THE GOSSIPING GOURMET: A new twist on taste at venerable Beach House

The Beach House, one of Laguna’s grand old dames, is having a gastronomic renaissance, brought about by their new executive chef, Michael Ingino. In this case, the rebirth consists of dressing the baby in new clothes instead of tossing it out with the bathwater.

At first glance, the menu may appear to be pretty much the same but as you peruse it more carefully, you will notice many inventive and enticing new preparations with a more contemporary flair, while old favorites have been given new life. The previous menu had a Hawaiian slant, this one is bending toward the whole Pacific Rim.

The venerable old beach cottage, once the home of Slim Somerville (writer, actor and director of Old Hollywood fame), has been a restaurant for 40 years. It still retains the original rustic décor and casual atmosphere. You can enjoy a drink at the bar in the original house or dine on the glass-enclosed deck under canvas umbrellas or at the six little tables just above the sand. There is also a small indoor room with windows to the sea.

To describe the menu briefly, it’s surf ‘n’ turf city, but the presentation is more polished while the sauces and accompaniments are more sophisticated than before.

As we waited for our starters to arrive, we pondered the sunset and were entertained by the endless parade of colossal, coral lobsters conveyed on platters around the room. They are clearly the stars of the menu. Lobster appears in a number of guises from a whole Maine 2-pound behemoth to thermidor with béchamel sauce, quesadillas with brie and guacamole, linguine with jumbo prawns, simple lobster tails from the Caribbean and lobster paired with filet in the surf ‘n’ turf.

Starters include their famous oysters Rockefeller with bacon and onion creamed spinach. Other holdovers are the shrimp cocktail and the steamed clams. Although they still have crab cakes, they are prepared differently and served with spicy remoulade and Asian coleslaw. Oysters on the half-shell are now served with a chili oil, horseradish and spicy ginger soy. Sadly, the oyster bar itself, which offered a selection of starters, salads, soups and burgers in the bar area, is no more.

Brand new on the appetizer menu are lemon grass shrimp lollipops with cucumber salad and chili sauce and the lobster quesadilla. Our friendly and helpful waiter recommended the Hawaiian ahi sashimi chips. An attractive platter of rectangular fried wonton chips were stacked with zesty Asian coleslaw, thin slices of quickly seared ahi brushed with a citrus soy glaze and finished with a button of wasabi aioli and a sprinkle of micro greens. These tasty canapés were full of textural contrasts: crispy wontons, crunchy coleslaw, buttery fish and smooth aioli. The flavors were layered as well: the cool clean fish against the spicy acidic slaw, the sharp heat of wasabi and just a hint of peppery greens to finish.

The salads, like the starters, have been changed for the better with a bit of tweaking here and there, but they also have several new ones such as the chopped vegetable salad with romaine, tomatoes, carrots zucchini, corn, bacon and avocado, tossed in Michael’s dressing.

We ordered their new signature Beach House salad, comprised of organic field greens, fennel, blood oranges, goat cheese and teardrop tomatoes in a pomegranate vinaigrette. What distinguished this salad was the excellent and refreshing fruity, sweet dressing. What also distinguished it was the complete absence of blood oranges, the main reason we ordered the salad in the first place. We called this to our waiter’s attention and into the kitchen he flew and returned a while later with three segments of a mysterious citrus that seemed to be grapefruit. It was not blood red or even pink and had no orange flavor. It seems odd to put this seasonal fruit on the menu out of season.

In the meat department, gone altogether is the duck, the veal and the pork. There never was a chicken entrée. What’s new are the Australian lamb chops in cabernet demi-glace. Prime rib, filet and New York steak are still on the menu and can be combined for your personal surf ‘n’ turf with your choice of lobster tail, king crab legs or jumbo shrimp for a prodigious feast.

For fin fish, you have six selections, each with an intriguing sounding preparation. Halibut is served with Littleneck clams, chorizo sausage, red potatoes, micro-fine herbs, zucchini and saffron beurre blanc. Swordfish comes with a grilled pineapple salsa, warm cilantro orzo salad, Chinese long beans and pineapple gastrique.

We went for the mahi-mahi because our waiter cautioned us that it was very spicy, which made it even more appealing to these two hot tamales. The nicely cooked fish came in a bowl with a small pool of bracing but delicious coconut curry broth. To counter the heat, there was aromatic jasmine rice with edamame, shitake mushrooms and grilled bok choy. Not for the timid palate but for the adventurous, there was an abundance of flavor in every bite.

The warm apple crumb tart we ordered took a while to arrive but not long enough. It may have been baked to order but it was still undercooked.

As we were picking the apples out of the soggy crust, our observant waiter came over to ask if there was a problem. He generously offered to bring us something else and recommended the flourless chocolate lava cake with white chocolate ice cream, a decent version although not the best one out there.

It seems to be on almost every menu in Southern California these days. The difference between them depends mostly on the quality of the chocolate used. Still, it tasted pretty good. What could be bad when you have warm chocolate cake and ice cream?

Being one of a handful of restaurants on the sand, The Beach House will always have a following but with their newly revamped menu, the quality of the food will also be a draw.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: The Beach House, (949) 494-9707, thebeachhouse.com

WHERE: 619 Sleepy Hollow Lane

WHEN: Breakfast: 8 to 11 a.m.

Lunch: 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Dinner: 4:30 to 9 p.m.

PRICES:

Appetizers: $7 to $16

Entrées: $24 to $46

Desserts: $8

WINE:

Bottles: $26 to $210

By the glass: $7 to $14

Corkage Fee: $12.50

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com.