MARIANI’S

  November 13, 2005                                                        NEWSLETTER

   "The Fog Warning" by Winslow Homer (1885)

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In This Issue

Taking in Northern California  by John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER

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                                                           Big Sur (2005)   Photo: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery

   Someone once said about Ava Gardner, “When God made Ava Gardner, he lingered over the job.” Which is exactly the way I feel about California’s Big Sur the coastline that wriggles south of Carmel with all four natural elements in glorious play in every season.  Few vistas in the world offer the drama, the power, and the ever-changing light and color of this unique stretch of the Pacific Coast, and poets, painters and photographers have found  its  beauty as terrifying as it  is sublime.
     Jack Kerouac moved here in 1961 and published his last novel, Big Sur, about his recovery from alcoholism, when he found nature's fury a mirror of his own  harrowed self, with "those heartless breakers busting in on sand higher than earth and looking like the heartlessness of wisdom --Besides I suddenly notice as if for the first time the awful way the leaves of the canyon that have managed to be blown to the surf are all hesitantly advancing in gusts of wind then finally plunging into the surf, to be dispersed and belted and melted and taken off to sea --I turn around and notice how the wind is just harrying them off trees and into the sea, just hurrying them as it were to death --In my condition they look human trembling to that brink --Hastening, hastening ---In that awful huge roar blast of autumn Sur wind."
      Which is not, I’m happy to say, the impression most people get when first exposed to an area protected by the Big Sur Land trust that prevents it from being inundated with hotels, resorts, and eateries. The Chamber of Commerce lists only 13 restaurants and 15 inns along its winding stretch,  and 95 percent of the region is composed of the Ventana Wilderness.
    Still, one might have to stay somewhere after having one’s breath taken away by the thrill of driving along the serpentine Highway One, and in that regard I would certainly recommend pulling off the road and checking into the breathtaking VENTANA INN  & SPA (Hwy. One, Big Sur; 831-667-2331; www.ventanainn.com), situated on 243 acres, 1,200 feet above the ocean. It’s said you can see for about 50 miles of the Pacific from one’s vantage point here, surrounded by meadows and woods of redwood and bay laurel. Fog rolls in in the mornings, the sun breaks and hides throughout the day, and hawks arc the moonlit skies.
     Ventana, built by producer Lawrence Spector and designed by artist Kipp Stewart, opened in 1975 (it is now owned by Crescent Real Estate Equities, Ltd. out of Fort Worth), has 60 rooms and suites (above) spread through a dozen one- and two-story cedar buildings, most with fireplaces that are an enchantment when the nights drop to a lovely low of 50 degrees, rarely lower.  Some rooms, as shown in the photo at left, have a grand Pacific view.
     The facilities here are all first rate, fitted into the Northern California style of connecting to Nature rather than molding it, from the famous Allegria Spa to a library with more than 1,200 books.  This being California, free yoga and Tai Chi classes are offered daily, and there are assorted Japanese hot tubs and saunas, two lap pools, and holistic services. I, more hedonistic than  holistic, availed myself of a standard deep massage that sent me back to my room walking on air and straight to the couch for a nap.
     The big, angular, open-kitchen restaurant here, Cielo (below), has the same expansive views of the territory as all else at Ventana, and its finely wrought interiors of stone and cedar, redwood and western artifacts fit impeccably into the region as exemplary, good  design.  Much of the kitchen's provender is from Ventana's own gardens, and all food is organic.  The wine list here, now with 600 labels, has been awarded a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.
    Cielo's menu is described as “Mediterranean,” although it is Med Lite, in keeping with the Spa theme at Ventana (several dishes are tagged as "Allegria Spa Cuisine").  Chef Anthony Calamari has had experience cooking in Provence, as well as highly regarded San Francisco restaurants like La Folie, Fleur de Lys, and Masa’s, so his food has a good deal of finesse; I’d like it to have somewhat more heft--butter and cream is not a crime, even in California--for those not interested in the mantra of spa philosophy.
     For those eschewing spa food, however, there is seared Sonoma foie gras on brioche with huckleberry syrup, a 16-ounce sirloin with Gorgonzola sauce, and tarragon-scented chicken breast with Dungeness crabmeat and crayfish napped with a chardonnay butter sauce.
      Room rates range from $340-$1,450. 

