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.
“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