Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.

It should come as no surprise that when I'm on vacation I enjoy eating well, especially in beautiful places. I've found that many times the best way to enjoy an upscale establishment is to go there for lunch (or sometimes brunch).

I'm not going to pretend I came up with the idea - I've read it as a travel tip several times - but I do strongly endorse it. Over the last several years I've had a number of amazing experiences at places that I probably would have skipped if I'd only considered them for dinner. Many of them have been at destination places where the scenery is a big part of the experience, and this way I've gotten that experience in a less formal setting and usually at half the price or less.

Here are some examples:

Hotel del Coronado

Shortly after I moved to Arizona, my friends Alexandra and Erik came to visit and we went on a road trip to San Diego. While there, we visited the iconic Hotel del Coronado and had brunch on the patio with a beautiful view of the ocean. It was a great way to experience the hotel without staying there or doing a formal dinner.

Hotel del Coronado - from the front

Pebble Beach

In order to get a tee time at the legendary golf course you generally need to book a room at the resort for a minimum of two nights. Rooms start at $695/night and the golf is $495, so you're looking at close to two grand to do it on the cheap. Needless to say, I haven't done that. Instead, my friend Petter and I got a Sunday brunch reservation at the restaurant overlooking the 18th green. No golf, but we got a nice meal in a gorgeous setting and spent a couple of hours enjoying the atmosphere.

Petter looking out over the 18th green

Me in front of the 18th fairway

L'Auberge de Sedona

L'Auberge is one of the premier resorts in Sedona, Arizona, a couple of hours north of Scottsdale. During my family road trip last summer, we enjoyed a nice lunch and tranquility alongside Oak Creek at the bottom of the valley, surrounded by the famous red rocks.

The family and I at L'Auberge, Sedona

Ahwahnee Hotel

On the same road trip, a few days a several hundred miles later, we visited the landmark Ahwahnee Hotel in the middle of Yosemite, California.

The Ahwahnee Hotel from the outside

The dining room

Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn

Post Ranch Inn is a high-end boutique hotel situated on the cliffs of Big Sur, along the Pacific Coast Highway about two hours south of San Francisco, with an amazing ocean view. The rooms range from $550 for a regular room with a "forest view" to $2,800/night for one of the larger freestanding tree house structures.

The restaurant, Sierra Mar, features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the 1,000 foot (300 m) drop down to the ocean. I was fortunate enough to eat there twice last year; first with the family on the same road trip and then a second time a few months later with Alexandra and a group of other attendees from the Oracle OpenWorld convention in SF. Highly recommended.

The family with the ocean view in the background...

...and looking down through the window

All of these were truly memorable experiences and I'm pretty sure none of them cost more than $20 per person. Not counting the trips there, of course.

Culinary Dropout

I had lunch today at Culinary Dropout for the second time since they opened in late January. It is the latest venture from Fox Restaurant Concepts, and it's replacing Pink Taco (Thank God - that place was terrible!) next to Wildfish by Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Given my experience with Fox restaurants I didn't originally have high expectations. In their defense, I think they have some pretty good places that do a good job at being what they try to be (e.g. Blanco, Greene House, Modern Burger) but they are generally priced 1-2 levels above where they need to be to be considered great.

Culinary Dropout is by no means inexpensive - lunch is $15-20 per person - but I think it's well worth it. Nice atmosphere, good service and very good food. Both times I've gone with the same two coworkers so we've covered 5-6 different dishes and we've been impressed across the board.

The first time I had the ricotta gnocchi with sausage and mushrooms, and I was very pleased with it. My coworkers ordered a shrimp po'boy and a turkey pastrami sandwich on a pretzel bun. I tasted both of their dishes and liked them both - the po'boy used a very good spicy sauce and the pretzel bun was outstanding.

Grilled Cheese Sliders and Creamy Tomato Soup

On our second visit I ordered Yesterday's Soup ("It's better the day after") - a creamy tomato soup with parmesan cheese shavings - and the grilled cheese sliders with tomato and bacon. (I needed something easy to chew after a wonderful morning of dental work.) The soup was somewhat ordinary by itself, but it was a great complement to the sliders. I originally ordered the French Onion Soup, but our waitressed suggested that this soup would be a better match and she was absolutely right. Nice to see staff with an understanding of the food and the menu. Also, their fries are very good - crispy in the style that I like and generously sprinkled with a nice sea salt. One of my coworkers also ordered the sliders and the other got the Pub Burger, and they were both happy - we will certainly return again.

This Too Shall Pass

Pretty incredible, from the guys who brought you the treadmill video:

We Are The World 3