|
A
Restaurant with "Chops"
Mandevilla
Management Has Them.
We were recently involved as a consultant in
a real estate rental transaction that involved a Beverly Hills
restaurant agent. This self acclaimed restaurant
maven
(with obvious intimidation in mind), haughtily expressed wonder to
me during negotiations, that in an upscale demographic such as
Ventura County’s Conejo Valley, there were no fine restaurants.
To get an idea of whether he knew what he was
spouting about, I asked him to name his favorites in all of Los
Angeles County. He ran out of steam after 4 that were rather
obvious. In the “dreaded” San Fernando Valley he could name
only one. That sort of turned the intimidation factor around.
|
 |
A clear first in the valley is Pinot
Bistro, Joaquin Splichal's
only decent remaining property except for the new
Patina at The Music Center. It is in Studio City. There are actually only 7
Valley dining spots of any note. Two of the other six are, remarkably, sushi bars, manned
by sushi masters with reputations as big as the heavily hyped Nobu
Matsuhisa. Then there is one
Italian Osteria in Encino, a French Bistro in Burbank, a similar one in
Sherman Oaks and one fish restaurant in Woodland Hills.
Surprisingly Pinot Bistro and the two sushi bars are within a 1 ˝ mile radius on
the East end of the Valley. There are obvious reasons for that. Six
are on heavily food oriented Ventura Blvd. Sadly, Café Bizou,
now somewhat of a zoo, no
longer makes the list. A rather meager situation, in my opinion for a
population base of well over
one million.
You then have to go all the way to
Pasadena to locate food for which the journey is worthwhile.
On the other hand, The Conejo with only 250,000 folks has thirteen, count
‘em, legitimate
excellent restaurants. That’s 8 times the number per person, compared to
the “dreaded” Valley and compares rather favorably with the often equally
“dreaded” West Los Angeles area.
One must be candid, however, and admit that the
latter does have the edge in the “VERY, VERY BIG NAME” category.
Think Josie's, Valentino's, Angelino's, Terza, Bastide (maybe),
Campanile, Matsuhisa and Spago.
Among the true Conejo veterans on that list of 13,
deservedly, is Mandevilla,
somewhat hidden behind the currently burned down Cisco’s on Westlake
Blvd but still packing them in for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.
There are good reasons. Mandevilla, offering serious
and high style Continental Cuisine with an Italian touch has the chops!!!
Manager-owner Tom Sweet has
been in the business for three decades. He has been a manager and an owner
of the venerable Locanda Veneta
group in the city which also includes Ca
Brea, Ca del Sole, Il Moro and
Allegria. That group has been in the forefront of Italian food for
decades. Sweet not only knows what he is doing but he is on the job all
the time. He pays attention.
Then there is chef-owner Nick Blinoff. Nick is also on the job most of the time. He began his career at the The
Blue Fox.
That San Francisco icon pioneered Italo-Continental cuisine over 4 decades ago and for years was considered the
best restaurant in the Bay Area. if not the entire state, by a very sophisticated dining base.
The owners grew old and the offspring proved incompetent. They closed.
Again Blinoff’s experience is evidenced by the fact
that he, also has retained a veteran supporting cast. While many other
local restaurants turn executive chefs, sous chefs and line chefs as fast
as the Dodgers change general managers and third basemen, you see the same faces manning the
open kitchen stoves every time you enter. It doesn’t take much to figure
out that over the years this kitchen and front room management produces
consistent and high quality dining.
|
Mandevilla has a pleasant and subtle look
|
The main dining room somehow always appears as if it
has just been beautifully remodeled. It has a clean, subtly lit look that
provides intimacy while still allowing you to read the menu. The patio has
been fitted with radiant stone heating that comes up from the floor. While
a bit more casual it also has a warm feeling figuratively and actually.
|
 All the serving personnel are well trained, very
amiable and knowledgeable. You will find no Chili or Hooter's amateurs
named Tiffany spilling the soup.
The menu is traditional and extensive but now also
offers the feature of an adventuresome Mandevilla Fall menu.
There are 10 appetizers, 2 soups. 6 salads and 22
main courses plus the Fall menu. Appetizers
include the now historic Manila clams steamed in Garlic broth or Thai
curry(12.50- 16.95 as a main course). Fresh oysters (as
available) are well priced at $16.95 a dozen or $9.50 for 6. Crab cakes
with black bean sauce are $11.50. Salads vary from $5.95 to $9.95.
The usual suspects are available in pasta from $9.95
to $16.95. Risotto with wild mushrooms, tarragon, chicken and mascarpone
is $15.95. Capellini alla Checca is $9.95.
|
On a recent visit, my wife who almost always has those
Manila clams as a main course lunch chose the Halibut with
spinach, Roma tomatoes, roasted garlic and white wine (19.95) .It was
prepared and presented perfectly. I had my usual favorite, Osso Buco
Milanaise with
Risotto (24.50). It was also very well prepared.
I was torn between that
and the classic Po Valley dish also of Northern Italy, "Tortellini a la
Zucca" (pumpkin ravioli) with walnuts. It is
rarely in any restaurants.
Creative and excellent deserts vary with
the season.
Mandevilla has a very sophisticated and fairly priced
wine list. It features wine from Napa, France and the strongly emerging
Southern Hemisphere. There are three especially excellent choices that can
be found in 2 New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs and an Australian Shiraz...
|
Mandevilla Patio is radiant heated from slate floor
|
Mandevilla
951 South Westlake Blvd, Westlake 805-497- 8482 Free
and Easy Adjacent Parking
Most Credit Cards - Open for Lunch 11:30-2:30 Monday - Friday
Dinner 5:30-9:30 Monday-Friday 5:30-10.00 Sat-Sundays
Frankly Noted
Lots happening in the Conejo Right
Now
Most diners that visit the popular Gino's Tratorria
on Thousand Oaks Blvd West of the 23 think that owner Gino
provides more than enough entertainment on his own. In fact some think he
performs too much. But Gino apparently fears no one. He
has announced that as of right now he is offering live jockeyed
Karaoke every Sunday evening. One will wonder whether he can resist
joining in the singing. Let's hope that "Dat's Amore" is not on the
play list.
