**Disclaimer: We were provided complimentary meals to enable us to review the restaurant but the opinions and photos are all my own.**
California is having a very warm January, which makes many of us want to visit the beach in a month where we normally tend to migrate to warmer places, and Newport Beach is the perfect place to spend this unseasonably warm month for a romantic evening.
If you’re unfamiliar with Newport Beach, it’s a gorgeous place less than an hour south of Los Angeles but in a world by itself. Sprawling homes, beach bungalows, tons of shops and boutiques, kayaks, paddleboards and canoes to rent, and small cruise boats. Nightlife. And the restaurants, a lot of them. During the summer, Newport Beach is crawling with tourists and residents alike, and eating along the waterfront is a popular date-night event, the more romantic, the better! Because I’m a sucker for a romantic evening, especially a quiet one where the husband and I can talk and enjoy a pretty view, I was excited to be asked to participate in Newport Beach Restaurant Week 2014. I didn’t choose a restaurant and was glad to hear our reservations were for Newport Landing on Edgewater in Newport Beach, a restaurant that’s easily located right next to the ferry to Balboa Island itself, another place to explore. Look for the ferris wheel and you can’t miss the restaurant.
Newport Landing offers brunch, lunch and dinner, and has two levels for your choice of seating arrangements. The upstairs is also an oyster bar, and that environment’s a little more informal; it also includes a balcony overlooking the water’s edge and boardwalk and is heated during the winter.
We chose the downstairs, as it was more quiet and formal and we wanted the full experience of a no child, no interruption night.
Ahhh, I know, it sounds great, right?
Our host, Brian, brought us our wine, a wonderful Pinot Grigio by Ecco Domani. We enjoyed relaxing with it while trying the house bread, a sourdough loaf with a perfect outer crisp and inside chewy texture. Ideal with a little butter.
After 20 minutes to marinate with the wine, we chose our meals from the daily specials menu. The husband chose the New York steak and scampi plate, while I chose a trio of lamb pops, swordfish and chicken with mango salsa. Each plate had garlic mashed potatoes and mine also had spinach.
In a word, yum. I am a new fan of lamb and was excited to find it on a daily special; our goal was to try foods that are exemplary for the restaurant’s typical offerings and I think we did well. The steak was perfectly cooked to medium-rare and melted in my mouth. (Yes, of course I had to try. Even though I don’t eat red meat, one bite won’t kill me and it was so delicious.) His scampi had a good mix of spices and was also cooked to perfection, not to mention it was a gorgeous plate of food. I’m partial to my plate though.
Isn’t that beautiful? So often when you order vegetables, they come overcooked or bland in taste and/or color. Not the experience with our plates at Newport Landing. My spinach had an ideal crunch and texture and tasted fresh; in fact, all the vegetables were obviously fresh and didn’t have any wilt.
My swordfish was flavorful and flaky as it should be, and the chicken breast moist and the salsa a perfect addition. (I couldn’t help myself, I wanted to scrape the salsa off the leftovers I couldn’t eat and stuff it in my mouth quickly. So good!) The lamb chops were my favorite though. I asked for them medium rare and the cook got it just right. I like a food I can pick up and eat but I refrained and cut them properly on the plate, though I may have picked up and gnawed the bones just a little when I was done. You can’t leave any of that fantastic meat on the bone!
And then dessert, served by our fantastic host, Brian.
To complete the meal, we ordered a vanilla creme brulee. We are brulee people. We’ve had them all over, from Alaska to Hawaii to the east coast and all points in between. Many don’t have properly caramelized tops or the custard-y consistency that makes them stand out. Out of all we’ve had, Newport Landing’s creme brulee, made from scratch there in the restaurant, was easily a top three contender out of them all, and that’s saying a lot. The top cracked with our spoons and we about fought each other to be the first to do it. (Food should be fun!) We did manage to share the strawberries, but I did my best to get as many bites as I could even if it meant more than my half. It was that good! The flavor was a perfect light vanilla and the strawberries had infused their flavor throughout the entire ramekin, not to mention it just being a beautiful dessert to look at. It’s also gluten-free!
A couple of other things: we overheard Brian telling the guests next to us that the Manhattan Clam Chowder, which we did not order, contains some jalapeno for just a little kick. We also liked the tartar sauce, also made at the restaurant, and spent several minutes trying to see if we could guess all that was included. I’m not typically a tartar fan but I ate mine. All of it. What we could tell was in it was lemon juice, relish and dill. Perfect flavor and a nice chop to the relish.
Newport Landing also has a private room available and outdoor banquet seating so you can overlook the bay. Gorgeous, and right next to the Newport Landing yacht. If you’re looking for a new place to try out, you should try out Newport Landing. The menu’s vast, you can have surf or turf (or both) and of course, the oyster bar with the bay view is spectacular. Let me know if you visit and don’t forget to ride the ferris wheel!
Can’t you picture your private dinner being hosted there?
Or here?
Thanks to Brian for his fantastic service and Newport Landing (and their chef and team) for delicious food!
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