I'm almost certain very few locals have dined at The Californian, the high-end restaurant inside the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. It seems to me entirely the kind of place only a captive, out-of-town businessman would go if he had no car. Perhaps that's why it closed it recently.
Now a new place called WATERTABLE is poised to take over soon. The new restaurant will feature a Spanish-inspired menu. From the hotel's website, this means they will have small plates served in “Bar Jars,” which are mason jars filled with “Oven-Cured Tomatoes with Sherry, Artichoke and Manchego Cheese Spread and Iberico and Spicy Tomato Jam.”
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It also says that they will also have additional Spanish-influenced hot bar appetizers including “Charred Prawns in Romesco, Potato and Corn Empanadas and Lamb Meatballs with Mojo Verde.”
On Sunday nights, WATERTABLE will feature a so-called “Meat + three” supper, “done California-style with Roasted Salmon as one of the protein options, served alongside roasted vegetables, cheddar sage biscuits and apple butter.”
But depending on your point of view, it's the “signature water drinks” that are going to be either interesting or just plain laughable. A press release described the “water drinks” this way: “water, hand-dipped from a free-flowing contemporary 'well' and infused with ever-changing herbs, spices and syrups.”
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.