Restaurants in Malibu

While you relax on the oceanfront patio and await lunch—starting with appetizers such as skewered rosemary ahi tuna with olive tapenade ($11.95) or Navajo corncakes with black-bean chili, feta, avocado, and sour cream ($10.95)—you can marvel at the human zoo rushing by. Play "guess that person's age and social-security number," or belt out a friendly hello to a Matthew McConaughey lookalike as he jogs by unsurprisingly shirtless. Before long, the amiable, chilled-out staff will come bearing a heavy turkey bacon burger with arugula, red onion, and tomato ($13.55); or the veggie dagwood pile precariously high with zucchini, eggplant, roasted peppers, portobello mushrooms, mozzarella, and pesto on focaccia ($11.75).

La Cachette is an intimate bistro escape from the rollicking area of Santa Monica's hotel strip. While you wait to be seated on the huge outdoor patio, sink into the lounge-esque, relaxed-fit bar with a Chile Martini (chipotle vodka, ginger, cucumber, $13) or a bottle of Green Flash West Coast American IPA ($7). Once seated, feast upon a plate of Mongol-horde-friendly organic beef tartare ($14) or a tower of roasted organic beets with feta cheese, avocado, and tomato ($10). Recall your days quaffing sea spray in your Jet Boat with the taste of black mussels with shallots and thyme in a white-wine-and-spiced-saffron broth ($19), or recall the days spent land cruising on the versatile Jet Boat with dark-meat coq au vin with veal bacon ($18). Complement your meal and yourself with a bottle of Votre Sante Chardonnay ($38), among other liquid wonders.

The chefs at California Mediterranean Grill flavor Middle Eastern fare according to generations-old recipes the owners brought with them from Israel 26 years ago. After passing under crimson umbrellas into the café, patrons inhale the scent of thick laffa bread baking in a clay oven and hear the sizzle of juicy burgers and falafel balls frying atop grills. More than 14 salads fill plates with doctor-recommended amounts of vegetables, and kebabs culled from lean cuts of beef and garlic-marinated morsels of chicken supply bodies with healthy sources of vital proteins. For moderately sized meals, diners can thoughtfully share portions of tabouleh, hummus, baba ghanouj and other mezzes.

Operated by two friends with a lifetime of experience in the deli industry, Fromin's Delicatessen & Restaurant has conquered appetites with generously sized sandwiches, burgers, and California-tinged diner-style dinners for more than 30 years. The owners bring a wealth of life experiences to the table as they ply their culinary trade, with Maurice Solomon being a survivor of Nazi-occupied Belgium and Dennis Fromin being a fourth-generation deli operator. The longtime buddies staff the counter themselves, whipping up blintzes and omelets all day long, and layering towering sandwiches with chicken salad, hot pastrami, and corned beef. The pair's commitment to preparing traditional delicatessen fare runs deep. Dennis draws from decades of family tradition and Maurice proudly sports the name “Deli King” on his license plate and library card.

The Stand’s menu of chili dogs, burgers, and tuna melts evokes classic Americana images of diners and ball games. The eats may be casual, but the staff strives to give them modern style, earning a spot on Gayot's 2012 list of Top 10 LA Hot Dog Restaurants. Upon request, the staff will wrap burgers in whole-wheat buns or lettuce wraps instead of classic buns, and diners also have their choice of beef, turkey, or housemade veggie patties. Gourmet hot-dog and sausage toppings such as garlic mushrooms and corn salsa join traditional fixings such as mustard, sweet pickle relish, and tears from a recently defeated baseball team. To wash it all down, servers blend up 20-ounce chocolate and vanilla milkshakes and tap a rotating menu of draft beers, as well as root beer.

Opaque subdues sight in order to set other senses ablaze during a three-course dinner served in a fully darkened dining space. Guests arrive to a well-lit lounge area where they peruse and order from a diverse prix fixe menu devised by an illustrious local chef who engineers each dish to achieve the best in sight-free savoring, compiling interesting textures, rich tastes, and ingredients unlikely to shout "Marco Polo." The aphotic dining room then opens to a staff of blind or visually impaired servers who guides each diner to their seat in a refreshing reversal of roles, offering helpful suggestions and reassurance as guests adjust to their new and mystifying kinesthesia. Forks explore the eclectic textures of mixed green or heirloom-tomato-cucumber salads before meandering through savory dishes of garlic-topped filet mignon, roasted herb chicken, or sundried-tomato-pesto rigatoni. Seared ahi tuna steak dances a textural tango, lavishing tongues with a warm and smoky crust surrounding a cool, raw interior showered in sweet mango sauce, and a choice of desserts brings unlit evenings to a decadent end, as warm chocolate lava cake tickles mouth-roofs with berries encrusted in minty sugar crystals and eruptions of liquid chocolate.