Just as Parisians have their favorite cafes, Londoners their local pubs and New Yorkers their delis without which life simply wouldn't be quite right, we Southern Californians cherish the idea of the beach joint.

 

A little more than a year ago, Dave Donaldson, a San Clemente local and a former general manager of the Chart House in Dana Point, opened the BeachFire Bar and Grill on Avenida del Mar, just a stroll from the sand. It's not quite close enough to the beach to have tracked-in sand on the bar floor, and the food and drink is decidedly more upscale than that found at a beach barbecue, but it has, in spades, the difficult-to-define loosey-goosey, come-as-you-are surf-hut atmosphere. Donaldson, in addition to being a restaurateur, is an artist, and he has managed to cover what appears to be nearly every square inch of the walls of the restaurant with the work of local painters, much of it celebrating the beach and surfing life. The restaurant, with it's high ceiling and exposed ductwork, is a tunnel of a place, starting with the imaginative bar near the entrance (the bar and the wine rack are made from wood recycled from campground tables at the San Clemente State Park), snaking through a thin dining area with cozy booths and a tile floor inlaid with colorful mosaics, opening into a larger dining area with a large fireplace, and opening still further into a bright patio. There is also seating upstairs overlooking the bar area. Just walking through the place is fun.

 

The menu is a fine compliment to the surroundings. Donaldson has crafted a menu that makes good use of Mexican, Hawaiian, and Asian flavors and techniques. For starters we went with the Bali rolls: avocado egg rolls in macadamia sauce. These are two generously sized rolls with an equally generous amount of avocado along with the usual egg roll veggies, delicately fried and sliced diagonally. The rolls are both smooth and crunchy (a nice combination) and the slightly chunky sauce is an excellent accompaniment. The tortilla soup - fresh vegetable and herb stock with grilled chicken, avocado, sour cream and tri-colored tortilla strips - is almost a light meal in itself. Rich and thick and robust, the herbal flavor is prominent and the white meat of chicken is generous and lean. The filet mignon tacos (and how's that for upmarket beach chow?) made for a flavorful, and healthy meal. The tacos - sautéed filet chunks with cilantro cumin cream, mixed cheeses and shredded lettuce on corn tortillas - were wonderful, if unwieldy. The tortillas are a little bigger than a beer coaster and the filling is generous, so picking the taco up in the more traditional manner seemed not to be a good idea. Attacking it with a knife and fork didn't diminish the enjoyment. The accompanying black beans, rice and plantain were very good sides.

 

Like most good beach joints, BeachFire's dinner menu runs heavily to seafood, and much of it shows fine imagination: halibut with caramelized shallot sauce; ginger peppered ahi with ginger soy butter and wasabi cream; and potato crusted salmon on wild mushroom risotto with red wine reduction and truffle oil. This is food to make Moondoggie blink and shake his head. Just dropping in to the bar? You won't have to settle for a quick domestic beer. There's a well-represented wine list and - a boon for short-term visitors - a number of very good wines by the glass.

 

BeachFire is, in short, a beach joint for grown-ups who would still rather wear aloha shirts than Armani.