     I must admit that Carmel has, under constant attack by hordes of tourists, become a lot more cutesey than charming.  Every block seems now lined with real estate agencies, clothing boutiques, jewelry stores, and art galleries with the usual mix of 95 percent bad art (much of it neon-colored scenes of Big Sur) and five percent fine art.  The town no longer seems to belong to the Carmelites but to those who traipse through in search of something quaint that was lost a long time ago.
    L’AUBERGE CARMEL (Monte Verde, Carmel-by-the-Sea; 831-624-8578; www.laubergecarmel.com), however, restores the balance of the town's natural setting and the onset of upscale tourism by reconverting a well-known 1929 three-story, wood-and-stucco building with a brick courtyard (now hiding beneath it a 4,500 bottle wine cellar) into one of the loveliest and most evocative of inns on the Pacific coast.
     Owner David Fink, who also runs Bouchée and comes with a long résumé of running fine hotels in the area, has refurbished the 20 guest rooms, adding modern bathrooms with hammered copper sinks. His wife Kathleen did the interior design, which includes dramatically beautiful photography of the area by Helmut Horn.  The service staff hits that dear equilibrium of friendliness and taut efficiency that’s become the hallmark of the best American hospitality.

     The dining room at L’Auberge Carmel, under Chef Walter Manzke, his wife, pastry chef Margarita, and sommelier Thomas Perez, is an attempt to reflect the style of Napa Valley’s vaunted French Laundry, where long. multi-course menus based on the day’s ingredients guide the evening.  Depending on your personal tolerance level, this can be both a grand gastronomic feast or something of an endurance trial.

     Thus you might begin, as did I, with a starter called “Water,” by which tomato water is a motif for a tiny shrimp on a stick, a tinier “deconstructed lobster taco,” and a little pouf called "Bloody Mary." This was followed by more tomato preparations, including a single scallop with California caviar, a dish of watermelon with Speck ham and extra virgin olive oil (not a great idea), and fine-grained tuna with Asian pepper and yuzu.
        From here the evening swirled with dishes like Dungeness crab with a corn-curry soup, Vietnamese salad and spicy peanut sauce and a superb red abalone with fingerling potato fourchette and lobster-truffle sauce. So often abalone, which is very expensive, isn’t worth the effort or money; this dish was, tender and flavorful on its own and well served by its ingredients. And there was no surcharge for it.
     “Kansas red wattle pig” was very good but about the smallest morsel of meat I’ve ever seen on a plate, with about six lentils on the side.  Not much larger was a Snake River Farm Kobe-style ribeye of beef with sugar-braised short rib “Rossini,” which was absolutely delicious but, despite all the food up to that point, I could have eaten yet another rib, despite its richness.
    Then came tiny cuts of cheese, then two desserts, the better being chocolate beignets with hazelnut hot chocolate and banana ice cream.
    I haven’t listed all the courses I had, some wonderful, others mere conceits, and I wondered why so much fuss was put into everything, including having every dish described in detail by the waiters, despite those details being amply spelled out on the menu; the sommelier also spends a great deal of time belaboring both the obscure and the obvious about his choices of wines.  I didn’t find several of  his 10 choices for our dinner particularly palatable, including a dreary Crocker & Star Sauvignon Blanc 2004 and a dreadful Robert Talbot “Cuvée Audrey” Chardonnay 2001 made in nearby Monterey. We also had no wine served for the first 25 minutes we were in the 12-table dining room.
     L’Auberge Carmel is a special place not because of its location but because it actually enhances its location, and the restaurant here is aiming very high, beyond anything on this stretch of the California coast right now. If Mr. Manzke were to offer an à la carte menu with larger portions for those who are not up to the tasting menu, this would be an even finer restaurant than it already is.
    Fixed price dinner is $85, with a 20 percent service charge automatically added on.

