Hotel lobby at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar for cocktails

We were looking for Le Salon at Addison, but were directed to the lobby at the main hotel instead.  It was a lucky error.  The Fairmont Grand Del Mar is well worth a visit just to gawk.  We had cocktails in the lobby and snacks.  They gave us spicy cashews and green olives to go with our drinks.  It was late afternoon, so we had a generous snack of the meat and cheese board, followed by a wonderful hazelnut chocolate cake.  We had a brief walk around the gorgeous grounds and saw the pool and gardens behind the hotel.  I'm looking forward to dinner at Addison in July.  The restaurant is in a building away from the hotel, so we would have missed seeing the hotel itself, if we had made it to Le Salon.

This came with honeycomb, mustard and pickled cauliflower

This was perfect - not too sweet and very creamy