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Food for Thought
Savor the flavors at these six Southern California restaurants
Points North
31 West
- 31 W. Carrillo Street
- Santa Barbara; (805) 879-9100
- Dinner for two, food only: $50–$90
- Setting: Riviera casual
- Service: Wine-savvy without being pretentious
- Best dishes: Marinated fluke with ruby grapefruit; roasted scallop with veal ragu and quail egg; grilled rib-eye with celery
One of the happiest culinary surprises of the past few years has been the quality of the scallops being harvested off the Baja coast of Mexico. They haven't yet gained the notoriety of their cousins from coastal Maine — a shame, because they're every bit as delicious and often far more gorgeous. But several local chefs champion them, and now that list includes Michael Reardon. Recently relocated from the Napa Valley, Reardon has taken the helm of 31 West, the fine-dining restaurant in Santa Barbara's long-awaited Hotel Andalucía.
Chef's choice: Michael Reardon, chef at the newly opened 31 West, in Santa Barbara, draws raves with dishes such as the grilled rib-eye steak with roasted celery.
Even if it doesn't look like it, 31 West is Santa Barbara's best new restaurant. It falls short of the image portrayed in the hotel's brochures, which depicts a romantic seaside villa, the likes of which you'd find on the rugged south coast of Spain. Still, the china and glassware are first-rate, and the food is strikingly pretty — rustic and simple, for the most part, but quite beautiful and on par with the best that Santa Barbara has to offer.
Reardon is responsible for that beauty. Hailing from Tra Vigne in St. Helena, which has been considered among Napa Valley's best restaurants for most of the past decade, he wasted no time discovering Southern California's coastal bounty. In one of his best dishes, Reardon nestles a scallop in ultrasoft mashed potatoes (pureed with olive oil) and tops it with a sunny-side-up quail egg. When pierced with a fork, the egg oozes just enough yolk to create a heavenly golden glaze.
Each dinner begins with a complimentary amuse bouche, perhaps a tiny ragout of braised rabbit served on a nickel-sized onion crostini. Reardon makes a fantastic "risotto" from farro (an ancient grain) instead of rice, and it makes a supple nest for crispy-skinned chicken. Side dishes routinely steal the show, even when paired with one of the finest rib-eye steaks in town, as is the case with the lightly roasted celery whose stalks come sprinkled with sharp, slightly melted blue cheese. It's just this type of wit and creativity that makes Reardon one of Southern California's hottest rising stars.
— Brad Johnson
San Diego
The Oceanaire
- 400 J Street
- San Diego; (619) 858-2277
- Dinner for two, food only: $50–$110
- Setting: Plush and clubby
- Service: Sprightly and efficient
- Best dishes: B.L.T. salad; stuffed petrale sole; cioppino
Go ahead and guess: At the Oceanaire in downtown San Diego's booming Gaslamp Quarter, does the phrase "A little dab'll do ya" refer to the horseradish in the seafood cocktail sauce or to a men's hair ointment that was popular a couple of generations ago? To both, actually. (Why pose the question otherwise?) Freshly shredded and magnificently potent, the horseradish blasts through the nostrils as it sharpens the salty sweetness of the Dungeness crab cocktail. And tubes of Brylcreem rest prominently on the men's room counter, presumably to reinforce the 1940s mood affected by this sizeable restaurant, part of an ambitious Minneapolis-based chain.
Better than the sandwich: The B.L.T. salad at the Oceanaire, in San Diego, combines applewood-smoked bacon, lettuce, and sliced tomatoes with a creamy dressing.
In its looks, the Oceanaire rivals the shiny, "modern" sleekness of a 1948 Packard. Period props, including polished bottles of ketchup, canisters of French sea salt, and deep bowls of baked-in-Vermont oyster crackers, decorate the spacious tables. Bountiful relish trays (with raw vegetables, pickles and olives, and herring) enhance the mood of postwar prosperity and confidence.
The menu changes every day, and portion sizes range from generous to silly; servers caution guests to split salads and side dishes. Perfect for sharing are the shrimps de Jonghe, which bubble in herbed butter under Dijon and crushed Ritz crackers, and the oysters from the excellent daily list, which may include Oregon Kumamotos and New York bluepoints. The same goes for the lavish crab Louie salad and the B.L.T. salad, which heaps crisp applewood-smoked bacon over greens and sliced tomatoes in a creamy dressing.
The 25 or so nightly seafood entrées can be as simple as grilled Virginia striped bass basted with lemon and olive oil and as rich as Oregon petrale sole stuffed with crab, bay shrimp, and Brie. The plush, East Coast–style jumbo lump crab cakes pair happily with mustard mayonnaise, and the cioppino, awash in a spicy tomato broth, skips pasta in favor of a fine assortment of seafood.
