Sheerwater MooTime

Wha? "Sheerwater MooTime?" This one starts the same as the last… a recent warm evening seemed like a perfect time to use up a gift card at The Hotel Del in Coronado and escape the blast furnace Sunday. Their Sheerwater restaurant offers up some nice patio dining, plus a perfect chance to cozy up to the wealthy folk (I think I saw James Woods!) It really was a last minute choice – my wife said, hey you want to use that gift card we got as a Christmas present, wha? a year and a half ago? It was far short of actually being able to pay for a night stay there, but a righteous amount to pay for a meal for 2. I’ll be short on words tonight (okay, early morning) and let the pictures do the talking.

So, we drove down and took our chances – for what it’s worth, a 7:00 pm arrival on a Sunday night equals about a 40-minute wait for an outside table. Not too bad considering the bar had plenty of room to wait and enjoy a tasty beverage.

We were seated before sunset (it sets well behind Point Loma anyhow) and quickly ordered drinks to settle our stomachs. The menu is fairly simple, a steak choice or two, spare ribs, several fish options along with some cheapers like pasta and wood-fired pizza. My wife started off with the Crab Bisque ($12.50). It was fairly rich and tasty, with a midsize crab cake floating around in it.

For entrées, I had Sea Bass with mushrooms, a pile of spinach and potatos:

And my wife had the Tuna:


My wife really liked that lemon sauce on her plate. Both tasty enough (and priced at just under $30 each) but somehow fairly unspectacular – as one might expect. A place like this only strives to be just so good. It’s not going to wow anyone probably, but solid enough – yet obviously with maybe a 30% premium what you’d expect to pay at a regular neighborhood restaurant. And of course you are in a fricken 100 building steps from the mighty Pacific.

We ate here a few years back for a Christmas Eve – we remember that the place was a little nicer, with better-dressed wait staff, a somewhat more interesting menu, but of course, they have gone under an ownership change since then. Emph, change.

For maybe a few bucks more one could eat at the very new 1500 Ocean just a few steps away from Sheerwater. The newspaper just had an article.

Of course, what visit to The Del would be complete without a stop for a $7 ice cream cone from MooTime Creamery? Again, probably not quite as good as we remembered – where’s the chocolate dipped waffle cones? Damn change! But maybe they were out from a long day of selling as the website does mention them. We got a midsize bowl (no “scoops” here, just bowl sizes) of Double Dark Chocolate mixed with cookie dough. Dense and rich – but it might have been a little better to choose go half and half on two ice cream flavors. Ice cream here starts at $4, plus 95 cents for each item mixed in.

Ideas for the long weekend?
I like these long weekends - when we don't go anywhere, I like to treat it as a vacation in San Diego. What would be your top choices for eats?