Beeside Balcony: Exceptional Dining in Del Mar, CA
What is happiness?
Happiness is a cool sea breeze, while basking in a late afternoon sun, overlooking the ocean. Happiness is also enjoying a fruit forward glass of Torrentes, with a flawlessly seared Chilean Sea Bass, as the sun sets and is replaced by the warm embrace of a floor and ceiling heater.
Which one would you choose? Fortunately, you can have both when you dine at Beeside Balcony in Del Mar.
This beautiful restaurant is uniquely positioned to serve guests safely as almost 100% of their seating is on an outdoor balcony with heating and shade from the occasional elements. You can truly enjoy your special occasion by dining in this standout North County establishment and sacrifice nothing in the way of comfort, ambiance or the quality of the cuisine.
Background
The Global Mediterranean cuisine served at Beeside is the culinary genius of Chef Christophe, who has a long-track record of success in the restaurant industry. Christophe, who is of Spanish and Italian descent, moved to the United States as a teenager after growing up in Paris, France.
He began working in restaurants alongside his father in their family restaurant in Pasadena, CA, before eventually moving to Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas, Christophe worked at some of the city’s most legendary restaurants, including Le Cirque and the Eiffel Tower. After returning to California, he was managing partner at Eddie V’s in La Jolla before he seized the opportunity to take over Beeside Balcony in Del Mar.
When Christophe took over the restaurant, he decided to keep the name and design the cuisine on theme, installing two beehives on his property in Vista, CA. The honey produced by these hives makes appearances throughout the menu in various forms – in the sake cocktails; in the infused goat cheese on the Golden Beet Salad (pictured below); and in the infamous baklava cake (which we should have saved room for), to name a few.
Many of the sake cocktails are infused with honey from Chef Christophe’s beehives.
The goat cheese used in this golden beet salad is also infused with honey from Chef Christophe’s bees.
The Start
Something that you absolutely can’t miss when dining at Beeside is their house made pita bread.
To start, we ordered the trio of dips with the pita bread and it arrived at our table fresh out of the oven, piping hot, dusted with fine herbs and prepared with the most delicate crispiness on the exterior. The dips are composed of an artichoke hummus (which is chickpea free), house tzatziti and spicy hipiti. It was the first time we both had tried hipiti, which is a feta cheese whipped with just the right amount of heat.
The combination of flavors from the dips and pita literally put tears in our eyes. The hipiti was our favorite, although it was hard to choose from the three.
The Meal
For dinner, we went with the Spanish Octopus and the Seared Chilean Sea Bass. But first, we had to settle on a bottle of wine. The wine list is playful and full of variety, with selections from California, Europe and South America. We were happy to see a Torrontes from Argentina and thought that would be perfect to go with both entrees.
As we sipped on our wine and enjoyed the late afternoon sun, both dishes arrived from the kitchen with the most spectacular presentation. The entrees were plated on black slate and created a dramatic, yet rustic effect.
The Spanish Octopus is first braised in a white Rioja wine and then finished grilled, topped with crumbled bacon and served with bacon jus. With that first bite, we could have just as easily been basking in a Mediterranean sunset.
We both agree that we have never had as perfectly cooked fish as the Chilean Sea Bass. A meal like that is more than just food – it’s an experience that cannot be replicated at home and is exactly the reason people go out to eat. The sea bass sat perched on a savory vegetable risotto and topped with a masago that sparkled in the ambient light.
The Experience
As we enjoyed our dinner, Chef Christophe joined us at our table, topping off our wine and chatting with us about the success of Beeside Balcony and his plans for the future. He is currenlty working on a new location to be opened in La Jolla Cove. Talk about location!
After he left our table, Christophe made the rounds throughout the restaurant, stopping to speak with each guest. We were impressed by the personal attention he gave to each party and we overheard him giving specific instructions to staff on how to course out the meal for a party of four to best pair with the series of wines that they were decanting.
That is when it occurred to us that the “secret” to the success of Beeside is not simply the dynamite culinary expertise by Chef Christophe. It’s to share in the happiness that accompanies the personalized experience that Christophe and his team curates for each of us.
Contact Information
Beeside Balcony is located at 1201 Camino Del Mar, No 200, Del Mar, CA.
They are open for dining and takeout, 7 days a week from 11:30am – 9pm, M-F, and 10am – 9pm, Saturday – Sunday.
To make a reservation, call (858)-481-9889 or book a table through Open Table.
Click here to see their full menu.
Click here to follow them on Instagram @beeside_balcony.