Half Moon Bay

Lobster and luxury, pasta and pinot noir are just part of the attraction...

Whether you are a transplanted Easterner used to summers on the Atlantic, a Midwesterner with a love of the ocean, or a native Californian, Half Moon Bay offers a taste of the best of each world. It has luxury hotels, family-affordable lodging, farm stands, art galleries, coffee emporiums, horseback rides on the beach, cuisine that runs the gamut from authentic Down East lobster rolls and chowder to five-star dining, one of the best Italian restaurants I have visited in years, and a little bit of everything else.
    For years I had resisted going to Half Moon Bay. Too far away, I thought (it’s not); too quaint (if this is quaint then the world needs more of it); too little to do (emphatically not). Finally, with my wife’s birthday approaching I bit the bullet, got out the maps, called some friends for recommendations and booked two nights in an ocean view room at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay.
    Some people fall asleep in seconds to the sound of a train; for others it is wind in the trees or the rocking of a boat. For me it is the sound of the ocean, and with the windows open wide and the ocean just below, a room at the Ritz-Carlton can lull you to sleep faster than you can count one sheep, two sheep, three ...
    The drive is less than three hours going across the Golden Gate, though there are other routes you can take. But going this way gets you to the ocean faster, which seems to me the whole point. It is an easy drive, even on a weekend as long as you avoid holidays.
    The area considered Half Moon Bay is actually a series of small towns that stretch along the ocean until you get to the town of Half Moon Bay itself. In between there are fields and vegetable stands; on the right, the ocean side, corrals are full of riding horses of every shape and size. On your way stop in at Sam’s Chowder House. It looks like it has been around for decades, but it is a relative newcomer to the area’s vibrant dining scene. The inside is stylish and the decks in the back overlook the ocean, boat docks and the coastal walking path where people and dogs stroll. This is true even at the Ritz itself, where patrons having high tea can watch literally hundreds of dogs being walked on any given day. To say that the area is dog friendly would be an understatement of epic proportions.

A lobster roll from Sam's (Joyce Oudkerkpool)

    My suggestion: the lobster roll at Sam’s outside on one of the decks. They are perfectly made (this coming from someone who lived on the water in Maine for years and almost made a career of searching out the best roll) with the perfect balance of lobster meat to celery, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. The other seafood dishes are also first-rate, as are the desserts, and prices are very reasonable for what you get. On a cool day go for the chowders, then head down the road to check into the Ritz. On the way home you can always pick up quarts of chowder to go.
    I have been a fan of the Ritz-Carlton brand for years. In Half Moon Bay the staff is friendly, professional and welcoming as befits the setting. Public rooms are grand without making you feel like you accidentally wandered into a Venetian palace, the bar makes excellent cocktails and the food and wine list at Navio is worthy of as many stars as you might like to award it.
    On the second night it was Pasta Moon for dinner, a wonderful, casual Italian restaurant where they make first-rate pasta (and many other things) from scratch and have an all-Italian wine list, a refreshing change for a California restaurant. Taken there (gratis) and picked up later by one of the hotel’s big black SUVs, the food matched the décor, the service would have done the best restaurant proud and, as far as I could tell from what we ordered and what I saw on other tables, there was not a single misstep in the execution of even one dish.

Pasta Moon  (Pasta Moon)

    During the day there are shops to explore, wineries up in the hills (try Thomas Fogarty Winery—a little more than half an hour drive—for their pinot noir and gewürztraminer), beaches to walk on, Pillar Point Harbor to visit, reading to do in one of the lounge chairs just a few yards from the crashing waves, a health club to explore and art and antiques to consider. Depending on when you go, Half Moon Bay also has a number of festivals that appeal to a wide range of interests.
    So is there a downside to taking a couple of days and nights and driving a few hours southwest? Not that I could tell. We spotted a number of hotels and inns that are admittedly more reasonable than the Ritz, so if you are making a week of it or taking the whole family they are worth looking into. Not many are on the ocean, but then again, the ocean is never far away. In 48 hours you barely touch on the restaurants that fill the town. Ask a local, or someone at the hotel, and you’ll suddenly have two or three more names to add to your list.
    It has always been my opinion that a successful trip—lengthy or just a few days—is one where you leave already planning your return. And such it is with this little stretch of timeless, beautiful and charming California coastline.

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