Sunrise Brunch at the Gallery Café in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget
I was all set to eat a tomato-basil soup with cracked black pepper mixed in it along with extra virgin olive oil when my daughter Florence Paget invited me out for brunch. Brunch out is always a fun option and especially when you set out for Pebble Beach on a sunny day to eat at the Gallery Café overlooking Stillwater Cove and the Lodge Hotel’s putting green.
Florence and I started our meal with a large serving of fried calamari. I love cocktail sauce with fresh horseradish grated in it, which is how they make it at the Gallery. Tartar sauce is available if you ask for it. The calamari comes with lemon wedges for sprinkling on the squid. The lemon makes me think I am in Amalfi, Italy.
For my main dish, I ordered the Breakfast Sunrise Skillet which cam with minced ham, spicy chorizo sausage, caramelized onions, green and red bell peppers, spicy green peppers (probably local Serrano peppers from Prunedale) and hash browns. On top of the sizzling basic ingredients were two over easy eggs with melted cheddar cheese on top.
The spicy green peppers and spicy chorizo sausage gave the dish some heat but not too much. I really liked the combination of spicy and refreshing flavors with the salty ham in this dish. It is a perky breakfast dish perfect for the West Coast of the US.
I skipped dessert and drank a hot latte instead. I enjoyed looking at the spring foliage. The landscapers at Pebble Beach nicely shape trees and bushes. There seems to be an omnipresent scent of freshly cut grass and branches in the air that I like. There were even some humming birds flitting about as we walked around the Lodge Hotel area.
This nice brunch was unexpected and very welcome. I am a local who enjoys visiting Pebble Beach as much as tourists. I like the restaurants at Pebble Beach and the oceanfront scenery.
In addition to the golf courses at Pebble Beach, there are several other things to do that might interest tourists like the health club, spa, golf lessons, equestrian center, bagpipe music at Spanish Bay, and hiking trails as well as several restaurants.
Soon there will be another hotel by the Spyglass Golf Course with two new restaurants.
For a break from city bustle, Pebble Beach is a quiet retreat surrounded by nature.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
