Lookout Bar and Grill in Channel Island Harbor

Yesterday we took a lovely ride up Highway 1 without any destination in mind except to drive along the coast. By the time we got to Oxnard (actually Channel Island Harbor) we were ready to eat. In my quest to sit at the ocean, we first tried a place called the Lobster House and it is no longer in business, at least that is the way it looked to us. Unfortunately, many stores in the harbor area that are near the ocean are closed, a sign of our times. We drove down the road and went into various areas where there were shops and restaurants and finally found one that had two places that sounded interesting to us. One was an Italian restaurant and the other an English pub. I chose the English pub which we had to enter by walking up a flight of steps. It is called the Lookout Bar and Grill at 2800 South harbor Blvd. in Oxnard. http://thelookoutchannelislands.com/

The restaurant/bar has large windows so we could sit inside and still feel like we were close to the ocean. Why did we choose to eat inside on a beautiful hot day? Although it was 97 when we left our apartment in Studio City, it was sunny but very cool at 64 near the ocean. Too cool for these valley women to sit outside when dressed for the heat. This is truly an English Pub. In fact, they even have the Union Jack newspaper there. The menu had a number of English items as well as American items on the menu. There were fish and chips, bangers and mash, cheese and onion pastie and cottage pie, which sounded to me like my mother’s shepherd’s pie, to name a few. BK chose chicken and mushroom pie. For sides she ordered clam chowder and baked beans. The soup was very good but couldn’t compare to Delmonico’s; however the price for food was considerably less expensive although not cheap. The pie wasn’t like any pot pie we would think of. It was actually in a large filo type pastry shell exactly like my pastie only larger. Inside was a creamy sauce with chicken and mushrooms. BK thought it was very tasty and she loved it. The beans were Heinz beans so they were nothing special.

I wanted something I had never had before so I had the Cornish pastie. This had the same shell which was flaky and very tender. The filling was ground beef, onions, peas, carrots, potatoes which must have been chopped very small because I didn’t see them. There was no sauce but it had some very nice seasoning. I loved it more than I thought I would. I usually don’t care for food in pastry shells but this was wonderful. The sides I picked were coleslaw, the mayonnaise, creamy type which I like, and peas which were the frozen kind with no sauce or seasoning which I also like. I belonged to the clean plate club after this lunch. I have put pictures of both lunches on Facebook. The service was good after they saw we hadn’t been waited on. Our waiter was attentive and we got refills on our drinks in an appropriate time. I would return there when I am in the neighborhood

As we began our journey home, we drove past a festival in Port Hueneme and there was a lot of traffic so everyone was going slowly. That was good because a very large goose decided to cross the street right in front of us. Everyone stopped to let the goose go. BK put pictures on Facebook. As we drove up the coast (or maybe down), we stopped along the way to watch some windsurfing. The waves were quite high and it looked like a lot of fun – for someone else, not me. We decided to take a different road back over the hills to the Valley – Highway 23. Although this was a beautiful, very curvy ride that reminded us of driving through the mountains in Colorado, I wouldn’t take it again because it took us an hour. It is quite a bit longer than going over Malibu Canyon probably because of the switchback driving. Even the 101 wasn’t crowded. This was a wonderful ending to a beautiful day.