During our trip to Southern California earlier this year, we spent a couple three nights in Dana Point, CA. I've often said that if I had the money - especially after I retired - I'd move to Dana Point in a heartbeat. It's a great coastal city with a wonderful harbor and a great seaside vibe. Our first night in Dana Point, we took a drive up to a place that was called one of the Top 50 Places to Eat with a Scenic View by readers of OpenTable.com - a seafood place called Cannons Seafood Grill.
Simply known as "Cannons" to the locals, the restaurant is housed in the first building that was built on the bluff overlooking the fabulous Dana Point Harbor, located in what was once called Capistrano Bay about halfway in between San Diego and Los Angeles. Author Richard Henry Dana, Jr. - whom Dana Point was named after - fell in love with the bay in the 1830's calling it the most romantic spot on the West Coast. He had sailed from Boston to the California coast around South America and Cape Horn on the ship Pilgrim and kept a diary that eventually turned into the 1840's memoir "Two Years Before the Mast" that became the most popular book to garner information about California in its day.
After the harbor was commissioned in 1971, Cannons opened in 1972 in what was the first free standing restaurant in Dana Point. In 2004, Cannons was purchased by longtime restaurant executives John Creed and Steve McGillin who installed Greg Mortimer as the operating partner. The group changed the name to Cannons Seafood Grill at that time. Cannons is popular for weddings, receptions and other special events.
After a couple drinks at a restaurant/bar in the Dana Point Harbor, we drove up the hill on Dana Point Harbor Drive and took a right onto Street of the Green Lantern to Cannons. (see map) It was a Sunday evening so it wasn't busy and we were able to be seated right away.
The main dining room is up some stairs from the main entry and features a number of tables on two levels with large picture windows along the south side of the building. The lighting was subdued in the upper level with more natural light coming in from the large windows.
We were escorted to a window table on the lower level that looked out onto Dana Point Harbor, down past Doheny State Beach - the first state beach in California - and down the coast to San Clemente. The weather had turned a bit dreary with much needed rain in the area, but it still didn't detract from the great view we had from our table.
We were looking through the menu when our server for the evening - Brandon - came over to greet us. Right away I ordered up a bottle of the St. Supery sauvignon blanc wine from our personable young waiter.
The seafood served at Cannons is always fresh, never frozen. They have daily specials based upon the freshest ingredients that executive chef Omar Ramirez can procure from local fishermen and produce farmers. Seafood is, of course, the main focus at Cannons, but they also have an herb-crusted prime rib, organic free range chicken entrees, and a Filet Oscar that features an aged Black Angus tenderloin cut in house, then topped with Alaskan king crab, asparagus and a béarnaise sauce, and comes with roasted vegetables and scalloped potatoes.
We started out with sharing a wedge salad that wasn't all that large and was a little pricey for what we got. The cool and crisp iceberg lettuce was topped with a creamy blue cheese dressing, chunks of diced tomatoes, red onions and bacon bits, and then topped with crumbled blue cheese from the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Northern California. Quite actually, compared to other wedge salads that I had the taste was sort of "blah" making it still overpriced in my book.
For dinner that evening, I knew I wanted seafood and I ended up picking the fresh mahi mahi, grilled and topped with a lobster reduction sauce and mushrooms. It came with fresh green beans and garlic mashed potatoes. The mahi mahi seemed to be overcooked - it was dry and sort of hard to chew and swallow, even with the wonderfully tasting lobster reduction sauce. It wasn't the best mahi mahi that I've had by any means. The garlic mashed potatoes were sort of "meh!", and the best thing were the green beans, I'm sorry to say. It was somewhat disappointing to say the least.
Cindy was leaning toward getting the seafood skewer medley that featured chunks of fresh shrimp, swordfish, scallops, mahi mahi and salmon that were all drizzled in a white wine/butter/lemon sauce. But for some reason she ended up getting the cioppino - an authentic seafood stew with chunks of Alaskan king crab meat, scallops, black mussels, shrimp, mahi mahi, salmon and swordfish, all of which are sautéed in a tomato and spices broth. Large pieces of toasted bread with herbs came with the cioppino. Cindy liked it - a lot. The seafood was very rich and the toasted bread came in handy to dip into the tomato broth. I eagerly took a couple bites of the cioppino when she offered. It was very good.
After dinner, Brandon came over and since it wasn't busy we took some time to talk with him about things to do in the area. We discussed going out to Catalina Island, but he pretty much told us that it would be a day trip and we hadn't budgeted enough time on this leg of the trip for that. But he did say that if we ever got the chance in the future, that would be a great place to go.
He tempted us with a number of desserts on the menu including a house-made cheesecake and a chocolate creme brûlée. I was sort of full from dinner, but Cindy noticed the key lime pie on the menu. It was made with a granola crust and topped with fresh berries and mint leaves, then sprinkled with powered sugar. Once again, compared to other key lime pies we've had in the past the one at Cannons was just all right. It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the great tart key lime taste that we've come to like with other ones we've had.
I probably would have given Cannons a much higher grade had the wedge salad wouldn't have been so neutral in taste, the mahi mahi hadn't been overcooked, and the key lime pie sort of subdued in taste, as well. The service was impeccable, the atmosphere was comfortable and welcoming, and you can't beat the million dollar views from a window table seat in the main dining room. My wife's cioppino was very good, but I was disappointed in what I had. And that's too bad because a place like Cannons doesn't stay open for over 40 years serving the food that I experienced this particular evening.
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