Spicy Crab Salad at Roy’s in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget
The unexpected presentation of ordinary dishes at Roy’s restaurant in Pebble Beach, California make ocean side dining there a pleasant and memorable experience.
On a recent visit to Roy’s, I ordered spicy crab salad. I like stringy masses of crab with spicy mayonnaise, but Roy’s has a much more elegant way with this salad.
The chopped crab with a hint of mayonnaise came as a large disc in the bottom of a large flat-bottomed salad bowl. There were about 4 ice cream scoops of crab all together. Spread on top of the crab was a thin layer of spicy, hot wasabi horseradish paste.
On top of the crab disc, there was a mound of organic Monterey County baby greens with two pink Hawaiian flower petals (plumeria?). I assumed the flowers were edible and ate them along with the salad.
The dressing was a yuzu-pineapple juice vinaigrette. Yuzus look like prickly lemons and taste like grapefruit. They give the sour tang to the tropical vinaigrette.
That salad was delicious for light spice lovers and certainly qualified as a spa lunch.
For dessert, I ordered a chocolate banana cream pie, which arrived as a 3D swirl of bananas and thick whipped cream in a flaky pastry cup topped off with a thick chocolate syrup.
As I ate this delicious food, I thought of chef Ferran Adrià whose meals at his El Bulli Restaurant in Barcelona, Spain were described as theatre – great food, great beverages, great view, great comfort, and great service.
Roy’s restaurant at Pebble Beach, California provides all this and offers a varied menu for diners who would like a burger or BBQ après golf.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
