Reeled in by Turquoise Restaurant – Redondo Beach

I usually don’t care what a restaurant is called. You could name it Poop as long as the quality (and content!) of the food isn’t reflective of the name. But Turquoise is the color of the Mediterranean from which this food hails, and with a name like that, the restaurant just has to be classy all the way.

Turquoise lives up to its name with vibrant walls of beautiful art, and so did my Grilled Salmon Pesto Panini. Any panini with a name like that is obviously going to be mind blowing, and this one was out of this world. The wild Scottish salmon is softly seared. The flavor is fresh and pure, with basil pesto balancing a solid fish. Avocado adds a fatty creaminess to the otherwise spring-y sandwich, and even the ciabatta is remarkably chewy and soft, with the whole wheat adding heartiness to each perfect bite. Sounds simple, but I’ve never had anything where the flavor combination made such a splash.

Five stars and all I had was a freaking sandwich. It just happened to be the best freaking sandwich I’ve had all year, and after a freaking sandwich like this, my usually brown eyes were glowing Turquoise by the end of the meal.