Marine Room hopes to attract younger guests with a luxury lounge serving caviar, carpaccio and champagne

The Marine Room, which is temporarily closed for renovations, will return next week with something extra: a new luxury lounge experience aimed at younger diners.

In addition to the regular dinner service offered at the La Jolla Shores beachfront restaurant since 1941, the Marine Room is launching a lavish new concept on October 5 called the Lounge at the Marine Room. Located at the foot of the lobby stairs, the new lounge will offer its own upscale small plate menu, pricey specialty cocktails, and a food and drink order of at least $100 per person during a maximum visit of two. hours.

Michael O’Donohue, general manager of the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, said the new lounge will showcase the culinary skills of new executive chef Mike Minor, who took over the kitchen in April following the departure of chef Bernard Guillas, who resigned. in March after 27 years.

Minor spent 30 years in Las Vegas, starting as a sous chef at a restaurant company in 1991 and working his way up to executive chef at the upscale Border Grill restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Resort for 13 years. Along the way, he has racked up numerous regional and national awards. But he always dreamed of moving to San Diego and was hired last spring to lead the club’s culinary operations, which include the 160-seat Marine Room, the 200-seat Shores Restaurant, the 100-seat Club Dining Room reserved to members and the club’s banquet program.

“The Marine Room is an 81-year-old restaurant with classic appeal and historic charm that our customers love,” O’Donohue said in a statement. “We have an executive chef and culinary team who have the talent and ideas to evolve our offerings and expand our audience. The lounge is designed to attract a younger clientele who enjoy our high-end cuisine, fine wines and well-crafted cocktails, but enjoy a relaxed atmosphere.

Minor’s new eight-course menu at the Marine Room lounge includes Golden Tartare, a $38 dish that features raw tenderloin steak on a baguette with bone marrow butter, black truffle and gold leaf , and the $44 Surf and Turf, with Hokkaido scallops, kurobuta pork belly, caviar jam and whiskey bacon. There’s also a flight of caviar with champagne pairings and dry-aged bluefin tuna carpaccio.

Beef tartare with black truffle and edible gold leaf on a baguette at the Lounge at the Marine Room, opening October 5 in La Jolla.

(Courtesy of Marine Room Lounge)

The Lounge’s cocktail menu includes the $35 Whistle Pig Wagyu Old Fashioned served with a steaming bubble on top and the $44 Deconstructed Margarita, made with Avion Reserve Extra Anejo tequila. A wine service by the glass and by the bottle will also be available. The restaurant’s dress code – nice jeans are acceptable, but no t-shirts, shorts, caps, flip flops or casual beachwear – will also be enforced in the lounge.

“The lounge gives us a stage from which to showcase an all-new menu presented in an engaging, enticing and creative way,” Minor said. “It’s all about luxury and indulgence in a refined atmosphere but with a more relaxed vibe than diners have experienced in the past.”

The hours of service in the new lounge will be from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Customers must deposit $100 when reserving a two-hour restaurant seat at 2000 Spindrift Drive, La Jolla. For details, call (858) 459-7222 or marineroom.com/salon.