Food 8
A newspaper with issues
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009
The Re-View Merv Hecht
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Brunch, not so much YEARS AGO, THE LAST TIME I ATE BRUNCH
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at the Huntley hotel, it was a Mexican restaurant with a guitar player and a lot of airline employees drinking Margaritas. It’s changed! It’s now an attractive space decorated in white with the same great view, but a more attractive bar and setting in general. It’s appropriately called The Penthouse. At brunch, coffee and water came quickly, but the rest of the service was really slow. When I asked the manager why the service was so slow, he explained that in a hotel breakfast room you never know how many people are going to show up, so you never know how many waiters to have on hand. There was a party in the private area with about 60 people, apparently unexpected, so they were short of waiters. Welcome to the restaurant business! The menu was fine, with all the usual suspects for a first class brunch. When a waiter finally showed up, his first job was to try and sell me a bottle of overpriced water, which I declined. I explained to him that I pay property tax which includes a water purification charge, so I have to get my money’s worth. Most of the prices on the menu were only slightly overpriced. The fish platter was $21, the John Dory $24, and the petit filet $28. So I took the fish platter. Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with the couple at the next table. He had the egg white omelet, which looked very nice. She had the corned beef hash, which looked terrible. Instead of hash it was cubes of corned beef with cubes of potatoes. But she liked it. At the table on the other side, a dainty blond had ordered the banana waffle, ate about one-fourth of it, and switched to coffee. But it too looked delicious. My fish platter arrived. It was a nice presentation on a long plate with the fish on one side and chopped egg yolk, egg whites, onion and olives and capers arranged on the right side. But the quality and preparation of the fish was disappointing. The sturgeon had been nicely smoked, but was way too salty. It improved with cream cheese, which cut the salt flavor a bit. But the graved lox, while a nice texture, had an unusual flavor suggesting it had been marinated in something other than the salt and sugar (with a brick on top) used for the traditional graved lox. There was enough for two (my second pet peeve, along with the bottled water thing) but I didn’t bother to take it home for the dog. So I probably ordered the wrong thing. The eggs Benedict at a nearby table looked delicious. The coffee and orange juice was good. And the ambiance was wonderful. Not a bad spot for brunch, but stick with the eggs.
But that’s not the end of the story. I loved the atmosphere so much, I decided to come
THE EGGS BENEDICT AT A NEARBY TABLE LOOKED DELICIOUS. THE COFFEE AND ORANGE JUICE WAS GOOD. AND THE AMBIANCE WAS WONDERFUL. NOT A BAD SPOT FOR BRUNCH, BUT STICK WITH THE EGGS. back during a weeknight (when not crowded, I wrongly assumed) and check out the bar scene. This was particularly appropriate since my only single son was in town from Tokyo and wanted to go out for a drink with his (attractive) travel agent. Since dad always picks up the tab, dad is always a welcome companion on these excursions. We went in on a Thursday night, and it was quite a scene. Instead of the quiet, staid hotel bar I expected, the place was hopping. With luck we found three seats at the bar and ordered three of the special mixed drinks off the menu. Each one was delicious and quite special. The manager, Anthony, came over and introduced himself and told me a bit about the food and the wine. We discovered they had a few wines on the wine list that I imported, and he knew about them. When he showed us the late night snack menu, we were impressed, and ordered some appetizers. Then I walked around and looked at the dinner plates of a few of the guests. This time the food looked great — beautiful steaks, attractive side dishes, and an adequate wine list. The appetizers that we tried were also delicious. Chef Seth Greenburg has put together a beautiful menu, and at dinner I can see that the execution is fine. So yes, you can have brunch there, but don’t miss drinks and dinner later in the day. MERV HECHT, the food and wine critic for the Santa Monica Daily Press, is a wine buyer and consultant to a number of national and international food and wine companies. He can be reached at mervynhecht@yahoo.com
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