The news that Newport Beach-based Culinary Adventures Inc. restaurants are now down to five Southern California locations from a former stable of nine is still getting a lot of mileage.
Culinary Adventure’s visionary and cofounder, David Wilhelm, resigned before the Chapter 11 announcement in late August that caught many of us off guard.
Some of the French 75 restaurants in the group had been rebranded as Savannah entities only recently. At the time of the court filing, the company immediately closed Wilhelm’s Chophouse (former French 75 Bistro) in Irvine’s Marketplace and the company’s two newest restaurants in Los Angeles.
Culinary Adventures continues to own and operate a trio of Savannah restaurants in Laguna Niguel, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa as well as the French 75 restaurants in Laguna Beach and Fashion Island. Sorrento Grille in Laguna Beach also was part of the group and has reverted to its former owners.
John Martin, David’s cofounding partner and the big money guy, remains chief executive of the company. He was the chief executive of Taco Bell Corp. (part of Yum Brands Inc.) circa 1997 when he and David got cozy over opening their own restaurant.
Martin left Taco Bell and teamed with David to form Culinary Adventures and the build-an-empire marathon was on. Those were the good old days.
I spoke with Bob Rourke, president of Culinary Adventures, who said, “With the five restaurants we retain, our focus is, as always, on delivering good food and service,a total experience that makes dining out special. We strive to exceed customer expectations.”
He said he feels that in the current economic times, everyone has to be even more diligent and customer friendly in every way. He says there are no plans to further divest themselves of properties.
In the Sorrento Grille part of this story, that restaurant’s new owners are Philo and Diane Smith, who have owned the building that houses the restaurant for more than 20 years. They owned Sorrento Grille for several years in the 1990s before Culinary Adventures took the helm.
The Smiths also own the Laguna building that is home to The Saloon and the former Partners Bistro.
Katy Moss, best known to many of us chocolate lovers as the name associated with the fantastic La Rue du Chocolate shop on the cute little Peppertree Lane in Laguna, is the chief financial officer and secretary of Sorrento LLC and has helped in the transition of the restaurant to the Smiths. Katy is well qualified in restaurant situations since she’s also a principal of Spectra Asset Management Inc. in Laguna Beach.
And, this brings us back to David and what he’s been up to since his resignation from Culinary Adventures. While always the creative restaurant innovator and obviously scoping out other opportunities, he is on board as Sorrento’s consultant. Ryan Adams remains as the executive chef.
We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for further info on the tides of change in all this.
Here’s an intriguing bit about David Wilhelm.
In 2005, as my Chao’s Dinesty group sat in David’s Rouge restaurant in Fashion Island indulging in another fine meal, David’s house was burning. His wife had just returned and parked her car in the garage. She went into the house and, moments later, a short in the car caused it to catch fire, even though the ignition was off. Not only did the fire do extreme damage to the house, but it scorched David’s beloved Hummer parked beside her car.
Isn’t life just full of side roads and interesting little personal tidbits like this?
Harrison Ford’s Son
Tuesday is a significant evening if you are interested in the “Orange Curtain” that divides us and Los Angeles in a culinary manner.
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Cannery: Harrison Ford’s chef son on hand Tuesday |
It’s another Meet the Chef evening, this time featuring one of America’s most respected chefs, Ben Ford, son of actor Harrison Ford, who will be at The Cannery in Newport’s Cannery Village.
We have so many good restaurants to choose from that it’s pretty rare now for most of us to trek to Los Angeles to eat, although the county does have many more restaurants and cuisine types of choose from, thanks to its vast canvas. To help Orange County residents taste Los Angeles cuisine without the long drive and traffic situations, Ron Salisbury, owner of The Cannery, began to bring important chefs from L.A. down to OC a few times a year.
We dined at The Cannery a couple of months ago to have the food of Joe Miller, proprietor/chef of Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica and his acclaimed eponymous restaurant in Venice.
Lovely meal, perfect evening without having to take such a long drive.
On Tuesday Ben Ford will be preparing some of his most popular forward thinking California/Mediterranean dishes at The Cannery,the same dishes that he prepares at his fun outpost, Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City.
Ben will be chatting with customers at the tables throughout the evening as he manages breaks here and there from the kitchen, so be prepared to be charmed by this fine looking, ultra-talented chef.
I have no doubt that you will thoroughly enjoy his food, which we’ve enthused over many times.
We first met Ben about 15 years ago. I wrote, way back then, how impressive it was to see a mere 26-year-old who was so passionate about food and who was, furthermore, a literal walking encyclopedia of the history of food.
I sat, more than once, engrossed by his revelations about the spice and coffee trade and the ancient routes that made it possible for the coffee and savories to reach countries far beyond their indigenous homes. He can keep you spellbound explaining the evolving cuisines throughout the centuries.
This is your chance to order a la carte dishes he’ll be preparing and to actually meet this icon of great cuisine. Just call the restaurant and make the reservation for the time of your choice during the Ben Ford Evening. Better yet, get a group of six or eight together and share a great evening with friends. Call (949) 566-0060 for reservations. The Cannery is at 3020 Lafayette Road, Newport Beach.
Modern Memories
Cary and Suzanne Redfearn have overcome the obstacles of construction that seem to haunt all projects and finally opened their Lumberyard restaurant in Laguna Beach.
Original hopes had been to have it finished for this last season’s Art Festival crowds, but this goal couldn’t be accomplished. The Redfearns own the longtime Corona del Mar favorite Oysters so, naturally, we were quite anxious to see their concept at this historic location of the former Cedar Creek Inn. (Some of us are old enough to remember the building as The Ivy, where a few world-famous cartoonists and Laguna residents,circa 1950 until 1980,used to finish their funny work in the morning and then gather at the bar before lunch; such memories!)
The modern interiors now feature cozy seating on two levels and a massive central lounge and bar with a gotcha barrel ceiling punctuated by assertive trestle-like supports.
Judging from the crowds that dined as soon as it opened for business, including us, the locals still like being in that building.
The menu is a one-page affair with the wine list of about 40 selections by the bottle and 17 by the glass. The menu is as friendly and unpretentious as the atmosphere. For appetizers, try the avocado and shrimp ceviche, house cured salmon gravlax, crispy beer-battered onion rings or ahi tartare with crispy wontons.
At both lunch and dinner, a quartet of sandwiches is available. While the burger comes several ways, their Lumberyard version tucked with a generous portion of meat, Cabrales blue cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and mushrooms is the dandy one.
In deference to other sandwich lovers, there’s also an ahi burger, prime rib French dip and a hefty hot dog slathered with caramelized onions and mushrooms.
We can’t seem to survive without pasta and three tasty sounding ones are on this menu. We have only had the herb-crusted rib eye steak and fresh fish of the day (ours was halibut) entrees. Both were fine.
The remainder of the entrees are comprised of a few other kinds of fish and red meat entrees, plus meatloaf,someone next to us mentioned that it was very delicious,and chicken pot pie, baby back ribs, rotisserie chicken, grilled vegetable plate and fish and chips.
Four decidedly delicious desserts can finish off the meal with sweet success.
Especially worth noting is that humanely raised meats are used, along with locally farmed produce. Beef is Certified Angus and the fresh fish is line caught as much as possible. Cooking oils contain no trans fats. It just feels good knowing that they have a commitment to cooking healthy and with regard for the animals.
The Lumberyard is at 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach, (949) 715-3900.
