Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Au revoir to noir

It's all Café La Rue now, but a fitting tribute to Paris

Mussels — hate to disturb the bowl
Mussels — hate to disturb the bowl
Place

La Valencia Hotel

1132 Prospect Street, San Diego

Place

Café La Rue

1132 Prospect Street, La Jolla, CA

I went here before the Paris massacre. Now I’m glad I did. Because it makes you remember what it is you love about the French. Like, Paris, and the café life they gave the world.

Actually I was doing a wander along Prospect, among its displays of Rolls Royces, Persian carpets, spas, then the Grand Old Lady of La Jolla herself: La Valencia.

What the heck. Head in through the garden terrace and the main entrance, just to see the ocean view. Then I notice a clump of well-dressed gents going through a door to the Whaling Bar. Raymond Chandler’s hangout. Chandler? The Big Sleep. The Long Goodbye. Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. Farewell, My Lovely. That guy invented noir.

I follow them in. Except, no sign of whales on the walls. And bigger than I remember. Brighter.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“It’s all Café La Rue now,” says this bright gal, Lisa.

I suddenly wonder: “Do you have a happy hour?” Because, to eat here, cool.

“Oh, yes,” she says. “Four to seven every day; like, now. Half off all appetizers.”

“And drinks?”

Lisa, the manager

“Half off beer and wine. Five-dollar house-poured cocktails, seven-dollar martinis.”

Guys ahead land like a wing of pelicans on bar stools, talking up the day’s business. I take the spare. The bar is U-shaped. Cream walls, dark wood tables, orange-shaded candles, long drapes at the windows, red umbrellas peeping through from a little terrace outside, paintings of Paris scenes with parks, red-and-white-striped umbrellas. And looking over the whole scene from his pedestal, big ceramic Dalmatian dawg.

All very nice, but, well, not the Whaling Bar. Oh. I get it. They’ve bust through the wall and doubled the size, brought in that café they had next door.

“Now it’s all Café La Rue,” says the barkeep.

Man, I bet Raymond’s turning in his grave at that one. He wrote his gut-twisting thriller Playback, which ends up here, in this bar, in the town of Esmeralda. (Read: La Jolla). The Whaling Bar was a shrine to, like, all noir writing, and specially him, the Pa of Noir.

The menu is expensive, of course. But now I’m checking the “Starters” column, and, cut it in half and we have ourselves some traction. They lead with “fromages,” local artisan cheeses with cranberry crostini, for $18. So, $9. Charcuterie ($21 = $10.50) has a bunch of Angel Salumi meats, mustard, pickled veggies. Combo of the two is $24 ($12).

But it gets more interesting with the mussels ($12 = $6) in butter, tomato, parsley, and sherry with crostini. And then, “Brussels La Rue” ($10 = $5). That’s a good price, and they come with Kalamata olives, pepperoncini, and parmesan.

Plus, so much. Black truffle chicken pâté with toast and jam for $14 (= $7). Lobster corn dogs with mustard sauce ($12 = $6). Then, three pizza-type flatbreads: tomato artichoke ($11 = $5.50), chicken sausage with caramelized onions and roasted apples ($12 = $6), and squash and prosciutto with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds ($14 = $7).

There’s more, but I’ve already decided. Brussels and mussels. That’s 11 Washingtons, and, let’s see...um zu trinken? (as this German girlfriend of mine — way before Carla — always said in this situation). I play it safe and get a Budweiser for $2.50. When the guy pours it into the tall glass, it looks just as good as a $20 Belgian or a Yellowtail.

And, really, when the sprouts come, I can’t believe I’m only paying $6. They arrive sizzling in a little iron frypan bulging with not just sprouts, but tons of dark matter — olives? Onions? Cheese? Whatever, a beautiful mess. More to the point, the combo has disguised that boiled, steamy yuck taste brussels sprouts usually deliver, yet they’re still recognizably cabbage’s baby cousins.

Brussels sprouts and mix in iron skillet. For five bucks.

The mussels? They arrive in a beautiful sky-blue, giant mussel-shell-shaped bowl with maybe a dozen black mussels in a bed of cioppino, plus halved red and yellow mini-tomatoes, and I can see a little salmon-colored lake of liquids below, like a crater lake, for dipping. A couple of large crostini breads wall up the sides, plus a latticework of giant sprouts put art on the top. You hate to disturb a thing.

