe beef or freshly ground turkey. This is a superb place to have a salad made with garden greens and other vegetables from Irvine Ranch agricultural land. Can’t get fresher than that.
Imagine sitting in the golf club dining room and savoring a tostada sporting crab-encrusted mahi mahi. For lunch or dinner, the menu presents P.E.I. mussels, pan-seared Chinook salmon, grilled Alaskan crab legs, more of those pasta dishes, pork chops, short ribs, lamb chops, game hen and steaks.
Fresh Treat
One of the newest treats at Pelican Grill is the Chef’s Table. It’s a table for 10, but seating is also allowed for couples, quartets, etc. It sits right in front of the open kitchen, and the chef cooks a multicourse meal that can be matched with wines if desired.
I’ve done the Chef’s Table meal, and the courses are not necessarily menu items but reflections of what’s intriguing to the chef that day. It’s a great way to spend an evening.
Speaking of all this food, I will also say that I absolutely love the big bar and lounge in the other half of the space. It’s decorated with the same quality as the dining room, and I can have my meals in there; I can have nouveau drinks or classics or some wine; or I can sit for hours with friends and watch sports on the multiscreens on the front wall. It continues to be one of my favorite hangout places.
The resort is celebrating its fifth anniversary and has earned a Forbes Five-Star rating, as well as the “#1 Resort in the United States” ranking by the readers of luxury travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler.
As for the rest of the resort, I suspect most of the public knows about the lavish villas that make up the lodging.
We stayed in one of the larger ones, and I would heartily recommend that any local looking for a special staycation consider an overnight or more in one of the individual, fully functional villas. They have commercial ranges and refrigerator/freezers in the granite-clad kitchens, deluxe furnishings, and rooms equal to the most lavish home.
Pelican Hill is a resort to savor in many ways. Best of all, it’s hometown friendly, from the valet service where you meet your first smiles and welcoming comments, to the generous hospitality everywhere and the superb food.
With all of these different places to eat, it’s no wonder executive chef Jean-Pierre Dubray, our Chef of the Year, endlessly scampers around keeping tabs on all of it, because he’s not likely to let his search for perfection lag.
