Caruso’s Captivates the Miramar Coast

Even if Caruso’s relied on a run-of-the-mill cook to push out burgers and pizza, the Rosewood Miramar resort’s flagship restaurant would enjoy a tremendous advantage over most other eateries on Earth. Its open-air dining room sits a staircase above Miramar Beach, where surfers ride a peeling point break, the Channel Islands bask in the mauve glow of sunset, and oil rigs twinkle like crystal ships when night descends. Upon opening in March, Caruso’s quickly jumped into the running for most beautiful place to eat on the planet — even shoe leather might taste divine with such distractions. 

Of course, hailing from the epicurean expanse of modern Los Angeles, developer Rick Caruso did not cut corners in hiring Chef Massimo Falsini, a Roman whose résumé reads like a luxurist’s bucket list. He started at Harry’s Bar in Rome, helping them nab their Michelin star, before working at top resorts in Abu Dhabi, Sicily, Orlando, Hawai‘i, Florida, and, most recently, Napa Valley.

No surprise, then, that his food is pretty enough to compete with the views and tasty enough to make you forget them altogether. After my wife and I received our cocktails — I ordered the namesake Miramar, and she eventually ordered two of the Memories of Baja tequila drink — our meal began with a subtle bang in the form of an amuse-bouche with pickled cauliflower, caviar, and crème fraîche, its sour-salt-smoothness all becoming one.