by Matthew Jaffe, senior writer, Sunset

I don’t need much of an excuse to go to Malibu: the simple promise of the beach, the mountains, and its mystique are plenty enough for me. By way of Mulholland Highway and Malibu Canyon Road, I can drive through the Santa Monica Mountains and be at the ocean in just under 20 minutes. That means that it’s usually an inspired, spontaneous run: late in the day for a quick hike, then maybe dinner at Malibu Seafood.

Last week, however, I headed to Malibu with more purpose than usual. A few days earlier while driving PCH, I spotted a sign announcing the opening of the Malibu Pier Club, the first restaurant to return to this coastal landmark since its restoration.

For those of us who have been watching the progress (and often lack thereof) after the pier was heavily damaged in 1993 and 1995, this was like waiting for Godot, then having him actually show up and suggest, “Shall we go… and do lunch at the beach?” (Absurd perhaps but Google Gidget and Godot, and you get more than 1,000 hits.)

As piers go, this one is, well, peerless. Built originally in 1905 to service the famed Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit, it juts 700 feet into Kellers Shelter, a small bay named for Don Mateo Keller, an owner of the ranch in the 1800s and a pioneering California winemaker to boot. Even now that it has been fixed up and reinforced, the pier with its wooden pilings and planks evokes a time when Malibu was a wild, hidden kingdom rather than the province of the Hollywood crowd and billionaire moguls.

The Pier Club doesn’t reach back that far in Malibu’s past but it’s simple and unpretentious—beachy in attitude and mood and with an expanded bar menu. There's patio seating that lets you catch a bit of warm California sun and look up the length of the pier and down toward kayakers in the cove.

Inside, the wood of the  bar practically glows, and its tile installations recall the heyday of Malibu Potteries, once one of California’s leading art tile makers.

As mathematicians and the foodgeoisie have often claimed, there’s an inverse equation between the quality of food and the quality of view. With a place as beautifully situated as the Malibu Pier, it is perhaps unfair to make any such comparisons but in any case we were quite happy with our lunch: a slightly smoky clam chowder and an ahi sandwich stacked high on a sesame roll.

After lunch, we strolled the pier past guys fishing and took in the views up coast toward Surfrider Beach.

Work was ongoing at the pier: in early July, The Beachcomber is set to open in the old Alice’s space just across from the Pier Club (it will then basically serve as the restaurant’s bar) and a Ruby’s will settle in at the far end of the pier. There’s talk about a surf museum too.

Not that you ever really need a reason to head over to Malibu…