Lunada Bayhouse in Lunada Bay

I can't believe this restaurant has been around since 2009. That's 3 years of me not stepping foot at a restaurant close to home. Chef Rafael Solorzano was voted "Chef of the Year" and the restaurant was selected as one of the Top 10 new restaurants in 2009.

Last night was a good night to meet a friend at Lunada Bayhouse. Their menu was a good mix of salads, steaks, seafood and pasta. We both ordered each a nice baby bottle of champagne, a bargain for $9.00! We split a warm goat cheese salad which was quite good. For appetizers that evening, they were serving fresh oysters on 1/2 shell and oysters rockefeller. I had to order the rockefeller. My friend does not eat oysters (forgive her Father, for she does not know what she is doing) and lucky for me, I had to eat all 6 of them! They were so delicious! My champagne went well with them. I also ordered the fried breaded artichoke hearts which had a lot of herbs and parmesan cheese served with a cocktail sauce and an aioli sauce. When it doubt which sauce would go best; mix them both and you have your answer.

My friend settled on the four cheese ravioli with spinach, artichoke hearts and mushrooms. I tried some and it was almost perfect; almost, because it was not aldente which is a requirement for me anytime I have pasta.

For dessert, we ordered the lemon souffle. It did not have the texture of a souffle, it was more of a very light lemon pudding but we managed to consume the whole thing; not bad at all!

The service was excellent. Our waitress, Andrea was great. She answered all our questions in detail. You could tell that she enjoyed her job.
The ambiance is not formal; rather, very family friendly which is fine for the Palos Verdes area as most people are not into getting dressed for dinner, at least in my observation.

I called the Chef Solorzano today to ask him what was in his oysters rockefeller. I was not surprised as to why I loved them; they were cooked with spinach, a combination of cheeses including parmesan, bacon (who doesn't like bacon?) and the liquor, pernod which is like its relative; in Greece is ouzo and in Spain, Ojen.

I learned from my conversation with the Chef that he has another restaurant in Redondo Beach called Delzano's By the Sea. That will be one of my future assignments. Meanwhile, I will be sure to return to Lunada Bayhouse to further investigate what I have been missing!