805 Living Dining Blog: Angie Eats
Welcome to the 805 Living Dining Blog where our Dining Editor, Angela Pettera, keeps you up to date on restaurant happenings in the 805. To send her your tips and comments, email angela@805living.com. Happy eating!
Events listed on the blog are subject to change. Please contact the restaurants to confirm availability and details.
Wine and Limoncello Dinner at Tuscany
Sunday, March 21st, 6:30 p.m.
Tuscany Il Ristorante has created a four-course meal with hors d’ oeuvres to be served with Ventura Limoncello Company liqueurs and Italian wines. Ventura Limoncello Limosa will accompany small roasted tomato tarts and lemon-risotto croquettes with shrimp. The appetizer is a crab and asparagus salad paired with a Tuscan white Sangria. The first course is a Scottish salmon marinated in Limoncello and served with a fennel-orange salad and a 2008 Sauvignon. For the main course you’ll have a surf and turf combo (shrimp and filet mignon) along with potatoes mashed with lemon oil and a 2005 Super Tuscan. Dessert is a tiramisu made with Limoncello and served with Limoncello Crema Liqueur. The price is $65.
Tuscany il Ristorante, 968 S. Westlake Blvd., Westlake Village, 805-495-2768
Entertainment Schedule at Fiamme
month of March
Fiamme Restaurant & Bar has a stage in its dining room where live bands come to play. The Club Inferno lineup for March is as follows:
March 5th: Uncorked with Chris Wooly & Tim Godwin
March 6th: Special Blend
March 11th: Rosemary Butler
March 12th: Uncorked
March 13th: Rick Whitfield
March 18th: Nuklhedz
March 19th: The Ralph Mathis Band
March 20th: Michael Falcone Trio
March 25th: Rosemary Butler
March 26th: Round Trip Band
March 27th: Rick Whitfield
Full dinners can be ordered while watching the entertainment. Fiamme also has a full bar available. For tickets, visit www.reservationgenie.com.
Fiamme Restaurant & Bar, 3731 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 805-497-9444
Taste of Solvang
March 14-18
It’s time again for the annual Taste of Solvang Festival. This 18th edition begins with Restaurant Week, where many of Solvang’s best restaurants offer three-course meals for only $20.10 plus tax, tip and beverage. This year, the participating restaurants include Root 246, Hadsten House, Mirabelle, Kabuki, Bit O’ Denmark, Red Viking, and River Grill at the Alisal. Visit the Solvang Conference and Visitors Bureau website for a complete list of participating restaurants.
The luscious Dessert Reception takes place on Friday, March 19th from 7-9 p.m. Tickets are $25.
The Walking Smorgaasbord on Saturday, March 20th from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. features 40 taste stops around Solvang village. Tickets are $30.
The Wine Tasting-Room Walk on Saturday, from 6-9 p.m. offers sips from more than a dozen vintners. Tickets which include a souvenir wine glass are $35.
The weekend winds to a close with live entertainment on Sunday, March 21st from noon - 3 p.m. in Solvang Park where people are encouraged to bring their own picnics.
For tickets and more information, visit the official website at www.SolvangUSA.com.
Monday Night Suppers at Artisan
On Monday nights brothers Chris and Mike Kobayashi serve family-style suppers at their modern American restaurant, Artisan, in Paso Robles. These meals have three courses and cost only $38 per person. Each Monday meal showcases a different farmer and each week a vintner or craft brewer will be on hand to pour spirits to anyone wanting to imbibe. The alcohol is offered at an additional price.
For the month of March the farms and wineries/brewers being showcased are as follows:
March 1st: Thomas Hill Organics (duck leg confit with green garlic, crispy pork belly with greens); Aaron Wines & Peachy Canyon Winery
March 8th: Pier 46 Seafood Market (fish & chips, prawn and lobster pot pie); Firestone Brewing Co. beers
March 15th: Rinconada Dairy; Ranchero Cellars and J Dusi Wines
March 22nd: Dos Pasos Ranch; Anglim Winery & Ecluse Wines
March 29th: Peacock Family Farm; Four Vines Winery
Artisan, 1401 Park Street, Paso Robles, 805-237-8084
New Dining Options at Hampton’s
Hampton’s in the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village has some new dining options available. For a real dining deal, there’s the Taste of Hampton’s: a three-course meal (app, entree, dessert) prepared by the Chef de Cuisine Richard Hoffman (pictured above on the right) for only $45 plus tax and tip.
