eating OC: Ramos House and Olamendi's

This weekend, Mark and I went down to San Juan Capistrano for a little rest & relaxation. We toured the mission, walked on the beach, and had some good eats at two of my favorite places. For anyone who's coming down here for the wedding, I highly recommend a day trip to SJC to eat at Ramos House or Olamendi's.

I've written about Ramos House here before; it has a vibe very similar to Lucile's in Ft. Collins. See?

On the weekends, they serve a prix fixe brunch; you choose a starter, a drink, and an entree.

I love the fact that the menu quoted Tom Waits lyrics for no particular reason. I'll eat at any place that shows some love for Tom Waits:

Here's my bloody mary, a salad in and of itself. It was great -- almost more like a spiked, drinkable-consistency gazpacho.

Here's Mark digging into his hush puppies:

And here's my blueberry coffee cake:

I forgot to take photos of our entrees, unfortunately. Mark had mac n' cheese with smoked vegetables, and I realized after I ordered that I had the same thing I had last time: crab hash with scrambled eggs.

After much, much walking around San Juan Capistrano and then up and down the beach, in order to justify more eating, we had dinner that night at Olamendi's, a Mexican place off the PCH. Mark had a vegetarian burrito; I had enchiladas poblanas (chicken enchiladas smothered in mole). The food is great, but the atmosphere is even better.

The decor is delightfully chaotic -- there are Dia de los Muertos skeletons all over the place, like these:
We were seated directly under this crucifix:

A couple glimpses of the ceiling:

more crucifixes:

Oddly enough, the first time we ate here, we were seated at the Richard Nixon table. Apparently he was a fan of the place back when he lived in San Clemente. Who knew?