March 30, 2004

St. Ives

A place in England with palm trees and sandy beaches? Get out!

It does exist, and you've heard of it. It's St. Ives. You know, that place where that narrator was going when he met a man with seven wives carrying seven sacks containing seven cats each having seven kits.

It's in the southwest corner of England, the area known as Cornwall. Penzance, which you've also heard of due to the pirates, is nearby. St. Ives reminds me of a hilly La Conner; a quaint artist community on the water. It's also a surfing destination, or so I hear. It wasn't surfing (nor sunning) season while I was there.

A and I took the bus from London to St. Ives because the bus fare was only 9 pounds for an 8 hours bus journey; great value per mile. A knew of a restaurant right on the beach that she'd been to last year. She wasn't sure of the name, but we searched on the Internet, found the place and made reservations for Friday night dinner. Upon arrival, we checked into our B&B (the Monterey) then went strolling for a couple hours. We could see the restaurant from anywhere up on the hill as it was a lone building on the beach. After working up an appetite, we headed toward the restaurant with great expectations. When we were about half a mile away, we grew suspicious as we could see no light coming from the place and no people entering or exiting. On close inspection, we found it closed for evening meals until May. Then where were our reservations? I hadn't bothered to bring the name of the restaurant since A knew the exact location. Oops.

A being the ever-efficient traveler had the name in her notes; Al Fresco. We looked at each other in horror. Our stroll had taken us past the deserted establishment several times and A had commented on the lack of customers. Because it was a Michelin recommended spot, we decided to give it a try. It was a bit of a fiasco. Both of us ordered a ceasar salad ' to start. When they arrived our eyes grew wide. The 'ceasar' salad consisted of iceberg lettuce ringed with mayonnaise and snow peas garnished with chives and thin slices of crispy sweet potato. Ceasar who?! And that was the best part of the meal. Strike Al Fresco from the Michelin Guide.