If the dessert list seems self-consciously 1940s — root beer floats, baked Alaska, even warm cookies and milk — it extends to more modern fare, including a fine, tart key lime pie and a buttery apple crisp.
— David Nelson
The Valleys
Gorikee
- 21799 Ventura Boulevard
- Woodland Hills; (818) 932-9149
- Dinner for two, food only: $30–$55
- Setting: Cozy, with blond wood paneling
- Service: Like your favorite aunt is waiting on you (when and if you meet Ella the waitress, you'll know what I mean)
- Best dishes: Fish from the specials board; crispy garlic young chicken
Tucked in a corner of what might be Woodland Hills's least prepossessing strip mall is a cute little neighborhood spot that is quickly gathering a devoted following. Gorikee styles itself as a "gourmet garlic fusion" restaurant, but don't let that alarm you. At Gorikee, you're in no danger of being served garlic ice cream or any of those other culinary misdemeanors perpetrated by garlic-themed restaurants. Instead, you'll enjoy sophisticated dishes, most of which are flavored with garlic, at reasonable prices (and did I mention that the corkage fee is just $3?).
Gourmet garlic: At Gorikee, in Woodland Hills, most diners start with the garlic confit appetizer, three heads of garlic roasted until the cloves are soft enough to spread.
At dinner, chef/owner Atsuhiro Tsuji, a veteran of Chaya Venice, has wisely chosen to offer a limited printed menu supplemented by daily specials listed on a chalkboard. Most meals start with the restaurant's most popular appetizer, three heads of garlic roasted until the cloves barely need the nudge of a knife to ooze out of their papery skins. The Cajun shrimp starter is heartier; it comes with artfully lumpy mashed potatoes.
Among the entrées is a dish of crispy chicken thigh medallions napped in a mustard sauce and lavished with shavings of roasted garlic. A fruity sauce made with tiny Champagne grapes nicely enhances a succulent fillet of wild Alaskan salmon.
But those sweet sauces can misfire; during a visit last winter, I was served a gorgeous slab of perfectly cooked Berkshire pork loin that was almost obliterated by a syrupy, bland apple-cider-and-honey-cream sauce.
At lunch, entrée prices are about a dollar less, but you might want to opt instead for the signature burger, a juicy 10-ounce patty topped with Monterey Jack cheese, grilled onions, garlic confit, and mango chutney. At $6.80, it's just a few bucks more than a fast-food burger but a world away in taste. If that's gourmet garlic fusion, I'm all for it.
— Jean T. Barrett
L.A. and Environs
Grace
- 7360 Beverly Boulevard
- Los Angeles; (323) 934-4400
- Dinner for two, food only: $55–$90
- Setting: Sleekly modern yet comfortable
- Service: Smooth and professional
- Best dishes: Sampler of three soups; steelhead salmon; tenderloin of wild boar; maple-glazed cake doughnuts
California may have lost jobs and gained a deficit in the past couple of years, but that hasn't stopped high-end restaurants from opening in Los Angeles. From the bizarre, in-your-face cooking at Bastide, to the stylishness of Table 8, to the intellectual cuisine at Sona, new A-list restaurants are plentiful. My favorite of the bunch is Grace, which has matured out of its early trendiness and now blends a sophisticated yet comfortable setting with honed service and, most important, wonderful food.
Co-owner and chef Neal Fraser first came to fame in L.A. as the owner/chef of Boxer, the minimalist spot that put Beverly Boulevard on the foodie map. At Grace, he is continuing to fine-tune his version of modern American cuisine, which some have justly criticized for being overly complicated. Although he remains fond of multi-ingredient constructions, he's gotten good — very good — at giving these dishes seductive, marvelously balanced flavors. Take, for instance, a recent salad special combining crisp, curly frisee; shredded duck confit; bits of blood orange; and tiny croutons. Bound with the barest hint of dressing, the salad was a flawless blend of cool, crisp, savory, and sweet. Or consider the Air, Land, and Sea, a rich braised short rib and some parsnip puree paired with a scallop wrapped in duck prosciutto — a lot of components, yes, but Fraser wove them together masterfully.
The fad-of-the-moment crowd has moved on from Grace; in its place is a mix of Angelenos who look more bookish than pierced-navelish: men in black blazers and women in black dresses; a table of stylish thirty-somethings celebrating a friend's pregnancy; a middle-aged screenwriter and her husband taking her mother out for an 80th birthday feast. And when her triple chocolate and caramel tart with coffee ice cream arrived (the desserts are swell here), it proved to be a very happy birthday indeed.
