I love this time of year! Buds are bursting, surf’s up, and the weather seems softer, luring the soul outdoors in a great exploration of everything new and, as yet unseen. Yes, springtime is my season for wandering out-in my case, for artful voyeurism. This month brings the Pasadena Design Showcase, Malibu Methodist’s Cooks’ Tour and the Venice Art Walk-all places where I can soak up high style while peaking into designer kitchens. Tastings along the way range from the mundane, Chips Ahoy cookies in the studios of starving artists, to divine, the catered fare on Malibu’s tour. The tastiest ticket left is the Art Walk’s Docent Tour where art-starved patrons dine sumptuously at Jiraffe or Pearl Dragon after traipsing through stylish homes, the steel and stucco portfolios of famous architects (www.venicefamilyclinic.org). If you go to the Art Walk, plan ahead for great neighborhood dining. Suggestions:
Lilly’s: It feels like a Paris back-street bistro dropped at the beach and given sunshades. The food is that good and that authentic-the kind scrawled on chalkboards in that distinctive Gallic script-croque monsieur, steak frites, soupe `a l’oigon. Sit outside if the day is nice, the garden is a Venice Beach oasis.
Abbott’s Pizza: This hole in the wall, with its battered screen door and high-gloss paint splashed an un-determinant creamy green, is so low-key ’50s it would be a secret but for the line snaking along the sidewalk. All the toppings are fresh and the crust chewy and crispy in that mysterious alchemy that only the best pizzerias produce. The vegetarian is a masterpiece of roasted squashes and peppers with an every-seed crust. Mmmmm.
Axe: Pronounced “ah-shay,” friends tell me this new caf features artsy-minimalist, healthy and delicious entrees. Lewin Wertheimer, a Venice architect of many laurels and impeccable taste in all the arts, recommends the Aioli Olio Pasta with Grilled Chicken.
Killer Shrimp: How a restaurant whose name suggests ptomaine and with no curb appeal (since it’s upstairs and off the street) became a booming success testifies to great food. I’m sure they offer something other than the eponymous dish, but Killer Shrimp is what the crowds come for, and come for again. It’s gooey, rich and a little bit spicy, so addictive that the loaves of freshly baked bread they serve for sopping up sauce disappear as fast as the shrimp. A decadent, waistband-popping dinner, best reserved for a day you ran the marathon or beat a pro at tennis.
Writing about art, fine and culinary, begs a serious question: What separates “art” from “artisanal,” a word often applied to high levels of culinary craftsmanship? We have artisanal cheeses like the palate-pleasing goat cheeses from Redwood Hill Farms (Santa Monica’s Farmers Market) and artisanal breads from La Brea Bakery. Most chefs are artisans, culinary school craftsmen reproducing traditional sauces and roasting/basting/baking “just so.” Some go on to apprentice under renowned chefs, learning to adapt their school skills by replicating a higher art form, a bit like the French art students who set up their easels in front of the Mona Lisa to copy the master. A very few chefs take wing and create masterpieces of their own.
One who did is Thomas Keller of the Napa Valley’s French Laundry. Famed for offering diners a salmon tartare “ice cream cone” with its menus, Keller re-invented dozens of traditional recipes by reducing them to their most elemental form, then elevating them by intensifying key flavors. Linguine with clam sauce becomes a rich roll of skinny pasta wrapped around a succulent, poached clam and served in the shell as a canap. Lobster is lightly steamed, then butter braised for sweeter flavor and moist, tender meat. If you haven’t seen “The French Laundry Cookbook,” it’s a work of art in its own right, perhaps the most beautiful cookbook ever printed. All Keller’s recipes and techniques are fully described and pictured, but if you want to try their lobster entre and my lobster bisque, write malibuwayoflife@aol.com.
Malibu is in the enviable position of having two new chefs with Keller credentials- Warren Schwartz at Saddle Peak Lodge and Duncan Firth at Malibu Kitchen. Firth worked for Keller at Bouchon, his picnic caf and, although he wasn’t quite ready for a tasting when we went to press, Schwartz is at full strength and impressive. If you can’t handle steaming your own lobster, try his exceptional salad with citrus vinaigrette. I almost ordered a second portion for dessert (but then I’d have had to skip the equally addictive Bananas Foster).
Schwartz is a local boy made very, very good. Brought up in Woodland Hills and trained at Patina and the illustrious Lark Creek Inn, he traveled throughout France studying with Ducasse and Keller. With a passion for perfection in the fine art of feeding people, Schwartz has been tweaking Saddle Peak’s menu to offer brighter, fresher and more inventive offerings. Expect real artistry when you book a table – and book soon: 310.456.7325.