Dinner at Baleen Kitchen - Redondo Beach

After arriving into the San Pedro pier from our 15 night Hawaii cruise, we headed to our hotel for the next three nights.   We decided to stay in an area of Los Angeles we hadn't been before: Redondo Beach.

This is definitely a surfside community. Lots of businesses that focus on the ocean.  There is also a large pier and boardwalk area where you could hire a boat to take you on a sunset cruise or a fishing charter.  Also restaurants and shops.  

We arrived at the Portofino Redondo Beach hotel about 9:30.  Check-in wouldn't be until 3PM.  That can be one of the challenges in a hotel stay you book for after a cruise.  You have to leave the ship early, but most hotels don't allow you to check-in until mid afternoon.  But they had a room available now if we would pay a $75 early check-in.  Of course we would!!    So we headed to our room for the next three nights.  

We hung out in the room for a couple of hours until it was lunchtime!!  I had looked up some local restaurants and Captain Kidd's seemed like a good fit.  

This is a combination of a fresh fish market and seafood restaurant.  All kinds of fish, crab and oysters!!   Prepared in many ways. We decided to get one order of the fish tacos and one order of shrimp tacos.  They were both so good. Highly recommend this place of you visit this area.  

After a  walk to run an errand at the bank, we strolled around on the boardwalk.  They have a lot of restaurants and shops. Plus a brewery.  We'll be checking that out one of the next two days.  

We then headed back to the hotel and watched the seals as they "serenaded" us with their songs. Our room faces the ocean. There is a rock wall protecting the shore and the seals apparently love being in this protested area.  They huddle around one buoy. Apparently playing King of the Mountain ".  

We had 6:30 reservations at Baleen which serves as the hotel restaurant although unlike many hotel restaurants, this is a separate building just steps away from the lobby. 

We selected a table by the fireplace which would be nice on this chilly night. 

We started with the calamari and the Noble Chop Salad.  

The calamari was so expertly prepared.  It was large pieces of squid that had been braised along with small planks of chorizo, diced onions, sliced jalapenos and minced garlic. It was so tender!!  The perfect bite was to get a little squid and chorizo along with a jalapeno and make a bruschetta with the toasted slices of bread.  

The salad had a great sherry vinaigrette tossed over crispy lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. The chef also includes some crisped quinoa and candied pecans.  Those really made the dish by adding some great crunch!!

For mains, we both went for the Bolognese with tagliatelle.  This felt like a great dish for a cool evening.  And we weren't disappointed!! 

Freshly made al dente pasta in a savory pork and beef Bolognese. It was topped with a dollop of creamy ricotta along with some fried basil leaves.  There was also a crispy element which we both thought was some kind of bread crumb.  The extra crunch added so much to the dish.  

We also.had an order of the heirloom carrots.  These were small, sweet braised carrots served on top of a yogurt sauce that had charred green onions.  The sweetness of the carrots went so well with the slight sourness of the sauce. 

For a wine, we picked out a 2017

Chianti Classico.  Of course with the black rooster which tells you it is authentic!!  This was only $64 per bottle which was a fair price in a restaurant.