Photo Gallery and Video: F&B Trip Around Southern California
Six properties visited in four days, highlighted by Viejas and Kimpton bars and restaurants.
Our first stop on the trip: Viejas Casino & Resort in Alpine, California. We were welcomed with an in-room amenity of chicharrón with chipotle crema, and avocado tomatillo salsa with cotija cheese.
The view from my room at Viejas Casino & Resort in Alpine, California.
The enormous outdoor theater at Viejas Casino & Resort, where the property's "Concerts in the Park" and special group events are held.
Our first dinner on the trip was at Viejas's Locale Kitchen & Lounge, which features locally sourced ingredients, creatively executed by Chef Antonio Votta. We sampled multiple dishes from the menu, like this Crab Louie Avocado Toast, with Dungeness crab, charred avocado, and cherry tomatoes.
The Pollo a la Brasa at Locale, a Peruvian chicken dish featuring whole-roasted Mary's chicken cut into quarters and garnished with watermelon radish and charred lime, served with hand-cut fries and aji verde sauce.
Locale's Grilled Meatballs, with creamy polenta, heirloom tomato pomodoro, and shaved Pecorino cheese.
Our next property was Kimpton's Hotel Palomar San Diego, where I was welcomed with this hyper-local amenity featuring San Diego's artisan Modern Times coffee, cold brew, and tropical IPA, along with a bacon/maple donut from San Diego's renowned Donut Bar.
Our May/June 2018 magazine features Palomar San Diego's Curadero and its adjoining Arriba Room social space. Executive Chef Brad Kraten extends Curadero's Mexican street food theme with his homemade hot sauce, bottled with Curadero's logo.
A spectacular view of downtown San Diego and the ocean from one of Palomar's penthouse suites.
Our next stop in San Diego was Kimpton's Solamar Hotel, and its rooftop venue called Upper East. We were lucky enough to be there on Wednesday, which features the "Veuve Around the Clock" promotion, with glasses of Veuve Clicquot for $5 at 5 p.m., $6 at 6 p.m., $7 at 7 p.m., and $8 at 8 p.m. Regular price for a glass of Veuve is $25. Watch for our story about Upper East in the upcoming October issue of Hotel F&B, which is rooftop F&B themed.
After Veuve around the Clock, we headed downstairs for a family-style dinner at Solamar's Jsix restaurant, helmed by Chef Anthony Sinsay. Among the standouts were these Fried Pickle Spears, with potato salad mousse, dill, and mustard--a ballpark food nod to nearby Petco Park and the San Diego Padres.
The Stone-Fruit Cobbler at Jsix, with hyssop-anise ice cream, and graham cracker.
Our next stop was Kimpton's Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach, and its Pacific Hideaway bar and restaurant. There, star bartender Casey Lyons (see video in the story below) puts his creativity in motion with cocktails like Dazed & Confused, with Caña Brava rum, Plantation Pineapple rum, ginger syrup, lime, and a playful clip holding a facsimile roach (filled primarily with sage and smelling like the real thing) as a nod to California recently allowing limited legal recreational marijuana sales. One of the jokes among staff is customers frequently offer to pay for an "upgraded" roach replacement.
A peach cocktail in a flute glass to start our dinner at Pacific Hideaway, with a peach wedge cut into the shape of a surfboard--a nod to Huntington Beach's surfing heritage.
We sampled multiple dishes from Chef Wyatt Lash's fresh and inventive menu, including this amazing Scallop Crudo, with Hokkaido scallops, tobiko, pickled cherry peppers, pomegranate seeds, peanuts, cilantro oil, and dried orange.
My next stop was Kimpton's Goodland hotel in Santa Barbara, and its Outpost restaurant, where I sampled several of Chef Damien Giliberti's favorite menu items, including this healthy and delicious Caramelized Sweet Potato, with turmeric yogurt, and crispy chickpeas.
Dessert at Outpost features this decadent Fried Carrot Cake, with burnt orange sauce, white chocolate creamed cheese, and topped with Santa Barbara's own McConnell's vanilla ice cream.
More dessert at Outpost: Chocolate Pot de Crème, with strawberry whipped cream, sliced strawberries, and cookie crumble.
I visited Kimpton's Canary hotel in Santa Barbara for a nightcap, where I enjoyed this Yin & Yuice cocktail at the property's Finch & Fork restaurant, made with Beefeater gin, watermelon, yuzu, and cilantro oil.
A last look at Santa Barbara and a Friday-night sunset from the rooftop of the Canary hotel.
Last week I was part of a FAM trip in Southern California visiting six hotels in three cities over four days, put together by Crowe PR, based in San Diego. I came away with multiple story ideas that you'll see featured in upcoming issues of Hotel F&B (starting with our October rooftop F&B-themed magazine) but in the meantime, you can savor some of the F&B sights from the trip in the photo gallery above.
As a bonus, we've included a theatrical cocktail performance from Casey Lyons of Pacific Hideaway at Kimpton's Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach in the video below, making a cinnamon/rum/blood orange cocktail for our group.
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