When I do, I realize the one thing we’re lacking is actual bread. You need it to get down and soak up some of those juices. Crostini? Uh, no. I stop a waiter, William, on his way to the servery. “Could I get some actual bread?”

He goes. He asks. This kitchen doesn’t have any. “Don’t worry,” he says, and disappears out from the bar. Comes back five minutes later with half a baguette, cut up. “Other kitchen,” he says.

And it does make all the difference.

“Everything okay?” says Lisa. Turns out she’s the manager.

“Double William’s pay,” I say. “And why did you kill the Whaling Bar?”

“I think they just thought it was time,” she says. “And now we have twice the space.”

She tells me all about the “pink lady,” as they call this 90-year-old pile. About the architect, Reginald Johnson, local, who loved Spanish architecture; about Wing Howard, the artist who painted these Parisian scenes back in the 1930s; and of course about Raymond Chandler. Where he sat, held court, drank, and drank.

But not just him. Chandler was probably first hauled in here by his buddy Gregory Peck, who founded the La Jolla Playhouse. Soon, this was the getaway place for Hollywood: like, Peck’s buddies Charlton Heston, Jennifer Jones, Lorne Green, David Niven, lots of others. If these walls could talk...

So, now this horror in Paris. But in the City of Love? I think of Casablanca. Bogart to Bergman: “We’ll always have Paris.”


The Place: Café La Rue, 1132 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858-454-0771

Happy Hour Prices: Cheese plate with cranberry crostini, $9; charcuterie plate, $10.50; cheese/charcuterie combo plate, $12; mussels with crostini, $6; Brussels La Rue (sizzling sprouts with olives, onions, cheese, pepperoncini), $5; black truffle chicken pâté with toast, jam, $7; lobster corn dogs, $6; tomato artichoke flatbread, $5.50; chicken sausage flatbread with roasted apples, $6; squash and prosciutto flatbread with goat cheese, pomegranate, $7

Happy Hour: 4–7 p.m., daily

Bus: 30

Nearest bus stop: Silverado at Herschel

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tiny Home Central isn’t solving the San Diego housing crisis

But it does hope to help fill in the gaps
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
Mussels — hate to disturb the bowl
Mussels — hate to disturb the bowl
Place

La Valencia Hotel

1132 Prospect Street, San Diego

Place

Café La Rue

1132 Prospect Street, La Jolla, CA

I went here before the Paris massacre. Now I’m glad I did. Because it makes you remember what it is you love about the French. Like, Paris, and the café life they gave the world.

Actually I was doing a wander along Prospect, among its displays of Rolls Royces, Persian carpets, spas, then the Grand Old Lady of La Jolla herself: La Valencia.

What the heck. Head in through the garden terrace and the main entrance, just to see the ocean view. Then I notice a clump of well-dressed gents going through a door to the Whaling Bar. Raymond Chandler’s hangout. Chandler? The Big Sleep. The Long Goodbye. Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. Farewell, My Lovely. That guy invented noir.

I follow them in. Except, no sign of whales on the walls. And bigger than I remember. Brighter.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“It’s all Café La Rue now,” says this bright gal, Lisa.

I suddenly wonder: “Do you have a happy hour?” Because, to eat here, cool.

“Oh, yes,” she says. “Four to seven every day; like, now. Half off all appetizers.”

“And drinks?”

Lisa, the manager

“Half off beer and wine. Five-dollar house-poured cocktails, seven-dollar martinis.”

Guys ahead land like a wing of pelicans on bar stools, talking up the day’s business. I take the spare. The bar is U-shaped. Cream walls, dark wood tables, orange-shaded candles, long drapes at the windows, red umbrellas peeping through from a little terrace outside, paintings of Paris scenes with parks, red-and-white-striped umbrellas. And looking over the whole scene from his pedestal, big ceramic Dalmatian dawg.

All very nice, but, well, not the Whaling Bar. Oh. I get it. They’ve bust through the wall and doubled the size, brought in that café they had next door.

“Now it’s all Café La Rue,” says the barkeep.

Man, I bet Raymond’s turning in his grave at that one. He wrote his gut-twisting thriller Playback, which ends up here, in this bar, in the town of Esmeralda. (Read: La Jolla). The Whaling Bar was a shrine to, like, all noir writing, and specially him, the Pa of Noir.

