This cocktail interlude it brought to you by way of Darby Kelly. Faced with our only free evening of the whole trip, we looked up the best place for a drink in the Del Mar area and read about this mixologist who hails from Las Vegas Wynn, where he was Lead Bartender. Maybe I’ve spent too much time in NYC, but I always appreciate seeing the mixologist in motion. Below you will catch him in action at the lobby bar of L’Auberge Del Mar. Once Darby saw my camera, he even adjusted a few of my garnishes to make my cocktail more camera-ready.

The list of cocktails on the menu is quite short, so I advise chatting him up and getting a recommendation. The problem with posting a month later is I no longer remember the name of these cocktails. I left my card with him, perhaps one day he’ll find this post and let me know…

If you read my last post, you know I had only good things to say about the Hilton La Jolla, but if I hadn’t been traveling with family, I would have considered a night or two at L’Auberge Del Mar. I loved the small village feel of Del Mar and I got a good feeling the second I hit the lobby.

We only had time for a few drinks and it was off to dinner at Market Restaurant. It was a very nice meal with wonderful service, buy I’m not sure if we ordered the wrong things. I’m still wondering how this restaurant got a food rating of 29 in Zagat.