By Gene Mahoney
(with much-needed assistance from Kimberlye Gold)

This Month:

The Historic Miramar Beach Restaurant
131 Mirada Road
Half Moon Bay
(650) 726-9053
www.miramarbeachrestaurant.com

It’s easy to see why the Miramar, standing just a few yards away from the beach and offering an unparalleled view of the Pacific, is a favorite of locals and visitors alike.
Well, at least that’s what the intro to the Miramar’s brochure reads. I have to admit, though, this is a hell of a restaurant. I love it! If you haven’t been here yet, jump in the car right now, head down Highway One, and check this place out.

I remember when I first moved to the Bay Area in ‘85. I lived in Belmont, and then a few months later I moved near the College of San Mateo (high school with ash trays). The Miramar was one of two places I used to hang out at nocturnally, and I used to visit them alone as I was new here and didn’t know anyone. The other place was the New Varsity on University Avenue in Palo Alto. Remember that place? Palo Alto didn’t have cable TV in the ‘80’s so people would actually go out at night. Today it’s a Border’s Books, but back then you could go see bands like Tuck and Patti perform each night in the courtyard, or you could have a cocktail in the bar inside. It was primarily a movie theater, and they would change the movies each night (I guess video stores eventually killed that concept off) so you could see films like Head starring The Monkees on a Monday and The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart on a Tuesday, etc. Sometimes they would have a concert instead of a movie, like the time I saw the Dead Kennedys there. Okay, enough of this. Let’s get back to the Miramar.

Located just off Highway One, 30 minutes from San Francisco and San Mateo, the Miramar is a quick and easy get-a-way, yet gives the feeling of being on a far away vacation.

You caught me. I lifted that last paragraph from their brochure again. I’m sorry. I love this place so much, it’s probably my favorite over-all restaurant in the Bay Area if you take the view and everything into account, I just don’t know where to begin. Here’s a lowdown on the food they gave us:

Congenial owner Mark Jamplis, who bought the Miramar around 1985 (years after it was a drop-off point for booze smugglers during Prohibition), told our charming waiter Doug Gonzalez to bring us some “killer items” from the appetizer menu. So we were given the Calamari Picante (Monterey Bay calamari dusted with seasoned flour, fried and tossed in Cajun sauce or served with the Cajun sauce on the side -- $10.95) “The sauce had kick after the fact while the calamari has the perfect amount of crunchiness and the batter isn’t too heavy,” opined Kimberlye. “I’d prefer marinara sauce with it, but this is still good.” Then came the Crab Cakes (Dungeness crab cakes with basil aioli on spring mix salad and citrus vinaigrette -- $13.95) which were very traditional, salty, but still good. On my notes I have that Doug brought us Oysters Miramar, which “are better than Oysters Rockefeller”, but looking at their menu now I don’t see it. I do see Oysters on the Half Shell (with cocktail sauce and horse radish -- $10.95). Kimberlye noted, “The oysters are really tasty, so filled with flavors that even if you’re not a big oyster fan you’ll love this.” Our last appetizer was great: Seafood Margarita (Ceviche style Dungeness crab, shrimp, scallops and true cod in a lime-flavored tomato relish with chilies, cilantro and a touch of blue agave tequila -- $10.95).

Then we both had the Caesar Salad (house-made Caesar dressing tossed with crisp hearts of romaine lettuce, garlic croutons and Reggiano parmesan cheese -- $8.95). “The salads are all good,” mused Mark. “The Caesar has great dressing. Did you know that Caesar salad was invented by Caesar Cardini, this guy from Tijuana? To this day they still have his restaurant, Caesar’s, there.”

Next we had the delicious Clam Chowder, well actually, it’s Miramar Seafood Chowder (New England style chowder with Dungeness crab, bay shrimp and baby clams, laced with sherry -- $4.95 a cup, $6.25 a bowl). Mark mentioned he was in Massachusetts recently and visited the oldest restaurant in the U.S., Ye Old Oyster House. I have that in my notes and I didn’t write if the Miramar’s chowder was inspired by that place or he was just mentioning it. I guess I had too many pints of Anchorsteam Beer ($4.75 a pint). Kimberlye had a glass of the Miramar Merlot ($6.50) and then a glass of Sauvignon Blanc (6.25) which she liked even better: “Ooh! Ooh! This is very nice. Taste this! Taste this! Fruity, but not too sweet. Perfect.”

Kimberlye and I both have memories, though separate ones, of the Miramar. I mentioned mine earlier, but hers is very romantic:

“I used to sneak in here underage, back in the late ‘70’s before Mark bought it, because they had bands play. I went on one of the worst dates in my life here. I worked at a now-defunct restaurant in Daly City called The Boar’s Head as a hostess and this alcoholic/drug addict car salesman who was a regular and at least twice my age (I was 16) asked me out and took me to my one and only sporting event (it was either the Giants or the 49ers, I forget) and all he did the whole time was smoke pot and drink beer. Then we came to the Miramar and he had done so much coke on the way down that once we got here he threw up in the bathroom. He was proud of the fact he was too sick and wasted to eat his dinner.”

Ah, I think I caught you wiping away a tear.

Back to the food: The salmon was very good and tender. The mushroom cream sauce on it was light but not too heavy, and we enjoyed the white rice and fresh, steamed vegetables served with it. Also very good, and tender, was the lobster, which was easy to get off the shell, and the drawn butter sauce that came with it was exceptional.

I looked over where the stage used to be and found an attractive Cassablanca-ish looking room. I asked Mark what happened to the live music scene at Miramar.

“It’s been a night club since the ‘70’s, but we stopped that last winter. The economy was way down, and if there’s an accident on Highway 1 and a $4,000 band can’t get through, we bite the bullet.”  Actually, you can hear a piano player all day Sundays at the Miramar, so you’ll have some pleasant melodies to admire the timelessness of the restaurant, as well as the aesthetic and culinary gifts it has to offer, which are abundant.


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