Spa dishes have been added to Hampton’s menu for those looking to reign in calories and saturated fats. You’ll also see new spa dishes on the Lobby Lounge and Onyx menus.
Hampton’s, 2 Dole Drive, Westlake Village, 818-575-3000
www.fourseasons.com/westlakevillage/dining.html
“Go Green” Dinner at Fleming’s
Tuesday, March 5th, 6:30 p.m.
Experience a bit o’ the Irish spirit at Fleming’s before St. Patrick’s Day arrives. Three courses of food inspired by Ireland’s bounty will be paired with “green” (a.k.a. earth-friendly) wines. Before the meal, Irish cheeses will be passed around with a Loosen Bros. Riesling. The first course is citrus-cured salmon on potato boxty with a sustainable white wine from Parducci. Irish-style filet mignon will be served with a Chelsea Goldschmidt Merlot. And finally, a Guiness-Stout chocolate cake comes with coffee or tea. The price is only $55 plus tax and tip.
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 6373 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills, 818-346-1005
Wine Dinner at Cosmos Grill
Monday, March 8th, 6:30 p.m.
Neil McNally, Director of Rosenthal winery, will be on hand to discuss Rosenthal and Surfrider wines made in Malibu. Cosmos Grill will be serving a four-course meal of soba noodles with Ahi tuna, arugula and pear salad, veal scaloppine, and chocolate mousse to go with the four wines. The price is $75 per person.
Cosmos Grill, 23663 Calabasas Road, Calabasas, 818-591-2211
Townhouse Kitchen + Bar Opens
Townhouse Kitchen + Bar has recently opened in the Sherman Oaks Galleria space which once house the Macaroni Grill. Townhouse’s decor is much trendier, more at an upscale Sports Bar. The dominant feature of the restaurant is a huge granite-topped bar with pub tables all around. In the back are slightly quieter booths for full dining but you can still view some of the 14 flat-screen TVs showing different sporting events. The menu is eclectic American with small plates like roasted red-pepper hummus and pork-belly sliders; sandwiches like the Cubano or grilled Portobello with Brie; and entrees like lemon-pesto shrimp pasta and grilled skirt steak. Plates cost between $5.99 (for deviled eggs dotted with sriracha sauce) and $18.99 (for mac & cheese with lobster).
On Valentine’s Day, Townhouse is serving a 4-course meal with a bubble-gum martini for $70 per couple. The main course is the diner’s choice of four-cheese ravioli with a seafood sauce or roasted chicken with a mushroom duxelles (a spread with shallots, herbs, butter and ’shrooms).
Townhouse is open daily for lunch and dinner.
Townhouse Kitchen + Bar, in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, 15301 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 818-453-9900
Valentine Dining
Some restaurants are celebrating Cupid’s favorite holiday from Friday through Sunday with special prix-fixe menus. Others are rolling out special menus for just Saturday & Sunday or Sunday only (scroll to the end for those).
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Feb. 12-14
Artisan in Paso Robles has both a la carte specials and a 5-course tasting menu for $69. On Friday for lunch and dinner there are the specials, on Saturday and Sunday nights the tasting menu is on offer, and on Sunday a special brunch menu will be served from 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Cafe Provencal in Thousand Oaks has a 4-course meal for $45. The two starter courses are a lobster spring roll and a cup of tomato bisque. Choose salmon or filet mignon for the main course. Dessert is a peach surprise.
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Woodland Hills has created sharing menus for couples wanting to get cozy this weekend. The two different family-style meals include a Porterhouse steak meal for $98 per couple and a surf & turf meal for $89 per twosome. These dinners come with salad, potato and vegetables. The regular a la carte menu is also available, along with drink and dessert specials. Every table in the dining room this weekend will receive a Fleming’s gift card worth $25 (good toward a future visit in March).
The SideCar Restaurant in Ventura will take its holiday menu through Monday for those who can’t make it Friday, Saturday or Sunday. A 5-course meal begins with an Ahi tuna tartar, English pea soup, and a beet salad. The main course is your choice of filet mignon, halibut, or mushroom gnocchi. Dessert is a flourless chocolate cake.
Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 13 & 14
Saddle Peak Lodge will replace its regular menu this weekend with a four-course Valentine menu served from 5-10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Dishes include poached kumamoto oysters, black truffle soup with celery root, pan-roasted loup de mer (French fish), wild mushroom agnolotti, and a cheese plate with fruit and nut bread. The price is $125 per person. Wines can be paired with 4 courses for an additional $60 per person.
