Lois and Howie (center) with their Coronado Food Tour group in front of the Bluewater Boathouse
Lois and Howie Stern are passionate about three things: “We have a love of food, love of people, and love of Coronado, and so we put them together into this walking tour!”
The two are the owners, tour guides, and foodies behind Coronado Food Tour, a three-hour walking tour of Coronado’s diverse eateries that started in February 2014. The couple brings a lot of experience to the table after operating a restaurant in Telluride, Colorado, for 25 years. “Eventually we retired and came to Coronado because this is where our grandkids are,” Lois explains with a smile.
Lois and Howie have a wonderful relationship with the restaurant owners in Coronado. Over time, they have built a wide repertoire of restaurants for their tour, including Costa Azul, Fabrison’s Creperie and Cafe, Wine a Bit, Coronado Taste of Oils, and many more. For each tour, they choose about six places, and the tastings at each stop are generous and diverse. As former restaurant owners, Lois and Howie are passionate about food and eager to promote their fellow restauranteurs. Their excitement is contagious.
This past Thursday, their tour began at 11am at the Bluewater Boathouse, the long-ago boathouse of the Hotel Del Coronado. Lois and Howie ushered us to our table before servers presented a mouth-watering appetizer of calamari with a red chili sweet sauce and a cup of hot clam chowder. In the center of the table were plates of sourdough bread still warm from the oven.
As we feasted, Lois gave us a quick overview of Coronado history, beginning with Babcock and Story. “We call them the founders of Coronado,” Lois explained. She hit the highlights of Coronado’s past while including interesting facts that were knew even to a local like myself.
After we finished, Lois and Howie led us a few blocks away to a pretty little B&B called 1906 Lodge. The exquisite hotel has only 17 rooms which are centered around a peaceful courtyard. On the front porch, Lois served us fresh apple-carrot muffins from the small kitchen, and Howie popped the cork on a bottle of champagne. Afterwards an innkeeper gave us a tour of the elegant B&B, pointing out wonderful old photographs of Coronado along the way.
The pace of the tour changed as we stepped into The Islander, a new seafood restaurant with casual, foodie flair. Patrons order at the counter, and food is served on paper plates. “They buy the fish right off the boat,” Howie said. The owner, Lisa, sat with us as we dug into a plate of panko shrimp rice cakes with double horseradish sauce. “We do all of our pickling, dressings, and sauces in-house,” Lisa explained. The Islander felt fresh as well as familiar, and I knew I’d be back for more.
Lois and Howie gave our stomachs a rest as dipped in to the famous Coronado landmark: The Lamb’s Players Theatre. Susan Clausen, an actress and on staff for Lamb’s, led us on a fascinating tour behind the wings, through dressing rooms, and under the stage. Later we passed through the charming Encore Cafe attached to the theater, which is open for lunch and dinner for theater patrons and casual diners alike.
It was time to eat again — pizza this time. The casual, cool vibe of High Tide on Orange Ave is easy to love, with its local soda fountain, cold cases of beer, and fabulous slices of thin, delectable pizza. A bike stands inside the shop, which Tom, the owner, uses for pizza and liquor deliveries around town. “I don’t know of another place where you can get a pizza and six-pack of beer delivered,” he says. The pizza is delicious, hand-tossed with a crisp, chewy crust and organic ingredients. “We call it High Tide because we have high standards,” says Tom. Amazingly, his high standards only cost $6 for two slices and a soda.
The tour eased into a slow and delightful finish with Wine a Bit, a welcoming shop run by a local husband-and-wife team. “We are a boutique wine shop,” owner Patti explained as we tasted four wines at their comfortable bar. Afterwards we explored admired the cases of fresh truffles and walls of wine arranged by flavor rather than region.
Dessert took on a new guise at our final stop, Coronado Taste of Oils. The quiet, peaceful space is lined with urns of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Each of us received a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with espresso balsamic vinegar and amaretto cream liqueur. The group raved over the sweet and tart flavors together. Later, we tasted oils and vinegars with crusty bread, and I took home a bottle of maple-infused balsamic to enjoy with visitors that weekend.
Outside, Howie and Lois announced the conclusion of the tour, and everyone in the group thanked them for such a wonderful three hours. Each stop had been hand-picked and fabulous, and every restaurant and owner offered a unique story of Coronado. The food, though, surpassed all our expectations, and we loved the variety of things we had enjoyed, from calamari to craft soda, from hot bread to tart balsamic, from panko crumbs to pizza crust.
For a chance to get behind the foodie scene of Coronado and to experience a new flight of restaurants, I would highly recommend Howie and Lois’s Coronado Food Tour to locals and visitors alike.
For more information, visit Coronado Food Tour or contact Lois and Howie at 480-510-4830. Tours are offered on Thursdays from 11 am to 2 pm or on request for private parties. Tours are offered from October 1 to May 31.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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