Laguna Beach dining?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Anyone have any suggestions on how we can get some food in Laguna before we see the Pageant of the Masters tonight? Is it going to be a mob scene in the area? We'll probably be in the area around 7:00 and would like to grab a bite, preferably some sort of informal dining that's not fast food since we need to be parking around 8, 8:15 for the 8:30 pageant.

[BarTopDancer]

Hit up Aud or NM, there is a Belgian place down there that they like. I think it's Brussels Bistro.

Below is a list of sites of restaurants down there that a friend recommended to me. I'm running out the door or I'd make it pretty for you.

http://www.evascaribbeankitchen.com/
http://www.brusselsbistro.com/
http://www.tiamolagunabeach.com/dinner.php#pasta
www.mosunclubm.com/

[Stan4dSteph]

It will be a mob scene. Plan out where you are going to park ahead of time. They have remote lots with shuttles that run to get you to the venue.

[NirvanaMan]

Brussels bistro is great for something light and good beers. There is a killer sushi place called san shi go and a very good Italian place called ti amo. The French place next to hotel Laguna is also good, but might be busy on a Friday. Hotel Laguna's patio is a fun place to get a drink overlooking the ocean. I think they have apps too but I have never eaten there.

You can usually park about 2 blocks off PCH without having to deal with meters (free) on Park ave. Locals tend to know about it but not tourists.

Enjoy. Wish I was going with!

[BarTopDancer]

San Shi Go! That's the name of the sushi place I was thinking of. There is also a good Mexican place next door.

[wolfy999]

There is always Las Brisas. Might be the Mexican place your thinking of.

[Stan4dSteph]

There is always Las Brisas. Might be the Mexican place your thinking of.Las Brisas is great, but I wouldn't consider it "informal dining."

[BarTopDancer]

No, it's not Las Brisas. It's next door to San Shi Go and it's informal.

[NirvanaMan]

Las Brisas is a bit pricey and rather snooty, but good mixed drinks and interesting people watching of the plastic crowd.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Olamendi's?

[BarTopDancer]

Olamendi's?

Maybe. They have the same address. But I thought Olamendi's was a chain and I didn't think this place was. Sorry I can't be more useful in the name hunt.

Not quite in Laguna Beach, but close to the 133 are a few places by my place that are good. In the Quail Meadows shopping center there is a thai place and a restaurant called Lucca's that is supposed to be good.

Of course always going down the 133 is hit or miss due to traffic so I'm guessing you want to be in the LB area with more than enough time to spare.

[Ghoulish Delight]

We'll get there when we get there. CP doesn't get off work until 6, so we're just going to hit the road and see what happens. Worse comes to worst there's a Johnny Rockets or some fast food if traffic leaves us without much time.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Now I'm really glad I don't have to get changed. Swoop, dash, we're off.

[Morrigoon]

If I'd seen this earlier, I'd have chimed in for Las Brisas. No, it's not super cheap, but if you get in on the patio, it's a limited "bar" menu including stuff like chicken tenders, fish 'n chips, etc. Not as bad price-wise as the restaurant. And of course, you can't beat the setting or the people watching.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Thanks for all the advice...we ignored it all :P

So as we walked (ran?) out the door, it dawned on us to glance at the info paper that came with the tickets. It mentioned that there's a restaurant IN the festival area. That seemed like a good idea to us so we called and got reservations, and they reassured us that even if traffic sucked and we didn't get in until 7:30 we'd have no problem getting dinner and making the show.

Traffic did, in fact, NOT suck. 30 minutes to get down there with nary a slowdown on the 133. But downtown was definitely packed and after a cursory drive through, it appeared all the free parking was taken. Rather tha take our chances circling, we bit the bullet and paid the $10 to park in a lot across from the festival.

We got in an headed for the restaurant, but on the way we spotted a window service food place also. Having just sped past a bunch of awesome art to try to get to our reservations, we decided that it made more sense to just grab a quick bite at the window service and spend the time we would have been spending waiting for a check wandering the festival instead.

Right decision! The food was just fine (and saved us some $) and we had a ton of time to see the art, which was great. Even spotted a few artists we'd seen exhibited elsewhere which was cool.

As for the Pageant itself, as awesome as advertised.
(spoilerized for anyone who might still consider attending)


The theme was "The Muse", and they did a really fabulous job with it, telling excellent stories about the people behind the art. And it can't be said enough how astounding the artistry of these pieces are, a favorite being a huge, human-sized, reproduction of a Lalique art nouveau dragonfly brooch.

One complaint was their attempt at "humor". The few jokes sprinkled through the narration wouldn't have been so bad (though the Sarah Palin joke I could have done without period), but there was a section that just went WAY too far into classless. It could have been so awesome, they were doing some classic "beauty and the beast" genre movie poster lithos. Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, one of the Tarzan flicks, and of coures King Kong. Made to sell the "low arts", these posters are truly work of arts and it was great to see them in the same context as the masterworks.

But for some reason they decided to go lowbrow with the presentation. The narration was full of the WORST puns. I refuse to try to recall them, they were so bad. As the people in the Tarzan poster stood in their world class makeup and perfect poses, we had to endure a recorded Tarzan call and someone swinging lamely across the stage. But the worst of it was when, above the prescenium arose King Kong! No, sorry, arose a car dealership inflatible ape!!! So awful, so classelss. Ugh.

But oh well. It was just one short section in an otherwise amazing presentation.
So after the show we spent another 15 minutes seeing the last few exhibits we hadn't gotten to beforehand. And then, instead of joining the line of cars on the 133, we took a walk down to the beach and back to see the moon reflecting perfectly off the water. All in all a fantastic Friday night.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Yup, had an amazing time. The fact that I didn't know most of the pieces presented did not harm the enjoyment in any way. Learned a lot about Rodin's muse, discovered other artists, and often thought to myself, "I'd love to see the real thing!" If we had jumped on the ball earlier we would have gotten closer tickets, but even with binocs it was well worth it.

Too bad we never made this into a swanking. I know it's a bit of a drive for some but this event screams LoT. I know my priorities will have changed next year, but I still think others should attend. :)

[innerSpaceman]

Oooh, that's a really good idea for a LoT swanking next year.

I've been a handful of times, and I must say Good Seats are a MUST.


I've been attending this on and off for so long ... my lord, I can remember when even thinking of movie posters would have gotten someone fired. But the way they, um, handled that ... well, We've Come a Long Way, Baby is not exactly the path I'd like them to have taken, but the general loosening up over the last several years has led, mostly, to improvements (imo).

[Not Afraid]

Learned a lot about Rodin's muse, discovered other artists, and often thought to myself, "I'd love to see the real thing!"

There's a film about Rodin's Assistant/muse/mistress/and artist in her own right - Camille Caludel - with Gerard Depardieu as Rodin and Isabelle Adjani as Claudel (which got her a Best Actress Nomination).