Sky Room Verified listing

Sky Room—one of two restaurants in the Fairmont Breakers hotel and spa in Downtown Long Beach—has returned to the eager palates of Long Beach residents and visitors of the past alike. Chef Maxwell Pfeiffer and the Sky Room team have created one of the city’s premier formal dining rooms, if not the premier dining room next to Heritage. Pairing sweeping harbor views with polished service and ambitious cuisine, Chef Maxwell has rightfully earned the title of Long Beach’s fine dining prince.

Though it formally goes by Sky Room—no definite article in its Fairmont iteration—it is always The Sky Room among locals. And it will likely remain that way. It’s not because of some unawareness about its updated moniker or even stubbornness but because it represents a space special enough to have some authority. (And its colloquial name was, indeed, its formal name beforehand: The Sky Room. This was happily noted on its western-facing, ROYGBIV-red, awning-adored entrance before the Fairmont moved in. One would walk down a carpeted hallway lined with chandeliers, greeted by a bellhop, and escorted via elevator to The Sky Room.)

Sky Room has long been the epicenter of Long Beach family moments. It is nearly impossible to mention its name without a reply that the space served as one’s proposal site. Or that it was someone else’s graduation dinner. It has even been a place of condolence, where a neighbor once told me its dining room—and particularly its server—provided solace after the loss of a parent.

Chef Maxwell has also introduced afternoon tea—an ode to his obsession with detail. What makes the menu impressive isn’t simply the number of items but the number of components behind each one. Nearly every bite contains multiple layers—a pastry base, a house-made cream, a preserve, a garnish, or a carefully chosen finishing.

The croissants at Sky Room are perfect representations of why the pastry is so beloved. Photo by Brian Addison.
His croissant? Arguably up in the air as the best in the city, where its lamination comes of in a flakiness that can be heard as its cracks and a pillow of buttery layers that define the pastry. His cucumber sandwich? A perfectly lined layer of ultra-thin cucumbers, lined with equal layers of an herbed cream cheese, that will make you a fan if you’ve never had it or want to perfect your own version at home.

For those who lamented its tragic, dire decline at the end of its last iteration, Sky Room’s return—should the Fairmont maintain its first outing’s spectacular showing through consistency—is one that will surely stir up the most heart-warming sensation of nostalgia.

Written by Brian Addison. Photos by Brian Addison and Frank Wonho Lee.

For Brian Addison's latest feature on Sky Room, click here.