For more than 6 decades, San Diego's most celebrated dining room has been this shorefront institution, perched within kissing distance of the waves that snuggle up to La Jolla Shores. But it wasn't until the 1994 arrival of Executive Chef Bernard Guillas of Brittany that the food finally lived up to its glass-fronted room with a view. A 2001 spruce-up did away with most of the dated decor, and today the Marine Room is the city's top "special occasion" destination. Guillas and Chef de Cuisine Ron Oliver work with local produce, but never hesitate to pursue unusual flavors from other corners of the globe. So, a favored entree includes barramundi, a delicate white fish from Australia, encrusted with a hazelnut fennel pollen, garnished with flowering chive and a lacy crisp of fried lotus root. Then there's the ingot of foie gras sitting atop paper-thin slices of duck breast--the buttery concoction is smartly cut with a garnish of young tomatillo. The vigilant service is charmingly deferential, yet never condescending.

The Marine Room ranks as one of San Diego's most expensive venues, but usually is filled to the gills on weekends; weekdays it's much easier to score a table, and the four-course tasting menu available Monday through Wednesday for $49 ($65 paired with wines) is an excellent value. Ideally, schedule your reservation a half-hour or so before sunset--this will give you a chance to enjoy the scampering sandpipers and fishing pelicans while the sand takes on a honeyed aura at dusk. If you can't get in at that magic hour, experience sundown by the bar--you'll still get to enjoy the parade of illuminated rollers throughout dinner.