Veranda at Rancho Bernardo Inn has retooled itself to be the new hot spot for casual drinks after work or any time the mood strikes for gourmet appetizers.
With a new bar lounge menu and completely remodeled dining areas, the renamed Veranda Fireside Lounge & Restaurant was revealed last week.
The new Veranda Fireside Lounge & Restaurant features hearth-side dining with the addition of indoor and outdoor fireside lounges and a firepit on the patio. Everything is new — from the arbor system outside to all the furniture and the indoor bar — except the sweeping golf course view the restaurant already overlooks.
The changes are all to foster a new lounge-like feel to the restaurant, which first opened in the early 1980s at the RB Inn, said the resort’s general manager John Gates.
“We quickly realized if a person wanted to have a drink or appetizer after work or after golf…we didn’t have that venue, that more casual, quicker bite,” Gates said, noting North County doesn’t have many venues where people can drop in for a relaxed outdoor dining experience.
A new bar lounge menu includes creative cocktails using herbs grown in an on-site garden, such as the lavender cucumber mojito, raspberry lavender margarita, citrus lavender martini. The pomegranate sangria ties into the restaurant’s Spanish Mediterranean architecture and theme.
Additionally, the goal of the renovation and renaming was to bring in additional diners to Veranda.
“We wanted to provide that place for a quick cocktail, appetizer for locals to come to hang out, but…it’s that new-to-North County crowd that we wanted to have a chance to have come and discover the Inn,” said Melinda Speck, corporate director of marketing for the family-owned JC Resorts, which owns the RB Inn.
Every Friday and Saturday, Veranda will feature live music with a Spanish guitarist. On Friday nights, Veranda plans to feature a Taste of San Sebastian night that will include drink specials and an all-you-can-eat Spanish-Mediterranean buffet.
The bar lounge menu also features small plates that fuse Mediterranean and California cuisine. There are the grilled mahi fish tacos ($9) with accompaniments including mango salsa and taro chips. The trio of beef wagyu sliders ($12) features red onion marmalade and bleu cheese fondue. Other appetizers include marinated olives ($8), chilled oysters ($12), and crispy fried tiger shrimp and calamari ($11).
Each dish was crafted by the resort’s culinary team — which crosses over with the RB Inn’s other restaurant El Bizcocho — using locally sourced ingredients. New talents have been brought in to Veranda like Ryan Grant, the new Chef du Cuisine in El Bizcocho, and pastry chef Margaret Nolan.
The outdoor lounge seats approximately 50 people, and the indoor dining area has approximately 110 seats.
The changes to Veranda, which cost $400,000, are part of a $1.3 million RB Inn renovation that began last fall, Gates said. The resort’s project includes golf course renovations and the addition of Café Granada, a pastry bar. Planning for the renovations to Veranda took over six months, with construction taking over six weeks, which included the time to import flooring from Italy.
