LUNCH AND DINNER IN LONG BEACH

In between being on the Queen Mary and the gondola ride, we had lunch at Buster's Beach House and dinner at Gladstone's.

Barb and I found Buster's Beach House at a small shopping center located at 168 Marina Drive. My palate was interesting in doing a day of seafood. The hype of the restaurant is the view, which is great as long as the food is as good. It was. We started with a coconut crusted fried shrimp appetizer. Barb had the ahi tuna while I had halibut with plum sauce over coconut jasmine rice. Hmmmm...is that Eunice trying to take a bite? For dessert we shared this outrageous Fruit Fantasia: sweet flatbread (in the shape of a surfboard)smothered with a tropical mango glaze topped with exotic fresh fruits and berries, toasted coconut and almond streusel.

Gladstone's locale was at the Pine Avenue Pier, an area of food and entertainment, where you can view the Queen Mary across the way. Gladstone's has both indoor and outdoor dining. A sushi bar and entertainment are indoors. The outside area was especially set up for the cooler evening. There was one center table that had burning rocks in the middle. Heat lamps were fixed near each table around it, which accounts for why my photos came out with a red tone.

When it comes to sake, there's nothing I like more than a carafe of Gekkeikan Black and Gold. If you remember from my trip to Folsom, I visited the company and did a tasting. It was paired with a 3 Amigos Roll of salmon, tuna, yellowtail wrapped and covered in tempura flakes, topped with spicy mayo and papaya mango salsa.

We then got sample their ahi tuna, mahi mahi, and a dungenese crab. You can't get more local on crab. I love it because it's the least salty while having the most meat

Make room for dessert as we had the Mile High Chocolate Cake. Now that was decadent! Couldn't take the leftovers to go so we shared it with people from another table.