Getting to Newport Beach, Orange County; Malibu still a no-go after 2025 fires; LA still a great big freeway; Roy’s Death Row birthday menu; ferry to Balboa Island; swilling Chablis at Circle Hook, sublime soft serve at Somi Somi, unphotogenic raclette at Basilic; palm tree trivia: feeble fronds and a dearly departed arborist; sublime casual dining at JOEY’s; lunch “on the beach” at Montage Resort, Laguna Beach; purveyors of boots and artichokes at San Juan Capistrano; huge thanks to our amazing hosts – next up, Lake Tahoe!
_________________________________________________
Getting to Newport Beach
Once again, our best-laid plans to follow the Pacific Highway on Route 1 were SNAFU’d. Trying to ignore the signs warning of road closure, – it’s becoming a habit – we got halfway through the town of Malibu before being turned back at a roadblock manned with polite and heavily armed personnel. The reason, of course, is the ongoing effort to rebuild more than 10,000 properties destroyed or damaged by fire earlier this year.
We had to take Malibu Canyon Road to Highway 101, then find our way to Santa Monica – along Santa Monica Boulevard (yes, where the sun comes up), to make an absolutely necessary pit-stop at Santa Monica Beach.
Eventually we rejoined Route 1, which by now was making excruciatingly slow progress through suburban LA… and arrived mid-afternoon at Steve and Ellie’s beautiful Newport Beach home.
Though we live on opposite sides of the world, the Campbells are among our best friends. We met 20 years ago while we were all expats in Singapore. Their twins, Prescott and Payton, were four years old at the time, and now they’re 24 – so that must be about right.
What’s more, we get to see one another fairly often. In June 2024 they joined us in Marseillan, France (click here); we’ve met up in Paris with them and the twins in June 2018 (click here); we joined them in Oxford, England in September 2019 during Prescott’s university days (click here); and, of course, we had a wonderful time with them in Newport Beach, San José and Napa Valley way back in 2011.
(For an only-slightly-glitchy old PDF of my Expat Living article about that trip, go to the landing page of Travels with Verne and Roy, click on the Pre-Blog Travels button and scroll down to US California 2011.)
________________________________________
Happy Birthday to Roy!
My husband had strategically planned his birthday to coincide with our first full day with the Campbells. He was not to be disappointed. In fact, he said afterwards that the menu for today would have been his Death Row choice:
Lunch at a fish restaurant on Balboa Island; Korean soft-serve to get us through the long afternoon; and back to Balboa Island for dinner at a French bistrot.
_____________________________________________
Ferry to Balboa Island
Originally a mudflat surrounded by swamp, Balboa Island is the largest of three islands located in Newport Harbour.
You can get there by car on this small ferry:
The gorgeous Payton Campbell – already qualified as a pilot instructor at the tender age of 24 – drove us in her new Land Rover Defender to Balboa Island and from there to Lido Marina Village. It was lovely to spend so much time with her this week.
Birthday lunch at Circle Hook fish restaurant, Lido Island
The feasting started with halibut and coleslaw at Circle Hook, a fish restaurant on Lido Island.
Here is Roy, taking advantage of Payton being our driver for the day to swill Chablis with lunch.
Soft serve at Somi Somi
Roy hardly had to mention soft serve, and the deed was done. Payton immediately drove us to Somi Somi, a Korean-inspired ice cream chain known for its fish-shaped waffle cones. Filled with soft-serve in amazing flavours like matcha, yuzu and red bean, they’re called ah-boong.
Here we are, tucking into a swirl of matcha and yuzu on a base of red bean. The black sesame base that Steve had with his milky flavour was possibly even more delicious.
Dinner at Basilic
After whetting borderline-jaded appetites with a couple of Roy’s notorious Vesper martinis, we headed out to Balboa Island once more for his birthday dinner at Basilic.
This small French bistro on Balboa Island specialises in raclette, one of the birthday boy’s favourite things in the whole world.
