Bel-Air Bay Club
Good friends Tania and Paul were recently married at the Bel-Air Bay Club in Santa Monica, CA. Their wedding was fabulous and absolutely perfect for them – nice weather, gorgeous venue, delicious food, and great times. We hadn’t done any research about the location prior to the wedding other than looking up its location. Being a golfer, I had assumed that the Bel-Air Bay Club was a golf club but as we drove into the venue, I realized that that was not the case and had to do some quick research after the wedding to find out more about the venue. The Bel-Air Bay Club, conceived by Alphonzo Bell and built during 1927 and 1928, is comprised of two main building facilities that sit on 14 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Bel-Air Bay Club is, to this day, known as “the paddle tennis club,” having spawned several national champion players. In its prime the Club was such a center of social activity during the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s that many celebrities and prominent citizens frequented Club functions. Today, it is a popular destination for family and social gatherings as well as paddle tennis, volleyball, beach activities and Bridge.
The wedding ceremony and reception were held at the upper facilities of the Bel-Air Bay Club. We got there just a few minutes before the scheduled start time on the invitation. Thank goodness things were running a little late otherwise we would have been late since some of us still had to finish getting dressed! Anyhow, once we were ready we headed around to the grassy lawn are for the ceremony where we got to look out towards the Pacific Ocean. It had been a warm day in the L.A. area so it was still a little muggy but thankfully there was a mild breeze and we didn’t have to do too much moving around to cause us to sweat too much while awaiting and during the ceremony.
After the gorgeous wedding ceremony, we were all ushered back around the building to the patio area for a cocktail hour. Fortunately we were able to snag a small table and get in line early for some drinks as there was just one bar with a lone bartender. We were then served some delectable hors d’oeuvres.
- Duck Samosa in a golden pastry
- Lump Blue Crab Cake with mango-avocado salsa
- Bruschetta with prosciutto and romano cheese with lemon truffle vinaigrette
- Mini Truffle Cheese Sandwich with roasted tomato soup
- Lamb Lollypop with apple mint chutney
- Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio with red onion confit and lemon-grain cognac cream
- Lobster BLT with applewood bacon, heirloom tomatoes and hydro watercress
All of the hors d’oeuvres had great presentation and would have received maximal Iron Chef plating scores from me. I think the only dish that I had an issue with was the mini grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. The little sandwich was easy to take out of the shot glass and eat, but the roasted tomato soup was pretty thick so it was difficult to get to, even with the shot glass fully inverted!
Once cocktail hour was over, we were ushered into the main dining area for the dinner and dancing part of the evening. Good thing we didn’t gorge on the hors d’oeuvres since for dinner we still had a few dishes coming:
- Crab Martini – avocado soup, wild arugula, grapefuit, and a miso-sake dressing
- Wild Arugula Salad – roasted yellow and red beets, baby tomatoes, goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette
- Miso Soy Marinated Hawaiian Onaga – parsnip purée, radish cucumber salad, pea shoots and miso soy vinaigrette
- Grilled Center Cut Beef Filet Mignon – Yukon potatoes, parsnip, huckleberries and red onion confit
- Tahitian Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée – baked Tahitian vanilla bean custard with locally grown berries and fragrant mint
Being that we were at a wedding all the dishes didn’t come all at once and were well spaced out so we had time to digest each dish. Like the hors d’oeuvres, all dishes had great presentation. The crab martini was the only dish which I had some issues with. Don’t get me wrong, the dish looked really nice and there was a very generous piece of crab (Dungeoness?), but it was a little hard to eat altogether since the crab chunk was atop layers of arugula and the dressing was at the bottom of the martini glass. We realized we had to cut apart the crab and mix everything up before being able to fully enjoy the components altogether. Other than that, the only thing we thought could be a little better was the fish which was a little overdone. But being that the Club had to prepare food for at least one hundred or so guests and we were probably one of the last tables to be served I just attribute it to being under the heat lamp a little longer.
I haven’t emailed the bride and groom to find out where all the desserts came from, i.e. their wedding cakes and dessert table treats, but I’m assuming the cake and dessert table items were not from the Bel-Air Bay Club. That being said, I can’t really say that our post-meal sliders and milkshakes were made by Bel-Air Bay Club either, but we were served them there and so I’m guessing that the Club made them (even if they didn’t they are worthy of a mention but so were the other sweet treats):
- Mini Kobe Beef Slider – sriracha aioli, caramelized onions and soft slider bun
- Milkshake Shot – vanilla, strawberry or chocolate varieties rimmed with crystal sugar and strawberries
After a filling dinner, some dancing, the cake cutting, and some mass pandemonium trying to get some sweet treats from the dessert table spread, the sliders and milkshake did hit the spot, especially for folks like me that missed out on some of the goodies from the dessert table!
Overall, we were impressed with all the hor d’oeuvres and meal selections, and all the yummy desserts at the Bel-Air Bay Club. As you can tell, we really had to nitpick to find issues with the food that was served. All the food provided by the Bel-Air Bay Club looked really yummy and was delicious, and definitely helped to make Tania and Paul’s wedding a great one.
Bel-Air Bay Club
16801 Pacific Coast Hwy
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
(310) 230-4700
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