A CNN crew is here taping a travel piece. The crowd is jovial, chatty, turned on by the spectacle of all this. To be honest, it looks like a hillbilly wedding - all ages, all types, swirly hair, the whiff of good ganja.įront and center are the motorcyclists and their heaving machines, crackling hot and panting at the curb like horses. We roll in looking like a Nick Nolte booking photo, all windblown and reddened from our ride in the Jeep. It tastes like the wave that just broke your board. On a sunny summer weekend, Neptune’s Net is my favorite place on the planet. Yet the most-beloved hangout - to my mind the reason Malibu exists at all - is a landmark roadhouse on the outskirts that is equal parts good grub and great floor show. I’ll place Malibu Farm, the organic cafe on the pier, as one of my favorite lunch spots. There are all sorts of better places to eat up here: Nobu if you want to be seen, and Geoffrey’s if you want to propose. Once in a while, you duck into Mickey D’s just because. The lesson? Malibu is much like anywhere else.
#NEPTUNES MALIBU DRIVER#
We make do with the young woman in the gleaming new Porsche who blows kisses to the driver for letting her in, then cuts sharply into the McDonald’s lot for lunch. This day, there are no celebrities in sight. Throw a stone in Malibu, you’ll hit a Gosling. Up here, half the dudes resemble Gosling. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.And I think another celeb, Ryan Gosling, once cut me off in traffic near the pier, but I can’t be sure. Malibu Seafood, 25653 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, (310) 456-3430., Neptune's Net, 42505 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, (310) 457-3095.Īdvertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. But Malibu Seafood will still do the trick, unless you just want to submerge your winter doldrums in an ocean view and copious amounts of fizzy alcohol, in which case you're not really going for the chowder anyway. Sadly, in both cases, the memory of creamy chow from a sunset in July beats out the November reality. In the end though, the extra degree of refinement at Malibu Seafood does seem to win out, as the bites at Neptune's simply don't finish as well, leaving something to be desired after your swallow. The chowder itself is a little clunkier, a good bit thicker, and tastes a tad more of butter (never a bad thing). Ecotainers and oyster crackers are replaced with Styrofoam and saltines (though bread bowls are available there too), the deep fryer is a much more popular kitchen device, and there is, of course, beer. GalutenĪt Neptune's Net, where you would only assume to find professors of subjects like motorcycle maintenance, surfboard waxing and hydroponic marijuana cultivation, things are slightly different. The biggest knock is the lack of oyster meat, which wouldn't be so pronounced if every once in a while you didn't happen upon a big chunk of tender bivalve that made every other bite pale in comparison. The chowder arrives in a biodegradable “ ecotainer” (or a bread bowl, if desired) with packs of oyster crackers, and is mild, but soothing, with a lot of the flavor coming courtesy of the commingling earthy vegetables.
Malibu Seafood is closer and more expensive, though it probably has a better quality of seafood and a clientele that could all pass for college professors.
#NEPTUNES MALIBU FULL#
So while there's no doubt that the chowders at Neptune's Net and Malibu Seafood are a welcome sight after a face full of sand and lungs full of salt water, today we examine not just how they stack up against each other, but also how they do against the romanticized summer versions of themselves. While there is much appreciation for the bowls at spots like Water Grill, there's something about being able to view water while you eat the chowder, even if nothing you are eating actually came from the quadrant of ocean you're looking at. It will also look great from a wooden outdoor table as you nestle up to a bowl of New England clam chowder. No matter how cold it gets in Los Angeles, the beaches will continue to look beautiful from outside your car window (unless you're of the wet-suit-and-surfboard demographic).
Summer is over (it is, isn't it?), but that's no reason to stop jumping on the PCH and heading toward Malibu.
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