Gino's serves the best classic Napolitano crisp
thin crust Pizza in the county along with authentic Italian entrees at
friendly neighborhood family prices. Gino's is a real place with down to
earth atmosphere compared to the corporate cookie cutters that recently
opened at The Lakes or is it The Puddles?
Serge Bonnet, the perpetual motion machine at
Cafe Provencal reports that a new menu has now started with
exciting takes on his always creative and well executed Bistro style French
food at continually remarkable prices. He is also now doing serious
and upscale catering. His personality alone is worth the money.
Serge also reports that the Lakes has had an
effect upon his shopping center as people who can't find parking across the
street now park near his Cafe. That would be OK with him if they were real
diners who would realize that they could have a wonderful lunch or dinner
without a 2 hour wait at Cafe Provencal for pennies more than at the
Lakes.
But most of them seem to be parents with youngsters
licking ice cream cones that drip on the parking lot or they are in need of
a glass of water or the bathroom.
John Gress, formerly general manager of Le Cafe
continues to work hard at bringing Le Rendezvous of Newbury Park
into the
21st century. Calling it Tryst at Le Rendezvous is a provocative start. He
has done a limited amount of remodeling and is offering a new luncheon menu
created by his chef from Hawaii who
trained in Japan although she is neither Hawaiian nor Japanese. He has also
replaced most of the servers with young ladies who won't need a cane to get
the food to your table on time.
Most Wednesdays-Fridays he has a fine jazz group playing in the
bar and often combines that with interesting wine tasting and hors
d'oeuvres for $10. it is a great value and attracts a sophisticated
young group who may have never before been inside Le Rendezvous.
As noted “The Lakes” finally opened with its latest
Caruso inspired tribute to semi-
fast food chain mediocrity. It is incredible to me that people would be
willing to wait 1 ˝ hours prox to eat PF Chang style Chinese food cooked
and served by people that may not even know where China is located. The
restaurant has nice statues of horses but the food is just a cut above the
steam tables of Panda Express or the cans of La Choy. Barely.
ALL great and authentic Chinese, Japanese, Thai
and Vietnamese Asian foods are served by the
people of those countries. Period. There are many authentic family
restaurants located in the Conejo that serve wonderful food with short or no waits. They deserve your support.
What do your children learn about reality or
authenticity in the world when they are served Asian food by young round
eyed blonde
girls and boys. Further it is cooked by some guy that didn’t know what a hot wok
was 6 months ago? Your children thus learn that anything can be faked........or frozen.
With all the great family Italian restaurants in the area,
also actually owned by Italians, why would
one want to eat a mass produced pizza from a California Pizza that was started by 2 Beverly Hills(??)
lawyers with no tastebuds? And wait an hour to get it? I don't get it!!!
I am not even going to comment on the advent of yet another
cookie cutter steak house that offers a grilled steak of suspect
origin (certainly not Black Angus or Kobe) that requires no skills in a
harried and annoying atmosphere that you can easily avoid at home with a
Martini or a beer in the relaxed environment of your patio. How long do you have to
wait there?
Of course the real laugher is that The Lakes management
is currently shocked, I mean shocked to discover that some clever diners at these above joints who
may also be going to a Civic Plaza event that evening leave their cars in the parking lot
for most of the night to
avoid a $7 parking tab and 30 minutes inhaling the fumes while trying to
escape the Plaza parking structure. A parking problem is already in
existence at The Lakes and they are now talking about a multi-story parking lot.
Otherwise, I guess they will have to start towing
the cars. Yikes!!!!
If aged prime steak is your real need, you will soon
be able to dine at trendy Mastro’s of Beverly Hills (???) in the old
2087 location
across the street…. and safely leave your car parked free. It
will, however be interesting to see the looks of Conejoites when they
see $40 price tags (or more) on most of the steaks with $8-10 tabs for any
spinach, potato or
onion ring side dish . Of course, they will be saving that $7 parking fee. .
P-6 kept constantly touting itself as an upscale dining
location in an exotic environment. It turned out to be a pickup joint for
the tight leather pants crowd with lots of noise plus suspect food and
service.
 |
 |
Now they announce that they will in fact redo
themselves as that oft promised upscale dining facility but with a brand new
serving and culinary team… all done instantaneously. This is certainly the
century of “Instant Gratification”.
But the P-6 swingers can now do their seam busting strut
and dancing at the sister
Chapter 8 in Agoura in the remodeled Hamburger Hamlet location.
So far at least
they have made no claims about upscale dining.
It is amazing to me that in the Ventura County Star
letters to the Editor as well as in various conversations, all our
citizens constantly decry the loss of the reality of those relaxed good old
traffic free uncrowded days in Thousand Oaks.
Yet given any opportunity, they flock to all
these local crowded, noisy, phony joints of the "dreaded" big city, wait an hour to get
35 minutes of food
thrown at them by servers that don’t know the difference between a fork and
a spoon. It's like dining at Wal-Mart.
Why not support your local and authentic neighborhood
restaurants?. We have an abundance of every authentic ethnic spot in the Conejo. You’ll feel better
about yourself when you do. Prices are about the same. None of the wait people will have name tags
telling you that their name is Tiffany and that they are at your
service.
|