    Now celebrating its 75th birthday, The Carlyle Hotel has, like London's Connaught (click), a genteel style with the addition of a great deal of New York swagger and sophistication.  Famous for its Café Carlyle where for decades Bobby Short regaled the swells and now a parade of the best club singers in the business appear,  the hotel also is home to the charmingly raffish Bemelmans Bar, with its famous murals by Ludwig Bemelmans and the more-or-less weekly appearance by Woody Allen on clarinet with a New Orleans jazz band.
     The dining room here, now called the Carlyle Restaurant, has seen a number of changes in recent years in an effort to brighten the ambiance and the clientele, which was for years getting a bit long in the tooth.   Designer Thierry Despont has overseen recent renovations throughout these public spaces, including a new art deco-style carpet that fits beautifully with the mix of chocolate brown banquettes, superb table appointments, including glowing little lamps, and the feeling of an English drawing room circa 1930 with a discernible swank.
     There have also been changes of chef: the last was Jean-Louis Dumonet, whose name was tagged to the dining room for a while; now his protegé, Jimmy Sakatos, working with consulting master chef Christian Delouvrier (lately of Alain Ducasse NY), is still delivering a good deal of classic French cuisine with a contemporary flair while adding more than a few personal touches of the Mediterranean that come from his  spending childhood summers on Cyprus, where he learned to love the cooking and traditions of the region.  This has led him to put a signature Salad Grecque on the menu. And he promises more Greco-Mediterranean dishes this winter that should further distinguish the restaurant without removing old favorites.
      At a recent dinner my wife and I ate from all over the menu, beginning with a crystal fresh tartare of hamachi and blue fin tuna with tat soi, mizuna, balsamic and soy.  Risotto with creamy asiago cheese and a touch of purslane was delicious in a homey way for a fall evening, and a generously proportioned lobster salad (left) cames with ripe avocado, arugula, tomatoes, and pea shoots. A little sip of butternut squash soup with a ragoût of duck prosciutto and Brussels sprouts was a lovely amuse gueule.

     Why am I running into so many bland halibut dishes these days?  Is it the fish itself, which is not a species with a great deal of flavor all its own?  Sakatos braises it in its own juices, with a pleasing mousseline of sunchokes and a classic sauce dugléré that needed more butter to enhance the fish. Flavor was abundant, however, in a roast lobster with a richly reduced sauce Americaine, though the accompanying basmati rice gained nothing from being truffled.
      The great dish here  is the roasted blue foot chicken (below), a California import that does indeed have blue legs that are none too pretty upon presentation; the beauty is in the flavor.  Sakatos roasts it to a perfect turn, the juices of the bird flow and absorb the flavors of cèpes and ooze around the fingerling potatoes.  The chicken itself has terrific taste, akin to the famous poulet de Bresse of France, but, quite a bit less in price.
     For dessert you can pretty much choose with your eyes closed--rhubarb tart with crème fraîche in a strawberry consommé; chocolate macaroons with glazed chestnut ice cream and warm chocolate sauce; a warm brioche pudding with vanilla ice cream and crème anglaise; and picture perfect soufflés.
      The wine list has both substance and depth, though it is not exactly rife with inexpensive bottlings.  A new, young sommelier has just come aboard, so I hope that  she rights the balance between trophy bottles and affordable gems.
   That the Carlyle Hotel has managed to flourish for three-quarters of a century is a fine thing on its own. That the restaurant has been able to evolve with the times and show a new youthfulness in Mr. Sakatos' style means that anyone who has never dined here, or hasn't in a long time, should go and experience an evening of posh not so easily found anymore in New York, where bare tables and loud music proliferate for a crowd in $150 bluejeans.
    The menu at the Carlyle Restaurant is categorized by price--$15 for appetizers (with supplements) and entrees at $42 (with too many supplements); plats du jour at $32.

Q. What does your food magazine offer that others don't?
A. Well, there's a pet feature in every issue; don't think you'll find that in other food mags.  We offer recipes, such as canine risotto with organic chicken stock. We call it Boosotto, named after my late pit bull.  I love animals, and I think that they should also be able to eat well and healthy too.--Rachael Ray  in an interview in USA Today (Oct. 7, 2005).

WHY THERE'LL ALWAYS BE AN ENGLAND

* Arizona’s  L’Auberge de Sedona welcomes wine lovers to participate in a new, weekly  “Winemaker’s Discovery” package, developed in partnership with Sedona’s Page Springs Vineyards and Cellars, incl. luxury accommodations, an educational tour of a local winery and tasting, an evening of personal instruction from L’Auberge’s wine director, a private tour of L’Auberge de Sedona’s wine cellar, a 5-course tasting dinner at L’Auberge Restaurant with wine parings.  The 2-night starts at $599 per person; Single occupancy, $799.     Call 1-800-272-6777.

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,  Naomi  Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson,  Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,  Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Bloomberg News and Radio, and Diversion.  He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).

 Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.

copyright John Mariani 2005