Malibu Farm ~ Malibu, CA

With Spring upon us and Summer close behind, the Southern California beaches are calling! Though it’s not quite warm enough for basking on the sand and splashing in the surf, you can still enjoy a day of seaside fun at the recently renovated Malibu Pier. What was once a run-down ramshackle fishing spot with less-than-stellar dining options has transformed into Malibu’s go-to destination for fresh, farm-to-table eats and treats.

Over the past few years, local rancher Helene Henderson bought up the restaurants on either end of the pier, creating Malibu Farm Restaurant and Malibu Farm Pier Café for your dining pleasure. Both establishments specialize in organic fare fresh from local farms. With overlapping menus, the main difference is that you get to choose your own dining style.

When you enter onto the pier, Malibu Farm Restaurant is first up. Split onto two sides and decorated in cheery bright beach whites, you can sit at an indoor or outdoor table and be served by their friendly wait staff. If you don’t want to wait to be seated though, do what we did and head straight down to the end of the pier to their smaller Malibu Farm Pier Café. Here, you order at the counter and take a number to your table. The Café offers their smaller “greatest hits” menu, so you can’t go wrong. And that’s exactly what we came for.

Take a lovely sun-soaked stroll for a little taste of the old pier, where old men and families still cast their lines out and chat on benches all afternoon, waiting for something to bite. The Café sits at the very end with an unassuming ordering line that starts at the front door. Grab a menu and get in line to place your order. We recommend ordering family-style if you come with friends, so you can taste a little bit of everything.

We went all-out and ordered the fried egg sandwich, farm scrambled eggs with salmon, Swedish mini pancakes and the grass-fed beef burger between our three sirens…and we finished every last bite. The eggs are delicious—you can practically taste the farm in them. There is no mistaking that they came directly from the chicken coop. The Swedish pancakes are more like mini stacks of crepes with strawberry slices and fresh whipped cream—light, airy and just sweet enough. But our favorite was the good old-fashioned burger. Perfectly sauced and not too heavy, served on a brioche bun, it had us “mmmmm”-ing aloud at the table.

Walk off your meal by cruising around the pier afterwards. The gift shop across the way is a great spot for a little post-nosh browsing. Or take a seat along the pier or the upper decks for one of the best beach views in the city. Sit back, relax, soak in the sun’s rays, smell that sweet salt air, watch the dolphins and sea lions catching waves between the surfers…and just enjoy how lucky you are to live in California and have all this at your fingertips.