San Diego Metropolitan - Downtown Dining

Hidden away, nestled tightly in the La Jolla Shores where waves regularly crash on its windows, the Marine Room’s oceanfront location is a perfect setting for quintessential California dining.

Located at, and a part of, the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, this landmark restaurant, which boasts 180 degrees of windows, has a bird’s eye view of the resort’s most sought-after waterfront villas and all the beach activities one could imagine.

While the out-of-towners soak up every last second of the California surf and light up their beachfront barbies, one can enjoy a pre-meal glass of champagne and a beautiful sunset in the lounge of the Marine Room.

The once outdated decor is long gone, following a month-long closure late last year for a massive facelift. Maybe a few of the La Jolla ladies underwent a nip and tuck of their own during that time, or maybe it’s just me getting older, but it seems that the average age of a Marine Room diner has dropped by a good 10 years since the redux.

Bernard Guillas, the most celebrated chef in San Diego, heads not only the kitchen at the Marine Room, but also the Shores Restaurant at the Sea Lodge Hotel, the property’s casual restaurant, and the Beach and Tennis Club’s private dining room. A Frenchman, he is classically trained and has earned an impressive collection of awards. His love for seafood and coastal cuisine began in Brittany, the westernmost region of France, a tiny, seafood-abundant peninsula that juts into the Atlantic Ocean. He was born there into a family of butchers, bakers and restaurateurs.

The Marine Room menu offers fresh seafood — local and imported — prepared in classic French style with modern American and Pacific Rim twists. The menu changes seasonally, taking advantage of the freshest, most exciting and most exotic products available.

The starters list offers 10 unique items in a wide variety of preparations. The “Butter Braised White Jumbo Asparagus with Sweetbreads, Morels and Shaved Truffle” ($12.75) is sinfully delicious. Sweetbreads outnumbered asparagus — which is fine with me — and were presented on a white leaf-shaped plate.

Well-prepared sweetbreads are hard to find; they must be cooked through, but still be creamy, and Guillas proved to have a gentle hand as they were perfectly cooked. Veal sweetbreads (derived from the thymus gland) are first blanched for five minutes and then allowed to cool. Then, they are quickly cooked over high heat on a perforated pan topped with another heavy pan. The cooked sweetbreads are encircled with artful drizzles of pistachio oil, which lends a green-yellow hue, and a Madeira wine reduction, which splashes burnt umber around the plate. The dish is finished with sautéed chanterelle mushrooms and shaved truffle.

The “Diver Scallop and Baja Prawn with Cauliflower Tian, Shallot Jam and English Pea Coulis” ($13.50) is a composed plate of nicely paired flavors. A good-sized Maine scallop is seared and served alongside a large white Mexican prawn resting on a delicious cauliflower tian, a mixture of pureed cauliflower, crème fraîche, salt and pepper, bound with egg white and baked. The dish is accented with pomegranate syrup and fennel pollen from the fennel blossom. There is only one United States importer of fennel pollen and it demands a handsome $45 an ounce.

Treat yourself to a middle course because the tableside-tossed Caesar salad is sheer excellence. An experienced waiter wheels a cart to your table and discreetly (but if he knows you’re watching, with much showmanship) lolls together the finest olive oil, anchovies, Worcestershire, mustard, organic lemon juice, fresh garlic, Parmesan cheese and housemade croutons. He tumbles in fresh romaine lettuce and adds a bit more Parmesan and fresh ground pepper. I love big, strong flavors, and this is truly one of the best, heartiest and most flavorful Caesars I’ve ever had.

Selecting an entrée is no easy task since the “Lavender Scented Chicken Breast” ($24.50), “Roasted Free Range Veal Tenderloin” ($29), and “Leek and Chervil Seared Alaskan Halibut” ($27.50) are so alluring.

The “Chanterelle Crusted Turbot” ($28) also is very special. Flown in from France, this mild, sweet and fleshy flat fish is coated in shaved chanterelles and pan seared. It is topped with 2 ounces of pan-seared Hudson Valley foie gras and sits on shaved fingerling and crimson potatoes. The dish is finished with a white port truffle sauce, shaved truffle, and garnished with deep-fried soba noodles.

With a small kitchen space, the desserts are a collaborative effort between Guillas (who designs the recipes) and Just Fabulous Desserts, a local baker who prepares them.

The wine list has a good selection of California reds and whites, supplemented with a focused but small selection of French wines. Guillas, who is responsible for the wine list, throws in a couple of Australian and Italian wines. Just don’t look for any bargains: wines are priced at three times the discounted retail price, the typical restaurant markup.

Although it is somewhat off the beaten path, be sure to find your way to the Marine Room as Guillas shines brightly at this hidden jewel.