Delicious View
This inspired café overlooks the Marina, but overlooks little in the kitchen
By Richard Foss
I like knowing the provenance of my food. If the crucial ingredient in a salad is a delightful Welsh cheese, I want to know what it is called so I can get some for later. Still, I’m not sure what good it does to know that the wild striped bass at Café Del Rey was caught by Captain Ron Tomas of the boat Miss Susan off the shore of Long Island, New York.
The fact that the menu told us this information gave my dining companion a giggle. If we liked the fish, could we call Captain Ron and ask him to go back to the same spot can catch some more for us? Probably not, but the data gave us an idea of what to expect here – fanatical devotion to top quality ingredients.
Which doesn’t mean that every dish is spot-on every time. I visited twice in one week, and on the first dinner there were spectacular successes and puzzling omissions. Wonderful oysters were drenched in citrusy yuzu sauce that hid the gentle shellfish flavor, and the chocolate profiteroles with a chocolate sauce were so one-note that we didn’t finish them. These were more than balanced by the wild halibut over asparagus with horseradish sauce and wild oxtail risotto, an audacious and completely successful pairing of seafood with full, savory flavors. The evening was so interesting that I went back two days later for lunch just to see what they’d do this time.
The room had been romantically lit at night, but by day the dazzling view of the harbor took center stage. We perused the menu and scenery and sipped from glasses of Orvieto and Pinot Grigio. We were tempted by Colorado lamb sirloin with cranberry-almond couscous, and considered ordering steak frites when an order went by looking luscious, but eventually decided on a Dungeness crab melt ($18) and the daily bento box ($22). We spent the wait enjoying the view and nibbling bread – raisin, olive, and ciabatta, and all excellent.
I had ordered the Dungeness crab melt precisely because I’m not usually a big fan of Dungeness crab – I sometimes order things I don’t like just to see if a restaurant can change my mind. Dungeness crab has a less oily texture than the Chesapeake crab I prefer, and I now know that Dungeness is a perfect choice for a pairing with Swiss cheese. This crabcake was very light and had just enough breading to hold things together, with subtle herbs that accented but didn’t overwhelm the seafood flavor. It was served open-faced alongside freshly cut and very good thin fries, and was a fine and filling lunch.
My companion’s bento box was actually four small dishes in a larger tray rather than the traditional Japanese multi-compartment lunchbox. There was little that was Asian about the contents except for the slices of Jidori chicken breast, and even that was served over mashed potatoes rather than rice. The other items were an artichoke salad with orange slices, fennel, and baby arugula, cheese ravioli, and a thin slice of quiche with salad. The artichoke salad was the most interesting, with a subtle blend of unexpected textures and flavors. We savored the different vegetable textures and flavors, the artichoke slightly nutty, fennel fresh and mild, and sweet orange balanced with fresh greens. The quiche and ravioli were contrasts to this, both explorations of cheesy and buttery flavors with savory herbs, and we alternated bites with the salad to enjoy the effect. We both treated the chicken like a main course and saved it for last, and enjoyed the unusually flavorful meat with delicate stock sauce. Jidori has been called “the Kobe beef of chicken” which is entirely inaccurate – beef raised in pampered and artificial conditions is unusually tender but flavorless, while the free-range Jidoris have much more flavor than factory farm birds.
We finished with a sampler of sherbets that was included with the bento box, a refreshing end to a very good meal. The lunch for two ran $60, not bad for an elegant break at midday with excellent service.
Café Del Rey, 4451 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey. Full bar, valet parking, wheelchair access good, vegetarian-friendly. Open daily for lunch and dinner. For reservations, call (310) 823-6395.
Published: 03/06/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
