The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove, Newport Coast, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with restaurant review, The Beachcomber Crystal Cove, The OC February 5, 2010

Back in September, Mr. Baseball and I took advantage of the still beautiful weather at the end of the summer by heading behind the Orange Curtain to The Beachcomber Cafe at Crystal Cove.

This area has some pretty interesting history, in addition to that Prohibition link I mentioned previously. In the 1920s, the Irvine family (and all this time I thought it was just a city!) owned the land and let their friends and employees randomly build ramshackle cottages along the beach and bluffs. Legend has it that these folks really knew how to do happy hour—even supposedly raising a “martini time” flag as illustrated on the menu cover above.

Most of the beach houses we saw were condemned, but there are some nearby that are available to rent, and the proceeds go to the Crystal Cove Alliance preservation association.

The Beachcomber Cafe opened in summer 2006 and to get there you have to park in a nearby lot off the PCH and take a little shuttle bus ($1 each way) over since this little cove was not designed to accommodate hordes of cars.

Getting a seat on the patio with this gorgeous view would have meant waiting even longer, so we took a booth in the dining room just beyond. If you’re able to plan in advance, I’d suggest the OpenTable route, though reservations book up fast since they keep a lot of tables available for walk-ins. And remember there’s always The Bootlegger Bar.

The dining room is quite small, I’d say less than ten tables, since it was built in one of the original cottages. The model trains on the wall pay tribute to the house’s reputation as “The Whistle Stop.” Apparently one of the early owners had set up an electric train set on the patio back in the day.

Laura’s Lemonade ($9)—“rumored to be the house drink at cottage #2”—was a very girly mix of lemonade, vodka and Chambord. I’m not surprised to hear this is a popular choice, but I think there’s better cocktail options.

I ordered two appetizers: first, the baked blue cheese and tomato soup topped with puff pastry ($9). This was served molten hot, but was so tasty and savory that it was hard to wait until it reached a reasonable temperature.

The tiny ahi tacos ($14) were stuffed with tuna sashimi and drizzled with a creamy sriracha sauce. These were fine, but there’s so many other tempting choices on their menu (hello again, truffle mac and cheese!) that they wouldn’t be first choice on my next visit.

Mr. Baseball chowed down on the half-pound bacon “Kobe” burger ($14) minus the sun-dried tomato aioli. He tried to pass the coleslaw slide to me, but I wasn’t too jazzed by it.

The Beachcomber Cafe at Crystal Cove
15 Crystal Cove
Newport Coast, CA 92657
949-376-6900

The Bootlegger Bar – Crystal Cove, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with Beachcomber Cafe, Bootlegger Bar, Crystal Cove, Orange County, Tiki Bars January 29, 2010

What to do when there’s a minimum 45-minute wait for lunch at The Beachcomber Cafe in Crystal Cove? Well, there is the beach, of course. Or, if you head towards that teal shack over there…

A Prohibition Exhibit! Considering I adore the Roaring Twenties as much if not slightly more than mid-century Polynesian Pop, these words were hot jazz music to my ears.

The cottage features rotating exhibitions and this one illustrated the role of this little Orange County beach in The Noble Experiment. Apparently, Crystal Cove’s geography made it an ideal spot for rum runners to bring in booze by boat.

And so I love that The Bootlegger Bar adjacent to the Beachcomber pays tribute to this colorful history. If the pangs of hunger prove to great to bear, you can try to snag a seat and order from an abbreviated menu.

I also like how vintage-looking Prohibition bottles were mixed among the tiki mugs. (Also, I think we could start playing a tiki version of “Where’s Waldo?” Except it would be “Where’s Mr. Bali Hai?”)

Here’s a gander at the neat pirate mural on the back wall, and the Beachcomber’s custom-designed scorpion bowls from Tiki Farm.

At first I wasn’t sure how this gorgeous movie poster fit in. Looking it up later, I found that “Rain” was filmed in 1932 (with Joan Crawford depicting a wanton temptress) and set in the South Pacific, thus going along with the Prohibition era/pre-Tiki theme. (The Beachcomber’s web site says the film was “reportedly” shot at Crystal Cove, but Wikipedia claims it was Catalina Island.)

House of Tiki – Costa Mesa, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki Sites and Stores and tagged with House of Tiki, The OC, Tiki Shops January 22, 2010

It’s hard enough to run a business in this economy, let alone one that caters to this wacky subculture (rest assured I mean that in the most endearing way). And so September meant bidding aloha to the House of Tiki.

This family-run shop brought a slice of Hawaii into a World War II Quonset hut in Costa Mesa.

You may not be able to visit the brick and mortar (er, bamboo and corrugated steel) location anymore, but you can still browse their wares courtesy of their eBay store.

I picked up one of their signature Shaka Tiki mugs—the green one in the upper left corner—which were sculpted by Crazy Al. On the right, you may recognize Tom Selleck as Magnum P.I. immortalized in mug form.

The owners graciously served up shaved ice for the folks who came out. Mr. Baseball, who melts in the heat, was much appreciative.