I was very excited to recently be invited to attend the debut of the Five Crowns summer menu! Five Crowns is an amazing restaurant in Corona Del Mar that is a part of the Lawry’s restaurant group. My husband and I have always enjoyed frequenting this restaurant and are even members of the Lawry’s VIP Rewards program where we dine and accrue points to use at all Lawry’s destinations…more about that later.:) Five Crowns is located in Corona Del Mar at 3801 East Coast Hwy and has been a staple of the city for 50 years this past spring!
Five Crowns looks like an adorable home from the outside and has a gorgeous outdoor patio where private events can be held as well as well as outdoor seating. On this particular evening we had the opportunity to dine outside on the back patio in which there was a lovely breeze, gorgeous décor and even fire pits to warm up the atmosphere. For starters there were tray passed appetizers and a gorgeous cheese and charcuterie spread (one of my personal favorites!!) Paired with these items were Maraschino cocktails and 2 selections of wine, a chardonnay and a pinot noir. 🙂
To start our meal pairing, for course one; we were served a delicious cocktail called the Garden of Eden Gimlet which was delicately prepared by head bartender, Amber Billiard. This cocktail was prepared with cucumber vodka, lavender honey syrup, lime, fresh picked lavender from the Five Crowns garden, and absinthe with a floating cucumber. This drink was perfect & I could easily see myself sucking down quite a few of these on a warm summer day!
This first cocktail was paired nicely with our Watermelon Gazpacho and Lemon sorbet as our first course. This soup was freshly prepared and just right for the warm weather. I love a cold tomato soup…especially on a hot summer day!
Next, we were served a lovely 2012 919 – Deux Blancs – El Dorado. This glass of wine was fresh and crisp and the acidity of this wine paired quite nicely with our next dish.
Our second dish was the Stone Fruit Salad which was prepared with grilled summer squash, burrata cheese, pesto, arugula, and almonds. This was quite tasty and prepped our palate for the next dish.
For our third course, the wine selection was a 2013 Cade, Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley. Sauvignon Blancs are always light and refreshing and this one was exceptional! This one was a clone of Sauvignon Blanc that was blended with a hint of viognier.
To pair with this lovely wine, my most favorite dish of the whole event was served next. This dish was the Petrale Sole “Drunkyard Style” which was a puff pastry jam packed with sole, crab, spinach, and Newburg Sauce. I look forward to ordering this dish next time I visit Five Crowns as I was still daydreaming about it the next day!
Our fourth wine selection was a bold red wine, a 2012 Neyers Mourvedre from Rossi Ranch in Sonoma Valley. I had never had this wine before and it presented quite a beautiful bouquet of flavor in my mouth. It paired perfectly with our next dish.
To go with our red wine we were served a Skirt Steak and Ranch Pork Rib Eye as can be pictured below and as a non-pork eater; I had the opportunity to try the salmon with my skirt steak.(second photo) I fell in love with the salmon! There was such amazing flavor. I also loved the skirt steak which was very flavorful and was cooked to a perfect medium rare temperature, which is my favorite!
To finish off our lovely outdoor summer meal, we were served a glass of MV Mirabelle, Brut Rose from California. I am not usually a big Rose drinker, but this next glass of wine went very nicely with dessert.
For dessert, we were served a dish called Summer Plum Pavlova which was prepared with macerated plums and meringue! This was a very light dish, but it was full of flavor. It was a perfect way to end our meal and not walk away feeling too full.
While enjoying our lovely dinner, we had the opportunity to listen to a talented violinist by the name of Andrew Hull. He was quite spectacular and his music seemed to evoke a lot of emotion from myself, as well as the rest of our dinner party.
After dinner we made our way up to an amazing area that I had never known existed on the top level of Five Crowns….It was a special Speakeasy in which you need a password to get in. The speakeasy is only open on certain days during specific hours and they serve some pretty amazing cocktails up there, in addition to traditionally prepared absinthe as can be seen in the photo below. You are given a glass of absinthe with a sugar cube and the water is slowly added to the absinthe to melt the sugar cube. I must say this was an awesome experience!
Have you been to Five Crowns? If not, what are you waiting for? Try and visit sometime soon this summer to take advantage of all of these new delicious offerings. Also, make sure to read about their amazing VIP program to start accruing points when you dine.
To subscribe to my blog to get weekly deals like these and other dynamic ways to save and to live champagne dreams on a beer budget, simply scroll down & enter your email address where it says to follow blog via email. You will then receive an email asking you to confirm subscription. Simply confirm subscription and you will be subscribed. 🙂 Thank you for your time and feel free to spread the word to others that want to learn all different kinds of ways to save money on food, travel, shopping, and products:) Please feel free to like my facebook page, Dani’s Decadent Deals as well to get daily deals everyday for everything from clothing, travel, restaurants, activities, adult events and kids’ events. 🙂 Have fun saving!!!
Dani's Decadent Deals 
That steak and salmon are CALLING TO ME!!
Love it! That was my fave too!