Star Attraction

Tony Esnault, chef at Costa Mesa’s Knife Pleat, cooked up the near-impossible when he received a Michelin star last September: he added another level of glamour to South Coast Plaza, already Southern California’s best-known luxe shopping center.

Last year’s designation was the first for a South Coast Plaza restaurant in the 55-year history of the center, which has increasingly become one of OC’s premier hubs of fine dining, with other current standouts including Din Tai Fung, Vaca and Terrace by Mix Mix.

Esnault was the only Orange County chef awarded a Michelin star in 2021, and Knife Pleat became the third OC restaurant to ever get that much-coveted designation, following Costa Mesa’s Taco Maria and Hana Re in 2019.

Local Impact

A Michelin star is considered a hallmark of fine dining by restaurant patrons. It lets a chef know that his or her culinary skills have been recognized by some of the most demanding food critics in the world.

The sought-after Michelin Guide designation also brings prestige and acclaim to a city or region as a foodie haven. Property owners having a starred restaurant on their tenant rolls see the benefits in extra foot traffic at their sites.

The Michelin designation, and its impact on Orange County’s dining scene, made Esnault—one of the country’s finest French chefs—a clear choice as the Business Journal’s Chef of the Year for 2022.

Passion Play

Ask anyone who has savored one of Esnault’s sensational multi-course prix fixe dinners, or a luxurious lunch, or a weekend tea, and they’ll say the recent honors confirm the chef’s gastronomic excellence.

Imagination. Technique. Ingenuity. Those are three perfect descriptions of Esnault, and his cuisine, from Michelin’s review of his restaurant (see story, this page).

But there’s one more word that’s key, Esnault tells the Business Journal.

“Passion. This is a business of passion,” explains Esnault. “It’s all about passion. You need to have the passion. Without it you cannot do this. No matter what you do, you have to have passion.”

“You also need discipline,” adds Yassmin Sarmadi, Esnault’s business partner (and life partner). “You need an understanding of what your business is. Passion can burn hot and fast and be over.”

“A chef needs to be consistent—that’s what we are known for,” Esnault says. “It’s like an opera. It has to be perfect every time.”

Power Couple

Esnault and Sarmadi are a power couple on the Southern California culinary scene.

Their Los Angeles restaurants, Church & State and Spring, were named to the late Jonathan Gold’s “101 Best Restaurants” in the Los Angeles Times. The success of those restaurants led South Coast Plaza to invite the duo to open Knife Pleat. The couple took the plunge, moved to Costa Mesa, and opened Knife Pleat in June 2019.  

The restaurant is the perfect evolution for Esnault, whose résumé includes stints at numerous Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe and in New York.

Growing up on his grandparents’ farm in the south of France, Esnault learned at an early age to appreciate seasonal ingredients and regional French cooking. He trained at the François Rabelais culinary school in Lyon, and honed his craft at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants including Le Montparnasse 25, Carré des Feuillants, Auberge de L’Ill in Alsace, and in 1996, at the legendary Le Louis XV restaurant in Monte Carlo.

US Bound

Upon coming to America, Esnault earned the distinction of “Best Hotel Chef in America” in 2004 by Food and Wine Magazine for his reinvention of the Ritz-Carlton Boston restaurant.

In 2005, Esnault worked as executive chef for Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, and opened Adour at the St. Regis in 2007. His work with Ducasse earned the restaurants a combined five Michelin stars and three stars from The New York Times. He also was named StarChef’s “Rising Star.”

Esnault relocated to Los Angeles in 2009 to take the helm at Patina in the Walt Disney Concert Hall. A year later, Patina was awarded a four-star review by the Los Angeles Times.

Organic Jackpot

At Patina, Southern California’s abundant produce provided Esnault with a new wave of inspiration and reverence for fruits and vegetables.

“I go to the Santa Monica farmers market, and the one in Pasadena” for produce, Esnault says. “Also the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano. They are a big partner with us. Every week we order from them, they have beautiful produce.”

“We felt like we hit the jackpot when we found them,” said Sarmadi of the 28-acre SJC spot. “They are an organic farm, growing what they can grow, at the right time.”

Seasonal Focus

Esnault says he anticipates the fruits and vegetables will be available month to month based on the local growing seasons.

“We work with organic farmers, not factory farms,” Esnault says. “If you have tomatoes on the menu in February, something is wrong.”

“We could get tomatoes year-round, but they don’t grow here naturally year-round. They are grown in greenhouses, or they are being imported. Produce grows best in the season it normally grows in,” says Sarmadi, whose own love of restaurants began when she was 5 years old in her native Iran. As a young girl, Sarmadi would ask her grandfather to take her out to eat. That early passion continued to grow and led her on an epicurean journey where she focused on hospitality skills and learning to run a profitable restaurant.

