THE GOSSIPING GOURMET:Great view, good food, friendly ghost

In the 1920s, when the road to Laguna was just a dirt lane, Slim Summerville, a Hollywood actor, built a getaway beach house on the sand at Sleepy Hollow, where he eventually retired and spent the rest of his days.

That cottage still exists today and is aptly named the Beach House. Slim was a member of the Keystone cops and a featured player in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and “Tobacco Road.”

He was also a director, a writer and an occasional ghost. The story goes that one morning in 1973, the chef, Tommy Sims, was at the grill when he felt a chill run down his spine.

He looked up to see a tall, slim man in a white shirt and dark pants about to descend the stairs to the storage basement.

At first, he thought it must be a salesman checking the stock, but then he saw his face.

“I had seen his picture many times. It was Slim Summerville, the old movie star, but I knew he had died in this house many years before.”

He said he wasn’t particularly afraid because the ghost had a friendly presence. Another Beach House employee related several sightings, including a time when Slim came out of the bathroom in a robe.

“He seemed to be a pleasant man,” she said.

Whether or not the house still retains the slender ghost, it has kept its original woodwork, light fixtures, fireplace, bookcases and wrought iron staircase.

Modern additions to the décor include a plethora of fish tanks and a large extended deck for outdoor dining. This room has a retractable canvas covering and glassed-in walls.

In addition, there are six tables on a narrow open deck just above the sand.

This spectacular location has made this restaurant a Laguna favorite for 39 years. Wow! Even on a chilly January evening, you can still dine outside on the warm and cozy deck.

Walking past the garden patio, where you might enjoy a cocktail on a less frigid night, and past the oyster bar where you can get a more casual meal, you emerge to the sound of crashing waves and a view of the twinkling lights of the Laguna coastline.

Our personable, chatty and charming waiter was very obliging when asked what the chef would recommend from the many fish selections. He graciously offered to go back into the kitchen and ask.

Appropriately, fish and seafood dominate the menu at this seaside spot. The starters tend toward the traditional — the prawn cocktail over ice or the steamed clams.

We were delighted to find oysters Rockefeller on the list, a dish we have not seen for many a moon. Their version featured a plate of five very large oysters in the shell topped with a pleasant and generous mixture of spinach and bacon in a light béchamel, enhancing the briny mollusks.

More contemporary choices include: ahi sashimi, Maryland blue lump crab cakes or the fresh Hawaiian ahi stack layered with mango slices, avocado and Alaskan snow crab in a wasabi beurre blanc.

Rather than a salad, we chose the fire-grilled artichoke. Although the artichoke was somewhat overcooked, the lingering flavors from the poaching liquid married well with the smoky taste from the grill. Although it was served with melted butter and a sesame mayonnaise, it was quite tasty on its own.

A nice selection of salads is available: the usual mixed green and Caesar, but also toasted walnut salad with apples, cranberries and gorgonzola or poached pear and goat cheese with pecans, walnuts and cinnamon vinaigrette.

There is a special shellfish menu with lobster tails, whole steamed Maine lobsters, lobster thermidor and lobster linguine. There are giant sea scallops, king crab legs, a raw bar combination platter and bouillabaisse.

They have eight different fish to choose from. Hawaiian ono has a spicy rub and is served with habanero pepper coulis and the fresh coconut mahi-mahi is accompanied by a mango, orange coulis.

The chef recommended the giant baseball cut of caramelized swordfish with an orange honey sauce.

We foolishly disregarded his advice and suffered the consequences. We selected the pistachio halibut and coconut sea scallops with guava coulis and coconut white rice.

Although the halibut was nicely crusted, the fish itself can only be described as mushy. Unfortunately, this term also describes the coconut rice that had been cooked into pablum.

On the other hand, the scallops were mostly crust, deep-fried to an unusual state of hardness. We never did find the guava coulis.

There is plenty of meat on the menu as well: New York strip with mushroom bordelaise, prime bone-in New York steak, porterhouse, bacon wrapped filet mignon with béarnaise; as well as prime rib, veal chops and a lobster, crab and shrimp stuffed pork loin.

To satisfy your sweet tooth, there is crème brulée, carrot cake and two flavors of cheesecake: key lime and white chocolate raspberry.

Their white chocolate chunk ice cream accompanies the hot fudge lava cake and the crispy fried wonton banana in orange honey caramel sauce.

Carrot cake seems to have fallen from grace, though it was once as popular as flourless chocolate cake is today. For nos- talgia’s sake, we just had to try it.

Their version tasted more like a spice cake but with the moistness, nuts and currants of the old favorite. It was topped with classic cream cheese frosting, sweet and gooey. It wasn’t quite what we remembered, but certainly worth finishing.

For a less formal meal, the oyster bar offers a selection of starters, a steamed shellfish combo, salads, soups and burgers.

The Beach House is always a great place to take visitors, especially for brunch, where, any time of the year, they can enjoy the charming cottage and the lovely ocean setting.