The Loft at Montage

It's OC Restaurant Week here! Last year during restaurant week I was busy opening a business. This year, my husband and I have big plans for the week! Today we visited The Loft at Montage in Laguna Beach. We are big fans of Laguna Beach, but had never visited Montage. Wow! That's it...just wow! I'm going to start saving for our daughter's wedding there. She's not quite 4, so I hope that's enough time to save. Sounds like a promising start, right?

So after finding our way to the restaurant within the ginormous hotel, the hostess guided us to our table. Here was the View. There were 3 windows directly in front of our table. I took a picture out each window.





Our first course was BARBECUE-BRAISED LAUGHING BIRD SHRIMP with heirloom spinach and garden herbs, winter citrus vinaigrette. I got the wine pairing for an extra $15 which was well worth it! This course came with a chardonnay. I don't remember the wine producers...sorry.


I'm so not sharing with this guy!!!


The husband got MAPLE-GLAZED SONOMA CHICKEN SANDWICH with wild arugula and aged gouda, local tomato marmalade. The marmalade totally made this sandwich. The bread was perfect!


I got the ORGANIC UDON NOODLES rotisserie suckling pig and wild mushrooms, lemongrass cream. It was great! It was so filling. The lemongrass cream is not to heavy. The flavor was absorbed perfectly by the udon. The mushrooms were amazing. The pork was ok. The pork flavor was great, but it was a little dry. Don't get me wrong, the whole dish was fantastic and I'd order it again in a heartbeat! This course was paired with Albariño, a white spanish wine.


Dessert was a GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE. OMG. I'm not a German Chocolate Cake fan, but there were almost truffles in there. Usually, the coconut jam is too coconutty and overpowering. This was perfect. It was served with a burnt butter ice cream over candided pralines. I LOVE the ice cream.


I did mention I was full after the udon noodles, right?

The service was fantastic. One waiter went way above and beyond and almost gave me an ingredient list for the salad vinaigrette. My wine pairings were thoroughly discussed, and the wait staff was just all around phenomina!


Here is the view from the ocean side of the Montage.


View from the concrete trail behind the resort.


Here is the trail. It's gorgeous. The plantlife is beautiful. The path isn't to steep and I love that it's paved. There is public parking right at the Montage for $1.50/hour. It has a pay station, so leave your quarters at home.

My parents took our daughter to the Wild Animal Park while we were being foodies. She came home EVIL. I had this for dinner. I don't normally have 4 drinks in one day!