___________________________________________
Nothing to wear, unsurprisingly
After a day like this one, following a month of cruising, ten days in Vancouver and two weeks on the road… it’s no wonder our clothes feel distinctly tight. In fact, I once again have nothing to wear.
Pity there isn’t a Zara at Fashion Island, the mega mall located just a few minutes’ walk from the condo. “Fashion Island is upmarket,” as Ellie reminded me. Clearly, I am not. However, it does have a Macy’s. And a branch of Nordstrom’s, another department store that I love. But when it comes to Bloomingdale’s or Nieman Marcus, I’m a downtown girl.
Palm tree trivia
Mexican fan palms are most ubiquitous in California. They grow up to 100 feet (30 metres) tall.
Ever wondered what happens to vulnerable passersby, or more likely all those expensive passing cars, when huge palm fronds drop from a great height? Well, in fancy suburbs like this, they don’t let them drop. Instead, there are people responsible for keeping a sharp eye out for any feeble fronds so as to lop them off before they dare to fall.
Certainly not trivial for the victim and his family, but I have it on good authority that a 39-year-old tree-trimmer named Bardamiano Bautista-Perez was sadly crushed and suffocated to death in Chula Vista, California, on 13 February, 2023. How? A skirt of dead palm fronds fell on him while he was trimming a tree from underneath. That’s no doubt why these clever guys are using an aerial lift and trimming from above, not below.
_________________________________________
More Wining & Dining
#1 JOEY’s, Fashion Island, Newport Beach
Roy had the signature sushi and steak combo; I had the chargrilled pork chop. (I think.) Five or ten minutes by foot from the Campbells’ condo, and just one of a successful chain that has restaurants all over the US and Canada, the vibey JOEY’s is well described as a casual dining gem.
#2 Montage Resort, Laguna Beach
We’ll go and have lunch on the beach, suggested Ellie. This meant Steve driving us down to the fancy Montage Resort Laguna Beach and a table on the terrace – with “jaw-dropping views of the Pacific coast”. (Payton was flying that day.)
We shared the special starter, deep fried calamari. Mine was the romaine heart salad with salmon; Roy and Steve had the fish tacos. Ellie’s, I think, was the red pepper soup.
#3 Javier’s, Newport Beach
Apparently undaunted by having lunched so largely at Montage, Laguna Beach, we prepared for another round of Mexican-style food that evening at Javier’s, Newport Beach, with the Campbells’ lovely friends Gus and Linda.
Ellie reminded me that she, Steve, Roy and I dined here back in 2011. Looking at the travel article I wrote for Expat Living Singapore at the time, I raved about the authentic Mexican food, particularly the crab enchiladas. (It’s quite possible – almost certain – that I would have had at least three margaritas on that occasion, too.)
This time, I had the relleños: peppers stuffed with ground beef and veggies, with a tomatillo sauce; Roy had the pork chilli verde. Yum!
______________________________________
#4 Rodeo River Street, San Juan Capistrano
On our last day, Payton drove us out into the Orange County countryside to the lovely little town of San Juan Capistrano (halfway between LA and Dan Diego) – not to visit its historic mission, but for a spot of shopping and lunch at River Street Marketplace, a rustic yet high-end outdoor mall featuring all sorts of fermented goodies and other comestibles, cool clothing boutiques, cafés and restaurants.
It even had a coffee shop called Ubuntu, where we made a pit-stop. And several purveyors of leather goods, where I managed to find not one, but two pairs of Mexican-made cowboy boots that actually fitted. Thanks for my new boots, Roy!
Lunch at one of the restaurants at Rodeo River Street was great, starting with grilled artichokes to share. I seem to remember a bun-less grass-fed burger, but either I gobbled it down too greedily to photograph it for posterity, or it was not photogenic enough to keep on record.
Thanks for another fabulous day out, Payton!
_________________________________________________
Up Next?
We aren’t about to say goodbye to the Campbells yet, not by a long stretch. Up next is a real treat – a side trip to their wonderful holiday home on the shores of Lake Tahoe, located on the California / Nevada border.