The menu is expensive, of course. But now I’m checking the “Starters” column, and, cut it in half and we have ourselves some traction. They lead with “fromages,” local artisan cheeses with cranberry crostini, for $18. So, $9. Charcuterie ($21 = $10.50) has a bunch of Angel Salumi meats, mustard, pickled veggies. Combo of the two is $24 ($12).

But it gets more interesting with the mussels ($12 = $6) in butter, tomato, parsley, and sherry with crostini. And then, “Brussels La Rue” ($10 = $5). That’s a good price, and they come with Kalamata olives, pepperoncini, and parmesan.

Plus, so much. Black truffle chicken pâté with toast and jam for $14 (= $7). Lobster corn dogs with mustard sauce ($12 = $6). Then, three pizza-type flatbreads: tomato artichoke ($11 = $5.50), chicken sausage with caramelized onions and roasted apples ($12 = $6), and squash and prosciutto with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds ($14 = $7).

There’s more, but I’ve already decided. Brussels and mussels. That’s 11 Washingtons, and, let’s see...um zu trinken? (as this German girlfriend of mine — way before Carla — always said in this situation). I play it safe and get a Budweiser for $2.50. When the guy pours it into the tall glass, it looks just as good as a $20 Belgian or a Yellowtail.

And, really, when the sprouts come, I can’t believe I’m only paying $6. They arrive sizzling in a little iron frypan bulging with not just sprouts, but tons of dark matter — olives? Onions? Cheese? Whatever, a beautiful mess. More to the point, the combo has disguised that boiled, steamy yuck taste brussels sprouts usually deliver, yet they’re still recognizably cabbage’s baby cousins.

Brussels sprouts and mix in iron skillet. For five bucks.

The mussels? They arrive in a beautiful sky-blue, giant mussel-shell-shaped bowl with maybe a dozen black mussels in a bed of cioppino, plus halved red and yellow mini-tomatoes, and I can see a little salmon-colored lake of liquids below, like a crater lake, for dipping. A couple of large crostini breads wall up the sides, plus a latticework of giant sprouts put art on the top. You hate to disturb a thing.

When I do, I realize the one thing we’re lacking is actual bread. You need it to get down and soak up some of those juices. Crostini? Uh, no. I stop a waiter, William, on his way to the servery. “Could I get some actual bread?”

He goes. He asks. This kitchen doesn’t have any. “Don’t worry,” he says, and disappears out from the bar. Comes back five minutes later with half a baguette, cut up. “Other kitchen,” he says.

And it does make all the difference.

“Everything okay?” says Lisa. Turns out she’s the manager.

“Double William’s pay,” I say. “And why did you kill the Whaling Bar?”

“I think they just thought it was time,” she says. “And now we have twice the space.”

She tells me all about the “pink lady,” as they call this 90-year-old pile. About the architect, Reginald Johnson, local, who loved Spanish architecture; about Wing Howard, the artist who painted these Parisian scenes back in the 1930s; and of course about Raymond Chandler. Where he sat, held court, drank, and drank.

But not just him. Chandler was probably first hauled in here by his buddy Gregory Peck, who founded the La Jolla Playhouse. Soon, this was the getaway place for Hollywood: like, Peck’s buddies Charlton Heston, Jennifer Jones, Lorne Green, David Niven, lots of others. If these walls could talk...

So, now this horror in Paris. But in the City of Love? I think of Casablanca. Bogart to Bergman: “We’ll always have Paris.”


The Place: Café La Rue, 1132 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858-454-0771

Happy Hour Prices: Cheese plate with cranberry crostini, $9; charcuterie plate, $10.50; cheese/charcuterie combo plate, $12; mussels with crostini, $6; Brussels La Rue (sizzling sprouts with olives, onions, cheese, pepperoncini), $5; black truffle chicken pâté with toast, jam, $7; lobster corn dogs, $6; tomato artichoke flatbread, $5.50; chicken sausage flatbread with roasted apples, $6; squash and prosciutto flatbread with goat cheese, pomegranate, $7

Happy Hour: 4–7 p.m., daily

Bus: 30

Nearest bus stop: Silverado at Herschel

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Celebrate Holi, Borrego Springs Music Festival

Events March 23-March 27, 2024
Next Article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.