Shoreline opening is spectacular

Glori Fickling

Pathetically vacant for too many years, the restaurant site at

Holiday Inn, has finally been blessed with a promising new tenant.

Boldly constructed within a mere four months, The Shoreline

Restaurant is the ambitious creation of Tom and Susan Winch whose

impressive culinary credits most recently include a long tenure in

Las Vegas where they very successfully held forth as Food and

Beverage directors at the prestigious Bellagio.

This followed their launching in 1989 of no less than five

restaurants at The Mirage. To their credit now is the appointment

locally of executive chef Marc Ashok from San Clemente’s Pacific Golf

Club and of Mike Van Horn from the Dana Point Ritz Carlton in the

role of consulting chef.

In a genuinely ambitious effort to attract locals, the Winches

totally gutted the interior to expedite a more casual setting. Black

and white checkerboard flooring, personally constructed by energetic

Susan Winch with 15-inch textured tile squares, sets the pace for a

rather spare New York cafe type ambience. The place is now divided by

an open-windowed wall where a wine and martini bar on one side caters

to diners. The opposing dining area sports a display kitchen fronted

with a granite topped breakfast bar equipped with half a dozen

aluminum-finished beer barrel seats topped with blue fabric

upholstery.

Black cane back chairs accompany table settings in both rooms and,

as a gracious invitation for local artists to display their

paintings, walls are strikingly white punctuated with reflecting

mirrors at the entry. For a touch of whimsy check out the “Holy Cow”

cartoon perched atop beer barrels slurping a mug of suds. Alfresco

seating is offered above the colorful garden exterior fronting Coast

Highway and again on the spacious rear patio enhanced with a bubbling

fountain and verdant foliage.

In keeping with the desire to please Laguna tastes, the current

menu is somewhat limited, to be expanded as local dining preferences

are evaluated. Currently there are half a dozen hefty appetizers at

$5.95 to $7.95 ranging from Italian antipasto to quesadillas to mini

burgers to a Thai beef summer roll seasoned with cilantro and spicy

chili dressing. A quintet of salads in the $8 range reflect

international flavors including a Mediterranean toss and the Oriental

chicken salad lavished with almonds, sprouts, rice noodles and snow

peas in honey sesame dressing.

Sandwiches are tabbed from $6.50 to $8.50, each served with a

choice of crisp shoestring fries, fresh fruit or kettle chips.

There’s the Laguna cheesesteak of sliced beef, provolone and

mushrooms; a pressed Cuban combine of pork, ham and Swiss on a French

roll; a croissant-wich lavished with fresh tuna or chicken salad; a

traditional club and the signature B.L.T. And when it comes to

burgers, Tom’s 1- to 2-pound sirloin patty charbroiled to perfection

is simply splendiferous, presented on a grilled sesame bun sided with

ripe beefsteak tomato slices, red onion strings and chopped romaine

leaves.

Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a vegetable makes for home style

comfort food, this $9.95 winner heading the quartet of house

specialties. Perhaps most exciting is chicken breast piccata dressed

with lemon butter, capers, artichoke hearts, a topping of bacon,

provolone and a side of pasta, a $10.95 winner. Vegetarians should

revel in the pasta primavera entree, a $9.50 dish of delicate angel

hair threads tossed with crunchy vegetables, sun dried tomatoes,

garlic and butter. And, of course, there’s a fresh catch of the day

at market price always prepared accordingly.

* GLORI FICKLING is a longtime Laguna Beach resident.