— Colleen Dunn Bates
Orange County
Lodge
- 2937 Bristol Street
- Costa Mesa; (714) 751-1700
- Dinner for two, food only: $45–$100
- Setting: Cozy and casual
- Service: Well-trained and attentive, but can be spread thin when it's busy
- Best dishes: Lodge Caesar; marinated flank steak; pot roast
Don't let the name fool you: Lodge, one of several eateries operated by Tim and Lisa Goodell (of Aubergine fame), is nowhere near the mountains. Rather, it anchors the west side of the Camp, in Costa Mesa, a grouping of outdoor-themed retailers across Bristol Street from the Lab "anti-mall."
A newly completed renovation has transformed the casual dining room from sleek and minimalist (and noisy) to warm and comfortable, perhaps to better match the menu, which is grounded in good, old-fashioned comfort foods. On a recent visit, I found the first-rate starters to be the simplest ones: the classic Caesar salad, for example, and the baby spinach salad, a heaping plate of fresh spinach leaves, crispy red onion, mushrooms, and egg in a warm, chunky bacon vinaigrette. Likewise, the best entrées focused on the basics. Grilled to perfection, the marinated flank steak was served in a delicious soy sauce and ginger-infused marinade spiced with hot chiles. The pot roast and meatloaf were delicious, and the chicken-fried steak, served with onion-bacon gravy, grits, and sautéed spinach with garlic, was one of the best I've ever encountered.
The minute the kitchen strayed into more exotic territory, however, the results became muddled, unfocused, and oddly bland. Although the wild mushroom soup with Parmesan whipped cream sounded rich and unusual, it proved to be ordinary. And there was nothing overtly wrong with or even misguided about the seared ahi, flash-grilled rare and served in a lemon-fennel emulsion. But it was flat and uninspired, and the potato-kalamata puree that came with it was watery and wimpy.
The Goodells have set the bar very high, for themselves and for every other restaurateur who hopes to create something both unusual and fulfilling. Unfortunately, Lodge doesn't quite measure up to those standards. But it's encouraging to see that they recognized and fixed some of Lodge's early problems (particularly the ambience). Hopefully, the restaurant soon will meet our rather lofty expectations for everything Goodell.
— Pete Johnson
Inland Empire and the Desert
Citrone
- 328 Orange Street
- Redlands; (909) 793-6635
- Dinner for two, food only: $45–$90
- Setting: Trendy but laid-back and inviting
- Service: Eager to please, accommodating
- Best dishes: California salad; penne Gorgonzola with mushrooms and sausage
The vaguely bistro-like setting suggests a taste of France, a glance at the menu argues for Italy, and the impressive wine list all but shouts California. In fact, the spirit of all these places is alive at Citrone in downtown Redlands.
Housed in a historic Orange Street building, Citrone's deep, narrow space is defined by worn brick walls covered with large reproductions of California wine labels, a tribute to the restaurant's award-winning list, which boasts more than 500 selections from the state. Guests settle in at generously spaced tables beneath a tin-stamped ceiling, while chef Elvio Gaudino does his thing in an exhibition kitchen. His style is relatively straightforward, highlighting quality ingredients without a lot of fuss.
Appetizers include sautéed mushrooms, mussels and clams steamed in white wine with garlic and herbs, and a pair of hockey puck–size crab cakes accompanied by a tropical salsa with chunks of papaya, mango, and pineapple. The fresh salads, however, are probably the best way to begin. The California salad — greens, apples, walnuts, feta cheese, red onions, and currants in an apple-honey dressing — is particularly tasty.
The filet mignon, a generous piece of USDA Prime beef served in a brandy-cabernet sauce, is pretty good, but the best options at Citrone seem to be the simple Italian specialties. The penne bathed in a creamy Gorgonzola sauce with tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts is a truly satisfying pasta dish. It comes topped with a choice of grilled chicken or porcini mushrooms and sausage, the latter adding a spiciness that perfectly balances the richness of the cheese.
Other choices include a skinless Pacific Northwest salmon fillet sautéed with butter, lemon, and capers; New Zealand lamb chops with a wild mushroom–red wine reduction; and a vegetarian dish called the "Citrone Stack" — grilled eggplant, tomato, red pepper, potato, red onion, and porcini mushrooms layered with buffalo mozzarella to create a little tower.
Diners who are still hungry after such filling fare can choose from a host of desserts, including Italian delicacies such as rum cake, ricotta pie with berries, and panna cotta.
— Roger J. Grody
You are reading the May/June 2005 issue of Westways. Some information contained in this publication is time-sensitive, and the terms of some offers (cruise or vacation packages, for example) or services (provisions for roadside assistance, for example) might have been superseded by subsequent information and might no longer apply.