Big Sur Restaurants
Cielo Restaurant
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Like the resort, Ventana's "heaven" restaurant is a woodsy but extravagant place to dine alfresco at lunch or for a romantic dinner. The airy cedar interior is divided into two spaces: the lounge, where a wooden bar and cocktail tables look onto a roaring fire and through picturesque windows; and the dining room, which overlooks the mountains and/or the ocean. But in summer it's the outdoor patio, with its views of the ocean expanse and 50 miles of Big Sur coast, that's the coveted lunch spot. Unlike some costly restaurants in the area, a meal here is as gratifying as the surroundings, and much of the organically grown produce on the menu is harvested from their own Cielo gardens. Lunch offers sandwiches, burgers, and an array of gourmet salads, as well as main courses such as grilled Atlantic salmon; dinner includes stellar starters like a perfectly dressed Caesar salad and a well-balanced chanterelle-mushroom risotto, and main courses such as oak-grilled Kansas City steak au poivre, caramelized Maine Diver scallops in a red Thai curry-coconut milk broth, and summer vegetable risotto with English peas and summer squash.
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