Sammy Hagar christens his Cabo Wabo Beach Club in Huntington Beach

Rock-and-roll Hall-of-Famer Sammy Hagar backed up the white bar at his brand-new flagship Cabo Wabo Beach Club at The Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, in Huntington Beach on Wednesday, May 3, dressed in a red T-shirt with the restaurant's name printed on his left chest and using reflective pilot sunglasses. The 75-year-old artist and restaurateur still looks comfy in front of an audience. His tousled sandy blonde hair looks like a web surfer who invested the early morning at the beach.

And if you ask Hagar, that's exactly where he likes to invest his time. As he blended a couple of mixed drinks behind the bar with the hotel's resident mixologist, Hagar reflected on his time in Orange County and how he ultimately chose to open this new dining establishment in Huntington Beach.

" My entire lifestyle is about the beach all the time and during the night, belong to party and music," Hagar stated, mentioning to the azure hotel swimming pool and the view of the Pacific Ocean throughout PCH. "This is the ideal location."

The 11,000-square-foot Cabo Wabo Beach Club is the newest addition to The Waterfront Beach Resort and stimulates an outdoor vacation environment. This location isn't planned only for tourists. The goal is for the bar area to end up being a regular watering hole for regional homeowners too.

With a notable footprint including indoor and outside dining, lounge seating and bars, Cabo Wabo Beach Club's indoor 132-seat dining-room consists of 19 seats in the bar and 20 in the lounge. The outdoor dining room seats 64 people and uses an additional 22 seats in the bar and 20 seats in the lounge location. Ideation Design Group developed Cabo Wabo Beach Club's outdoor bar to resemble a Mexican palapa with a coastal color palette highlighted with sea-blue tones and sandy shades. Subtle rock ‘‘ n' roll nods are peppered throughout the space.

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This Huntington Beach place is an elevated take on Hagar's world-famous Cabo Wabo Cantina in southern Baja California. The menu showcases coastal Mexican food such as seared scallops served atop chile relleno and garnished with plantain chips.

" It's a full menu-- breakfast, dinner and lunch," Hagar stated. "It's flexible. A lot of seafood like Cabo. None of my dining establishments are cookie cutters. So this one is native to the location. You've got Chino around here, Ventura, all the areas with great veggies. Fish from the ocean, caught perfect here. It's as near farm-to-table as we can get."

The menu includes kid-friendly churro waffles and chilaquiles with eggs for breakfast. The CW tequila shrimp with chile butter sauce, lime and toasted Bolillo bread is a popular must attempt starter and Hagar extremely advises the crudo.

" I was so proud of what they're doing here," he says. Even in Cabo, you see the fish still leaping, it's so fresh.

He also suggests the "churro waffles for breakfast."

Hagar is best referred to as the frontman of bands such as Montrose, Van Halen, Chickenfoot, and Sammy Hagar & & The Circle. (He's presently preparing a trip with The Circle.) But he's likewise famous for his line of acclaimed spirits.

Hagar's Cabo Wabo Tequila brand cost $100 million. He partnered with his friend and TV character Guy Fieri and master distiller Juan Eduardo Nuñez to create Santo brand name Tequila Blanco and Mezquila distilled in Jalisco, Mexico.

Hagar initially went to Tequila, Mexico, years ago. He tasted handcrafted tequila, and it changed his life. During that time, he visited numerous little distillers and sharpened his palate. The households let him sample their personal little batches.

" If I didn't do that, I most likely wouldn't have actually tasted all that tequila," he states of his tutelage. "Going down and having that complete experience was so romantic." He returned every three months to read more.

That passion continues today.

" When I stroll into a dining establishment or a bar or a shop and I see one of my brands on the shelf, it's just like getting in a car and switching on the radio and hearing yourself sing," he states. "For me, it's the exact same experience. I get the very same adventure."

Beyond the excitement of seeing his brands, Hagar also makes the effort to meet the distillers, growers and finds out about the procedure that goes into creating these spirits.

" The only method to have a fantastic beverage is to have excellent active ingredients. Much like a meal," he states. "You need to use great active ingredients and that's the trick of anything excellent in a cooking sense."

The cocktail list at Cabo Wabo Beach Club includes Hagar's own spirits: Santo Tequila Blanco, Mezquila, and Sammy's Beach Bar Rum made from pure cane sugar. The bar likewise houses a selection of more than 50 tequilas and mezcals, in addition to a focused list of beer and red wine.

Beyond great food and mixed drinks, Hagar is focused on doing excellent, too. As with his other dining concepts, there is a philanthropic objective linked with Cabo Wabo Beach Club.

" I can do anything I desire however I wish to head out and take pride in this," he states.

Hagar opened his original Cabo Wabo Cantina in 1990 and is the Honorary Ambassador of Los Cabos, Mexico. He walks on the beach with his wife each day.

In 2008, Hagar and his spouse, Kari, produced The Hagar Family Foundation. To date, the fund has given more than $4 million to charities. A majority of Hagar's individual net-proceeds from the Cabo Wabo Beach Club at The Waterfront Beach Resort will be contributed to Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

" At CHOC, the concept is we're starting a fund," he states. "If somebody has a kid and they require hospitalization for 2 to 3 months at a time and the moms and dads require to stay with them. Some individuals can't afford to do that, so that's what this fund does. It spends for food, lodging and transportation while they're there with their ill kid. If there's any additional cash we'll donate to Tilly's Life. ... I like to keep it regional, in your backyard."

Cabo Wabo Beach Club is dealing with CHOC's Social Service Department to support kids and their households. Contributions will be sent out to CHOC Foundation on a regular basis in all time as long as Cabo Wabo Beach Club in Huntington Beach remains open.