Cielo Restaurant

Description:

• Like the resort, Ventana's "heaven" restaurant is a woodsy but extravagant place to dine alfresco at lunch or for a romantic dinner. The airy cedar interior is divided into two spaces: the lounge, where a wooden bar and cocktail tables look onto a roaring fire and through picturesque windows; and the dining room, which overlooks the mountains and/or the ocean. But in summer it's the outdoor patio, with its views of the ocean expanse and 50 miles of Big Sur coast, that's the coveted lunch spot. Unlike some costly restaurants in the area, a meal here is as gratifying as the surroundings, and much of the organically grown produce on the menu is harvested from their own Cielo gardens. Lunch offers main courses such as grilled Atlantic salmon; dinner includes such stellar starters as a perfectly dressed Caesar salad and a well-balanced chanterelle-mushroom risotto, and main courses such as herb-marinated roasted poussin (spring chicken), rosemary scented roasted pork loin, and glazed Sonoma duck breast.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010