Best of 2000: Best Deck Dining

Fletcher Cove Cafe
106 South Sierra Avenue,
Solana Beach
(858) 259-7866

Ulys Miller thought he was buying a restaurant with inside and outside dining. He got it half right. There's no inside. Keep your eyes peeled: Fletcher Cove Cafe has a little sign at the tiny entrance. Mosey down the passage, past the kitchen, and suddenly you're on a red-timber deck with tables, plants, giant palm tree, a big wall-size menu, and a full view out over the ocean. Ulys, a toolmaker from Connecticut, and his wife Leslie have run the place since they bought it "on impulse" last year. Best time: sunset. Best choices: rasta chicken salad (with romaine, jerk chicken, scallions, potatoes, and pineapple) for $5.50. All-day breakfast (two eggs, two bacon or sausage, potatoes, and toast) for $4.75. Quarter-pound "cove burgers" for $4.25, and best of all, fish and chips: Three pieces of fish, lots of fries, big pot of tartar sauce, and a proper bottle of Premium Malt Ale Fish'n Chips Vinegar, $5.50. A Budweiser ($2.25) or a soda ($1) will help you sight the elusive post-sunset green flashes. You may need help in translating some of Uly's Connecticutese. "What would float your boat?" means "What would you like?"