Cali berserkers - I’m traveling to Malibu and Laguna next week and looking for some great restaurant wine stops and shops to hit up. Would love a place with a great list on the beach. Perhaps a good shop to pick up a few bottles for the room and beach. And any great restaurant recommendations with fun lists we are open to all types of food!
Envoyer is not a crazy detour from Laguna and they probably have some good stuff on the shelf to buy. A few members have been there lately so can probably report back.
Wally’s is in Santa Monica, and has good food and an amazing wine list along with a large selection of bottles in the store that you can bring to the restaurant part and open for low corkage. It is on the pricier side. On the beach, Mastro’s ocean club in Malibu has a decent list but is not cheap. The steaks and seafood are great, if not cheap, and they have nice service. The views of the pacific are very hard to beat. Their corkage isn’t too expensive, though, so you may consider going to one of the great wine shops in the west LA area (wine house, wally’s, 20/20, lincoln fine wines) and get something to open there. Nobu is on PCH as well, again, not inexpensive. In downtown Santa Monica, Water Grill is on the beach and has free corkage with good shellfish and seafood.
Another shop in LA (Marina del Rey area) is LA Wine Co, its small but they tend to have a bunch of good offerings.
HiTime is Costa Mesa is worth checking out on your way down to Laguna.
All super helpful thanks guys.
I actually have 6 cases of different wine sitting there waiting to be shipped to me in NY. Great idea!
Saddle Peak Lodge is a must stop. Great food, wonderful setting and excellent wine list. https://www.saddlepeaklodge.com/
There have been similar posts about this topic, might be worth a search.
A few ideas about Malibu. It’s nice to drive up the coast and look at the sea. Take a walk along the beach. But there really isn’t a lot of “there” there truth be told. You won’t really be able to gawk at star’s mega-mansions, as they are hidden up in the hill behind gates or in gated communities along the shore. That might not be your idea of fun anyway. There’s a central shopping district that has a few upscale shops and a few casual eateries – basically good people watching for louche trust-funders, Hollywood agents, trophy wives in Range Rovers, etc. But don’t count on any real daring or memorable dining … it’s always shocked me how one of the toniest zip codes in the U.S. has such a meh food and wine scene.
Your best bet for really good wines and nibbles, as stated above, is Wally’s in Santa Monica, or Esters wine bar. My personal rec on dining is Cassia – Franco-Vietnamese. Nice patio and good wine list, proper cocktails and craft beers.
Chris, if you plan to have dinner in the OC, eat here. It is for me the best food in the county…
And corkage at Marche should be reasonable. I haven’t been to the new location but it was $10 at the old place.
$35 now, Rob. I had a long discussion with Florent (chef/owner) about this several months ago and I respect his decision. While I thought the # was too high, he does have a good list, excellent service and stems and so I get it. Paying $35 to have a bottle with my wife over a meal is a small price to pay for the total experience there. FWIW, the max is 4 bottles at that price per table.
I’ve been 1/2 dozen times to the new location and it is excellent.
Envoyer does not have a retail store. Its a lobby and a refrigerated warehouse. On that note you could order some wines from them ahead of time for pick up when in the area
They have a little bit of retail space.
Broadway in Laguna for food. Awesome.
K-ya in laguna for the insane roof top view and tapas downstairs.
Envoyer has only 30 to 50 bottles on their shelf. It’s definitely not a retail spot.
I work 100ft across the street from them so if you’re in the hood let me know.
I know, but they do have a retail shelf that’s generally cheaper and far more interesting than most retailers.
Definitely hitting up Broadway and K Ya is only 3 minutes from where we are staying. Thanks for the advice!
Brig, the shelves at Envoyer vary, but there are probably 100 selections there at any given time–Champagne, France, Italy with some CA and Oregon. Basically 4 wire rack units with about 5 shelves each. I would not drop by Envoyer unless you are a customer or are interested in seeing what some of us keep talking about. It is not a retail store in the sense that we all define that term around here. The guys there are great and can probably find a bottle for someone for dinner but if someone wants to really see wine in the OC, then Hi-Time Cellars is the ideal stop. There are 1000s of wines there, with a pretty deep Champagne section. It’s a helluva store.
Kind of a long drive from Malibu to Newport Beach and, depending on the day of the week can be hell getting down the 405.
Oh, we in SoCal are well aware of the traffic patterns on our beloved 405. But Chris said he was coming down to Laguna, thus Frank was offering him OC suggestions.
Pretty good suggestions above. I’d only add two wine shops. If you are staying along the coast, Wine House in West LA is pretty good. It’s right next to the 405. Literally. Also, in the OC, The Wine Exchange is good. Not too far north of the 405 near the airport.
I’d have to agree that Envoyer is probably not a real retail stop if you are picking targets and dealing with traffic.