article and photographs by Richard Carleton Hacker

Most cities and many towns proudly boast of fine dining restaurants that are as much about the ambiance and experience as they are about the service and food. But there is one placid part of southern California's Pacific Coast, located midpoint between Santa Monica and San Diego, in which the setting - which encompasses such luxurious communities as Dana Point and Laguna Niguel - is an equally magnetic lure. It is a crescent shaped meeting of sea and sand known as Monarch Bay, home to two of the world's finest resorts, and consequently, three elegant restaurants that draw vacationers, conventioneers, and gourmands from all over the world. But even more telling is that their customers keep returning, which is the ultimate compliment.

The first of these sumptuous sun-drenched getaways, and the one with the most seniority, is the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, perched atop a 150-foot bluff overlooking Monarch Bay and offering sweeping views of Salt Creek Beach and the Pacific Ocean - undeniably the most coveted spot of any resort in the area. But this AAA Five Diamond resort is deserving of its reputation. Its 393 newly-reappointed guest rooms include thirty spacious suites (many with fireplaces and one of which contains a grand piano), and a Club Level with its own concierge, premium bar, and food service, plus afternoon tea and my favorite amenity, a pre-dinner cocktail set-up in which some of the finest spirits, including Macallan 18 Year Old, Bombay Sapphire, and Patrón tequila are poured. After all, if you're attracting the luxury market, you must pour premium spirits.

At the free standing Tavern Bar at Michael Mina's Stonehill Tavern, Nicole McGregor, who has been with the restaurant since it opened as Aqua in 2001, shakes up a Ward Eight cocktail made with Knob Creek, having just finished a Pomegranate Cosmo in the foreground. Obviously, she enjoys her work.

I've been coming to the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel since it opened in 1985. Before Proposition 65 snuffed out the camaraderie of enjoying an after dinner cigar in The Library, I used to provide annual whisky and cigar seminars for a clientele that still appreciates both.

Taking full advantage of its lofty location, the Ritz-Carlton's newest restaurant, 162 (so-named because it is located 162 feet above sea level) offers a dining experience with views to match the California cuisine created under the able guidance of Chef Joel Harrington. The Friday night seafood buffet is worth the drive down from Los Angeles, and their Sunday champagne brunch merits staying over the weekend.

But for me, the ultimate Saturday evening repast is at The Club Grill & Bar, a cozy, romantic hideaway specializing in soft live jazz and tender, dry-aged steaks. Chef de Cuisine Matt Sisson effuses over his menu like a poet, and rightfully so. "You can cut this steak with a fork," he exudes, and when the 24-ounce bourbon-glazed Porterhouse arrives, perfectly done to a reddish-pink medium rare, it can indeed be cut with a fork. The accompanying twice baked truffled potatoes are equally sumptuous. And his "My Mother's Spinach" is just that: a family recipe that Chef Matt has perfected with shallots and a white wine reduction that simmers for six hours. It's hardly surprising that The Club Grill has been awarded AAA Four Diamonds ten years in a row.

There is another award winner just up a gently sloping expanse of the Monarch Beach Golf Links on the other side of Pacific Coast Highway, the lavishly landscaped St. Regis Resort at Monarch Beach. Opened in July 2001, this elegantly appointed oasis encompasses 400 guest rooms and suites, plus a spacious wine cellar (available for private functions) that houses the resort's collection of 17,000 bottles of wines.

Matt Sisson (l.), Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel's Club Grill & Bar, with a Rocky Patel 1992 vintage cigar presented to him by Richard Carleton Hacker (r).

All of this comes together in Michael Mina's Stonehill Tavern, and its Modern American fare by the celebrated chef who recently was awarded three Michelin stars for his Michael Mina restaurant in San Francisco, as well as having been chosen the James Beard Foundation's Best California Chef in 2002. Stonehill Tavern is a blend of open, modern styling with warm, wooden accents. When we entered, my wife exclaimed, "I feel as if we've been here before." And indeed we had, figuratively speaking, for Stonehill Tavern was designed by Tony Chi, the same talent who created Mina's Nob Hill restaurant at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a favorite haunt of ours.

Handcrafted cocktails around a free-standing bar and a private Terrace Lounge cigar menu mark the beginning and the end of a sumptuous dinner that includes Mina's three-way take on preparing appetizers such as lobster, caviar or duck, and entrees that include everything from salt-baked Maine lobster to an American Kobe Burger with truffle cheese and pickled onions.

. During a recent visit to the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Club Level Concierge Supervisor Penni Garcia (l.) and Club Attendant Dora Figueroa (r.) presented Richard Carleton Hacker with an impromptu birthday celebration. Extra touches such as this are hallmarks of the luxury resort.

For those who like to get closer to the waves, a "surf butler" will teach you the intricacies of Hawaii's oldest sport, and private beach barbeques with your own chef complete an experience that personifies California's coastal elegance.

www.ritzcarlton.com
1 Ritz Carlton Dr
Dana Point, CA 92629
(949) 240-2000



www.stregismonarchbeach.com
33102 Niguel Rd
Dana Point, CA 92629
(949) 487-9017

Richard Carleton Hacker (l.) discusses the finer merits of a Ward Eight cocktail with Stonehill Tavern General Manager Tim Flowers, whom Hacker knew when Flowers was Restaurant Manager at Charlie Palmer's Aureole in Las Vegas. (It's a small world!)

Manager Armin Krkic of Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel's Club Grill & Bar gets ready to serve a tender 24-ounce Porterhouse with bourbon glaze.

At the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel's Club Grill & Bar, waiter Gerry Laschober pours a 2003 Stag's Leap Artemis Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, one of 29 wines by the glass offered by the restaurant.