‘Dana Point’
As you might expect, there are a number of harbors in Southern California. Some are better than others, but the best are full of a series of shops and restaurants. Dana Point has one of those harbors and in fact it harbors a restaurant called Harbor Grill. Most people would expect to get seafood at such a place and that probably would have been a wise decision, but I am not most people.
One of the perks of staying at the St. Regis in Dana Point (or knowing people staying there) is to be able to eat at the Monarch Bay Club. This restaurant was once only available to people who live in the adjoining neighborhood of $10 million dollar homes and those willing to shell out $17,000 a year for membership. Now, though, this exclusive joint is available to anyone willing to stay at the St. Regis and their guests. Upon arrival, I expected high prices and subpar food that is typically endemic of hotel restaurants, but what I found was something a bit different.
The pool area of the St. Regis in Dana Point is like the gardens of Tivoli combined with an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. Well except for the all-inclusive part. Food here comes at a premium price, but for most people staying at a place like this and charging the food to the room, that price is pretty negligible. I am not one of those people, but I was fortunate enough to have my food being provided by my future in-laws. Plus, they picked the place, so I surely couldn’t be blamed for the fact that a basic burger with cheddar and a sweet potato bun ran $20.
First off, yes I know that Christmas was weeks ago, but sometimes it takes a while to get these meaty blog posts written, so back up off of me! As usual, my Jew Christmas led me to Chinese food. Only this time I was down in Dana Point, Orange County, which isn’t exactly known for a high Jewish population. With luck and a little help from Jesus err umm the internet, I found a Chinese restaurant within walking distance of our beautiful hotel. The place was called Peking Dragon and was surprisingly full. We had to wait a while for our table, but when we were eventually seated, we had spent enough time looking at the menu to figure out exactly what we wanted.