Ocean & Vine, Santa Monica

Ocean and Vine Restaurant– Located at the magnificent Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Los Angeles near the historic Santa Monica Pier and in the midst of one of Southern California’s most eclectic and desirable seaside resort communities.

Ocean and Vine is a perfect place to enjoy a romantic meal while you enjoy the beautiful ocean view and admire the sunset. Their dining room is known as an enhancement to what has become the city’s finest assemblage of outstanding
dining restaurants to ever be found under a single hotel roof.

Brilliant Chef de Cuisine Robert Trester has brought his inspired California cuisine to Ocean and Vine. This is certainly a fine dining restaurant where the Chef is young, impressionable, mature and knows well how to define his unique style and creativity.

The dining room is open and surrounded with light colors, and an amazing fireplace in the middle of the restaurant, with comfortable sofas and chairs, also the comfortable tables surrounded with lots of windows and breathtaking views to the gorgeous Pacific Ocean. Each part of the restaurant has its own signature touch; there is also a very nice bar where you can enjoy drinks and delicious appetizers, such as their
signature Grilled Calamari that without any doubt is the best Fried
Calamari in town, a wonderful presentation as well!

Red Wine / Long Island Champagne / Mojito

My guest and I started out with what was perhaps one of the very best house Long Island Ice Tea creations that we have ever sampled. The beverages include the large selection of wine. I started with a glass of Champagne. Per our server suggestion,
the Bonny Doon “Le Cigare Voiant” 00 - from Santa Barbara was the best
choice to go along with our fabulous menu.

Pomegranate Margarita Our Friendly Server

Appetizer orders start coming in; the smells are mouthwatering. The Arugula-speckle green salad with red wine poached pear, blue cheese baklava on a thyme vinaigrette in particular were just exploding with tantalizing flavors, a perfect example of combining a healthy and delicious salad. A perfect way to start an unforgettable meal. This is an example of a simple salad that you will certainly enjoy because
their greens come from extraordinary farms that are specially grown
and gathered exclusively for Ocean and Vine Restaurant.
Chef Trester sent us his superb signature Macaroni and Cheese; a perfect comfort food made with fontiago and 3 year white cheddar with crisp chorizo.

Fondue

We also did not want to miss the market Inspired flight pumpkin: it consisted of 3 dishes made with pumpkin, my favorite: the pumpkin soup, with honey and crispy apple, the pumpkin croquettes, with goat cheese and crisp sage, and the
pumpkin risotto, with pumpkin seeds, this was an example of
how spectacular Chef Trester’s menu was.

We were already quite impressed with the food and wine prior to the serving of our entrées, but when Rachel, our wonderful and charming server placed them
before us, we realized that the best was yet to come.

Our last appetizer was the Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, with fresh lentils, mole negro on a California quince sauce, an amazing dish that we simply loved.

I must confess that Chef Trester sent us more dishes than what we requested, he is very kind and wanted us to try almost everything on his unique and fantastic menu,
but of course that was quite an impossible mission to accomplish.

Mussels Filet

Chef Trester certainly surprised us by sending his most delicious signaturedishes. He also told us that his menu changes constantly, so that is alsoamazing, because there
will always be something new to try at Ocean and Vine Restaurant.

For the entrée selections, we started with a sample of their Tiger Shrimp made with ricotta cheese cavatelli, seasonal squash on a vermouth reduction; it was a huge hit
and the combination was stellar, also we tasted the Pine Nut Pesto Fettucine with green beans white asparagus and winter squash, the homemade pasta is so good
that you feel like you are in Tuscany sampling your grandmother’s fresh pasta.
The pasta cooked to perfection. We loved this irresistible dish.

The next main course was the Baja Sea Bass, with heirloom potatoes, spinach and avocado corn coulis. This dish was unexpectedly divine, you just can’t describe its flavor, but it was the impressionable fish freshness that won me over, very sweet
and tender, a magnificent combination with the vegetables.

The Pan Seared Baja Sea Scallops

These were 2 unexpected surprising dishes that were both impeccable and imaginatively presented: The Pan Seared Baja Sea Scallops, this dish is a perfect
sized portion of seafood and is served with crisp shrimp paella on a red pepper
coulis. This delicate and mild scallop is one of the most ‘gourmet-friendly’
fishes on our planet, in my opinion – it was divine!

And our last course was the Black Angus Filet, with warm german potatoes, asparagus, on truffle vinaigrette. Either way, Chef Trester’s sumptuous
menu selections will tantalize your palate!

Sandeman Tawny Porto White Wine

This masterful conclusion to our fine meal was enhanced further by one of the most enchanting digestives; the Port Wine that has ever crossed my palate, a 20 year old Tawry Porto Sandeman from Portugal. Dry, rich and as smooth as brushed velvet,
it was the perfect foil to the Caramelized Banana Tart, the sweetest
banana and the perfect topper to our magnificent evening.

Ocean and Vine visual style and culinary theme are certainly unique and also Chef Trester’s new style is to work with the seasons and to bring the freshest products
and new techniques to insure the finest flavor of their cuisine. In some respects they represent refinements of ideas, and their scale and ambition are unprecedented.

One thing is a given: if you are looking for a great restaurant to delight your palate in the peaceful twilight of a Santa Monica’s evening, the Ocean and Vine
at the Santa Monica Loews Hotel is the place to go.

Mario Leal-Cruz Junior Chef Robert Trester

After Dinner, unwind with one of their signature drinks at their bar, which is a perfect place to retreat for a great romantic night, or to spend it with among family and friends, or even for a business dinner, the view is simply the best, there is no place like it.

In my opinion Ocean and Vine has gone a long way toward embodying the soul
of a new part of the city and thrown imaginative and honestly
prepared food into a new concept.

Our special thanks for the fabulous hospitality that Mario Leal-Cruz Junior the Assistant Manager gave us through the entire evening and to the amazing Chef
Robert Trester for allowing us to try his spectacular and unforgettable food.

For map and location click Here!

For more information please visit their website at oceanandvine.com

Today is: Thursday, April 25, 2024