The Beach House
2530 South Coast Hwy 101
Cardiff, CA 92007
(760-753-1321)
One of the benefits of “on-line dating” is that you do not want to invite your “date” to your home so you meet at a coffee shop, or a restaurant, or someplace that is out in the open. Today, I elected to meet Richard at the Beach House” restaurant in Cardiff for lunch because he lives in San Clemente and it seemed like a good “half-way” place to meet.
The restaurant is on the beach just foot-steps from the Cardiff State Beach. There is outside as well as inside seating, and we elected to eat inside at a window seat because it was windy and cool outside. Although not the first ones there at 11:30am, there were only 2 other tables occupied – one outside and one inside. As it got later, there were more diners but never more than 8 tables filled at one time.
They have a nice menu beginning with Starters” of Shrimp Ceviche and Crispy Calamari at $11; The most expensive item on the starter menu was Shrimp and Lobster Quesadilla at $16.
They had a variety of Salads but only two Soups listed – a New England Clam Chowder ($4 and $7) and a Lobster Bisque ($5 and $8). There were 8 salads available, beginning with a Caesar Salad and/or a Beach House Salad at $8 and ending with a Seafood Salad at $18.
Their Late Breakfast” menu consisted of 4 items, starting at $12.50 for the Croissant Breakfast Sandwich and the highest priced item was a Maryland-Style Crab Cakes Benedict at $17. All the egg dishes came with a watermelon mint salad and tri-colored fingerling potato hash.
A section called “Between the Bread” had 7 items listed, three that were priced at $12 each and two items that were $17 each. The other items were $16 and $13 respectively.
The final section on the menu was called Lunch Entrees” and there were 7 items available, beginning with a Pasta Pomodoro for $16 and a Surf N Turf Kebob for $23.
There is a full bar, but Richard and I elected to have hot tea that came with a selection of 6 different teabags.
Richard had decided that he would order the “Croissant Breakfast Sandwich ($12.50) which, according to the menu, consisted of “black forest ham, smoked bacon, two fried eggs, Vermont white cheddar and potato skillet. (We presume that the potato skillet was similar to the “tri-colored fingerling potato hash” because there was only 1 potato dish served with the sandwich.) The only trouble with this item was that someone forgot to put in the black forest ham. The strips of bacon were cooked crispy, and were tasty, but Richard elected not to tell the waitress that the ham was missing.
I had the Pulled BBQ Pork Sliders that were slow cooked, had a house-made BBQ sauce, Swiss cheese, pickled red onion and fries. ($12.00). The bread was fresh and tasty, the fries shoe-stringed and cooked well. The pulled pork, on the inside of the bun was very good; on the outside – that that hung over the bread was dried out, probably because it was not protected by the bun. Three were served on the plate; I took two home. It was a very tasty meal.
Although we elected not to have a dessert, there is also a dessert menu.
How did the meal turn out, you ask? Interesting. Richard and I had some interesting chit chat throughout the meal. He asked me how I would rank it on an “A-F” scale and I said I would give it a “B” – higher if the ham had been served with his sandwich and assuming it was good. We split the $40 bill (with tip). Just before we were to leave I refreshed the lipstick I was wearing and Richard commented that he was going to kiss me goodbye but not now. OKKKKKKK.
As we walked to our cars, I told him that I would send in this review today – Wednesday – and it might be published in the Thursday or Friday San Diego Free Press. He said he wasn’t familiar with the San Diego papers and what kind of paper was it. I told him it was an on-line paper covering all of San Diego County. And then . . . (drum roll) he asked me if I was a liberal or a conservative. I told him I was a liberal. He said that would be the deal breaker for he was a conservative; he was violently opposed to Obama; and he favored the NRA. Well…it was an enjoyable lunch – inside the restaurant.