Sunday only, Feb. 14
Mary’s Secret Garden in Ventura is normally closed on Sundays, but Mary is making an exception this week. For Valentine’s Day she’s created a 4-course vegan/raw menu with a glass of Champagne for $70. Reservations are being taken from 5-9 p.m. at this organic, vegan cafe.
Haiti Benefit at Brooks
Thursday, Feb. 11th, 5 p.m. - closing
Restaurant Brooks is hosting a 4-course dinner benefiting the Haitian orphanage, The Children of Mary, Mother of the Divine Mercy. Fritz Leon, a Ventura local and native Haitian, will personally deliver the funds raised from this evening’s reservations to the orphanage at the end of February.
The menu celebrates Haitian cuisine with an okra and crab callaloo (a kind of Caribbean stew), seared tilapia with a yam cake, rum-roasted pork loin with corn pudding, and banana fritters with coconut sauce. The price is $50 which includes an apricot brandy and rum cocktail. Wines can be paired with each course for an additional $15. Reservations will be taken from 5 p.m. to closing.
Brooks, 545 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura, 805-652-7070
Retro Cocktails at Saddle Peak Lodge
The February issue of 805 Living Magazine has a story called “Classic Contemporary Drinks: Vintage Cocktails Go Retro.” As if to coincide with that story, Saddle Peak Lodge mixologist Chris Barragan has come out with a Prohibition-Era drink menu. Actually, we received a press release about the vintage drink menu just before our issue came out, so I guess it’s just in the zeitgeist right now. Barragan was quoted in the release as saying,
“Prohibition, with the speakeasies and fedoras, was an intriguing time in American history. Many drinks were made with gin because gin was cheap and easy to produce. Our classic cocktail menu is an interpretation of some of the more popular drinks enjoyed behind closed doors and, of course, we use only the finest of gins, bourbons and whiskeys.”
On the vintage cocktail menu you’ll find the Mint Julep, Negroni, Papa Hemingway Daiquiri, Sazerac, Mojito, and the Manhattan.
Saddle Peak Lodge, 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas, 818-222-3888
Farmers Market Deliveries
A company called Local Harvest Delivery has been launched in Santa Barbara. Julie Beaumont and Sarah Coffman have teamed up to bring their subscribers produce from the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. A Little Harvest Box is only $30 per week and has enough fresh produce for 1-2 people. Subscribers can opt out of non-favorite veggies like radishes or bok choy and opt in for extras like ciabatta from Our Daily Bread, Santa Barbara Roasting Co. coffee, Joelle olive oil, Marcie’s pies, honey from San Marcos Farms, cheese, nuts, dried fruits and/or eggs. Boxes are dropped off every Saturday at subcribers’ homes in Santa Barbara, Goleta, Montecito and Summerland.
http://www.localharvestdelivery.com/
Cafe Provencal MT$30 Dinners
Monday and Tuesday nights
Cafe Provencal is offering a 3-course meal plus one glass of wine for $30 every Monday and Tuesday night. Each course will have multiple choices and changes weekly. One recent dinner consisted of shrimp Caesar salad, braised short ribs with mashed potatoes, and chocolate mousse. Just ask for the MT$30 dinner.
Cafe Provencal, 2310 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 805-496-7121
Tierra Sur Wine Festival
Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 7 p.m.
Tierra Sur is hosting its 3rd International Food & Wine Festival with vintners from France, Spain, Israel and California on Wednesday. In the afternoon a trade event takes place, but the evening is open to the public. Chef Todd Aarons will prepare Mediterranean cuisine and many of the winemakers will be on hand to discuss their products. One ticket costs $100, but you can buy two or more for $75 each. Herzog Wine Club members pay $50 per ticket.
Tierra Sur at Herzog Wine Cellars, 3201 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard, 805-983-1560
http://www.herzogwinecellars.com/html/eventscalendar.html
FYI, Tierra Sur is no longer serving lunch on Fridays but they are now open from 7-10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights serving tapas, cocktails, and wine.
New Chef at Sagebrush Cantina
The Sagebrush Cantina in Old Town Calabasas announced in a press release the hiring of new chef Salvador Morales. Morales hails from El Santo Cayote in the Melrose area and El Toro Cantina in mid-Wilshire. He specializes in marinated grilled meats, fresh salsas, and endless taco variations. Morales will create dinner specials using seasonal ingredients like cactus paddles. He will also add more vegetarian dishes to the menu along with whole baked fish and ceviche.
The Sagebrush Cantina, 23527 Calabasas Road, Calabasas, 818-222-6062
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