Penthouse Move

The transition from LA to OC was easier than Esnault and Sarmadi expected.

“We noticed from the start that our particular diners are far more sophisticated, they appreciate and understand what we are doing here. That’s very gratifying,” Sarmadi said. “We put a lot every day into what we do to make this theater come alive, so it’s nice when you have an audience that gets it. We love being here.”

“Here” is the penthouse where Marche Moderne (now in Newport Coast) was for eight years, and Troquet before that. It was time to revamp and refresh, so the roughly 5,000-square-foot space was demolished and redesigned to Esnault’s specifications, including sliding storage racks and a kitchen that is, says Esnault, practical and efficient.

“I have a wood burning stove, which I had in Monte Carlo,” Esnault says. “I love the fire flavor. As a chef, it’s very important to explore different methods of cooking, so here you have roasting, poaching, cooking on fire, sous vide. It’s important to show guests different techniques with the same piece of meat.”  

French Focus

Equally as important, says Sarmadi, is to introduce or remind guests what modern French cooking is all about.

“Tony’s training is classical French, and there is nothing more rigorous than that, but there are many layers to it. He’s putting things together with his years of experience, and the aesthetic. It’s his personal experience. Some say this is not French, and they may have a narrow view of what French cuisine is supposed to be. Usually that is the old French with sauces that are heavy and rich. If you go to French now, that’s not what you’re eating. That’s what Tony is doing here. It’s current, its modern.”

Recent Reviews

An example of his skill could be seen in the black truffle tasting menu Esnault created for two weekends this past January and February.

It began with a black and white salad with truffles, continued with parmentier risotto, then Dover sole with truffle scales, poached chicken breast and roasted thigh, cheese with truffles, and white chocolate panna cotta with—what else—truffles. Perfect wine pairings accompanied each course. It was an exquisite experience, breathtaking in its plating and execution, with taste sensations that lingered in the memory long after the meal had ended.

My personal favorite dish came during lunch at Knife Pleat several months ago. It was so simple, yet so elegant: house-made pasta in a simple butter sauce, with shaved truffles on top. I can still smell the aromas and taste the truffles that languished in the sauce.

Even dishes like Black Truffle Brie with frisée, chive and truffle vinaigrette, on toasted sourdough, or champignons with hen of the woods and king trumpet mushrooms with spinach, “creamy” barley, and mushroom consommé take on a new level of sophistication in Esnault’s skilled hands.

Challenges

Operating Knife Pleat has had its challenges. The restaurant was open less than a year when the pandemic hit.  

“We are on the third floor, inside an enclosed shopping center. The chances of someone knowing we are here accidentally is slim,” Sarmadi noted.

“So, Tony designed a takeout menu and it kept us involved, and kept some of our staff involved. We did Christmas takeout, New Year’s, and those were successful. They were elevated menus, and our weekend tasting menus evolved from the pandemic.”

Next Steps

The Knife Pleat menus continue to evolve.

Now, dinner is a prix fixe three-course menu Tuesday through Thursday, and a multi-course prix fixe tasting menu Friday and Saturday evenings. Lunches are available Tuesday through Friday, either prix fixe or a la carte.

Saturday days bring a new tea menu, complete with sandwiches and desserts.

The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday, but as Esnault says, “my mind is never off.”

He’s constantly thinking of the next tasting menu, the next creative entrée, the next seasonal item he can incorporate into one of his dishes.

As Sarmadi pointed out, “Tony is an artist, and the artist does not paint the same painting over and over.”

Fortunately for OC, each dish Esnault paints ends up being a masterpiece.

Knife Pleat at South Coast Plaza: 3333 Bristol St., Ste. 3001, (714) 266-3388, knifepleat.com 

Imagination and Ingenuity

Michelin stars are awarded for outstanding cooking, as well as exceptional service.

The Michelin reviewers take into account the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavors, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed in their cuisine and, just as importantly, consistency both over time and across the entire menu.

Consider these words of praise for Knife Pleat, from the Michelin Guide: “Set on the third floor of South Coast Plaza and nestled among fashionable neighbors, this steady operation is certainly able to hold its own. The space is small, elegant, and well-appointed, thanks to a central dining room decked out with curtain-draped windows, white beveled pillars, and a dramatic floral display. Add on a gleaming open kitchen, chef’s counter, as well as a secluded patio—and you know you’ve struck gold. Spacious banquettes and tables are filled with well-heeled patrons and in-the-know locals.

Everyone is here for Chef Tony Esnault’s contemporary take on classic French cuisine, brought to you by professional servers who virtually glide around in measured movements. The menu highlights imaginative dishes that weave technique with ingenuity.”