Review: La Costanera

8150 Cabrillo Highway
Montara Beach, CA 94037
(650) 728-1600
lacostanerarestaurant.com

Description
Located in Montara, just outside Half Moon Bay, tranquil, airy, and Michelin-rated La Costanera serves up contemporary Peruvian cuisine and unobstructed views of moody Pacific coast. Inside, the dining room is open and elegant, with floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, a rocky outcrop looms keeps watch over the sleek deck (modern tiled floor, heat lamps, fire pits? check, check, and check!), which runs right up to the beach.

The large and varied menu is chock-full of bright, tangy sauces and Peruvian specialties from seafood-laden ceviches to causa, a layered mashed-potato dish. Creative empanadas, small plates, and pisco cocktails also abound (large plates from $18).

Come early for a stroll down the mile-long beach, then make happy hour (Sunday-Friday 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.) with sunset views. And once the sky darkens, cozy up to the fire pit for some good old-fashioned stargazing.

Note that La Costanera is closed on Mondays.

Read about other great views in the Bay Area.

Directions
Take BART to the Daly City station and transfer to SamTrans bus number 110. At the Linda Mar stop, transfer to SamTrans bus 294 and get off at 2nd Street. (Visit samtrans.com for more information.)

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A twenty-something Colorado native, Alison Kjeldgaard is an aspiring editor, avid reader, and obsessed tango dancer. She lived in Los Angeles for four years where she enjoyed running and lounging on the beach. She graduated in 2009 from Occidental College with two journalism internships under her belt, an English Literature degree, and a national economic crisis. Despite this, Alison has paid the bills working odd jobs and taking every chance she can to travel. So far, she has been to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Austria, Costa Rica, and Argentina. Alison recently moved to San Francisco from Denver, and is a freelance writer with a love of hiking, biking, caving and gold panning. Check out her magazine at www.artanimalmag.com.