Yesterday, Kathy and I decided to pedal for our dinners. With the marine layer far offshore and the sun out for a change, dinner at the beach sounded right. So off to one of our favorite restaurants in all of San Diego County — the concession stand at Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas. Yes, concession stand.
Understand, this is no ordinary concession stand. It's run by 2 well-known chefs who specialize in unusual venues with fresh, tasty, creative food at reasonable prices. They call this one Beach Wolf.
The tacos are the stars of the menu, and I'd put theirs up against anyone's anywhere. Sorry, once the food comes, it never lasts long enough to get a photo.
Then there's the setting — literally right on the beach. Concession stand roof at lower right.
Of course, there are other beachside restaurants like Poseidon in Del Mar, but you'll pay at least 5 times more, it'll take 4 times longer, and the food will only be fancier, not fresher or tastier.
After dinner, spent some time taking in the scene. Compared to Atlantic beaches, the water's never really warm here. But it's getting less cold, and we saw many people going in without wetsuits.
Moonlight's a particularly happy beach. Can't say why it feels that way, but Kathy senses it, too.
Just one problem with Moonlight: It's only 2 blocks from the most dangerous place in North County — the Cali Cream ice cream shop and bakery. Being prime peach ice cream season, we had no choice but to stop.
Ride by Cali Cream all the time. Ice cream would never make it home by bike without melting, even in the winter, but a pastry box of apricot squares and lime mini-cheesecakes fits perfectly in my front rack.
Not a WORD to my dentist.
The ride was only 11 miles round trip, but Kathy's Pilates instructor had decided to work on quads that morning. PAS to the rescue!
The shot of the alliums and lavender could grace the cover of any fine gardening publication and would definitely make the roundabout worthy of several laps.
