CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Big Corona Beach Concessions Stand Opens

“It smells good here,” children said as they passed the newly opened Big Corona Beach concessions stand, which opened for its first full day on Friday morning.

The Rooster Cafe Corona del Mar passed its county health inspection on Thursday afternoon and sold its first burger about 3:30 p.m.

“We actually sold a hamburger, some chicken fingers, some nachos — I think we sold one of everything on the menu,” said manager Dawn Jan. The stand opened at 10:30 a.m. today, she said, and will close at 7 p.m.

“We’ve sold a lot of ice cream,” she said.

The menu will be limited for the first week or two while staff learns the ropes, said Michael Cho, a lawyer for the cafe’s owners, Wing Lam and his brother, Ed Lee. “Baby steps,” Cho said in an email.

For now, visitors can get hot dogs ($3.50), cheeseburgers ($5.00), fries ($3.50), ice cream, candy and more traditional beach fare. Tables with blue umbrellas have been set up for customers.

Within a few weeks, the stand will feature breakfast, gourmet coffee drinks and sandwiches, Jan said. The hours will be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the summer season, and the owners are working with city officials to use temporary enclosures and space heaters to create an attractive environment to build an off-season customer base, she said.

The stand also will add permanent menu signs, a microphone system to let customers know their orders are ready and will sell firewood and rent beach amenities like umbrellas. On Friday morning, staff was working out kinks, including taping an ice cream sign over a menu board that advertised Samuel Adams beer; the stand is not permitted to sell alcohol.

Nicole Ausman of Claremont stopped by the stand with a friend, Alisha Schweiger of Michigan.

“It was a hot dog stand, and then it was a sushi place,” Ausman said. “I can’t keep up. Is it hot dogs this week?”

It was.

“It’s good,” she said. “It tastes grilled.”

Rooster Cafe Corona del Mar replaces Fuji Grill, which shut its doors in November 2010. The City Council selected the restaurant in March from five applications; read our story here.

Last summer, the city had rejected one application and instead lined up a series of food trucks to sell refreshments to beach visitors.