The OC -- San Clemente or close

Sure, anyone can come up with interesting recos for places such as Nice, or Maine, or New Castle, PA.

Who among you is prepared to sally forth with advice regarding the dining options in the Tragic Kingdom's jejune lower extremity? No California cuisine, Cal-Ital or the like, please.

I have spent significant time in both the Inland Empire and points west; my expectations are "realistic."

And don't say drive to LA. I'm set for LA. I have one day in San Clemente, and I want to do the right thing.

Gracias

There's always In 'N Out burger. I'm not sure how close it is to where you are going to be, but if you're anywhere near Norwalk, I suggest a visit to Renu Nakorn, which is the predecessor to Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas. This is a Thai Restaurant of some repute. I've had one visit and enjoyed it, although I dined alone, so I barely made a dent in the menu.

Renu Nakorn.
13041 E. Rosecrans Ave.
Norwalk, CA
(562) 921-2124

Steve, thanks, but Norwalk might as well be Needles on this trip.

Anyone?

I live minutes from San Clemente and I'm sorry, but it's a food ghost town. You either need to drive a bit north or a bit south deeper into the San Diego area to get anything remotely worth mentioning. I will suggest, that if you are interested in some delicious mexican food, I recommend Javier's in Laguna Beach. Their carnitas don't get any better and wash it down liberally with a house margarita, on the rocks, with salt. Epic!

Also, for a more upscale experience, I'd recommend the montage resort, also in laguna beach. It's very pricey but absolutely fantastic. www.montagelagunabeach.com They have several restaurants there but for some incredible dining, The Studio ranks right up there.

Thanks very much. The Chowhound folks from the OC came up with a few places that seem to be long on concept but maybe short on value, just from looking at the menus and web sites. White Horse, Iva Lee's, Duke's Griddle n Grill?

Your suggestions sound better. Probably will try to go to the Mexican in Laguna Beach.

We used to take our clients to LasBrisas which is on the PCH about 10-15 miles morth of San Clemente. Good seafood (not inexpensive $30-40 oer meal) with a great view.

My **ONLY** dining experience in San Clemente was Carrow's.

jlawrence01 wrote:We used to take our clients to LasBrisas which is on the PCH about 10-15 miles morth of San Clemente. Good seafood (not inexpensive $30-40 oer meal) with a great view.

My **ONLY** dining experience in San Clemente was Carrow's.

Las Brisa's is just up the street from Javier's. This place definitely has the view but the food is just so so compared to Jav's. It's kinda like one of those places that has a great view but the food is just blah cuz that's all it has to be - people really just go there for the ambiance.

Go to Javier's! And if you want a cool spot for breakfast, try The Beach House - just across the street from Javiers. Heck, you could spend so much time in Laguna and not even go back to San Clemente. San Clemente is just kinda an arm pit of CA. Sorta this lost non-descript place that's stuck in between San Diego and Orange County.

OneTallChef,

Thanks for allowing me to leave with my low expectation intact for San Clemente. The scene was, indeed, bleak. I had to stick around since I was there for events surrounding a wedding. Happily, there is a Fatburger in town and the In n Out about ten minutes north.

I made one attempt at cheap local fare, some fish tacos from Dave's, a pseudo-surfer place that celebrated its 30th anniversary recently. They had no hot sauce of any kind, and the fish was pretty darn nasty.

Sometimes you just cut bait and have a beer. You saved me some time and frustration.

Darn!!! I was hoping you'd be able to get to Laguna!

Next time though!

Darn San Clemente has a bazillion residents but hell if I know where they all eat. I almost bought a home in that area and think I would have starved to death lol