I’ve been thinking for a long time about honoring Rich Mead as Restaurateur of the Year. He truly deserves it and all the other accolades that are coming his way.
Rich doesn’t just run in and out of his two restaurants to sit down and have some meetings with his staff. He’s both the chef and owner of Newport Beach’s Sage in Eastbluff and Sage on the Coast, the latter in the Crystal Cove Promenade, so he’s in the hot kitchen cooking, ordering food and inspecting all the ingredients that will be used to prepare the menu.
Then, just when Rich catches his breath, he’s in the dining room, making sure that his customers are all being treated as well as his standards demand that they be.
Other parts of his busy days are consumed with menu planning, daily specials, trips to the bank and lots of charity involvement.
I remember my first visit to the Eastbluff restaurant. My entree was roasted chicken, still the best roasted chicken I’ve ever had in Orange County. I have tried so many other things since then, learning there’s a subtle magic in Rich’s food.
He has no desire to shock the diner. Rich would rather seduce them with lovely presentations and lingering tastes that leave the best memories. People remember his food and we talk about it in conversations long after we’ve had the meal.
Like his food, Rich’s restaurants are soothing places. There is a safe haven sensibility that good designers planned as the backdrop for his food.
Going to the original Sage, at Eastbluff, is like going home because it’s where we first came to know Rich. Going to the newer Sage on the Coast lets us enjoy the intoxicating ocean smell that hangs in the air. And if we happen to be there at the right time in the evening, we catch the gorgeous sunset that’s reflected in the bar’s mirrored shelves.
I love sitting on the patio at either restaurant. The al fresco dining area at the Crystal Cove location has become one of OC’s favorite dining spots.
Rich is of Chinese and European descent. He credits the simple, albeit rich in flavor, Cantonese village diet he was accustomed to as a child for giving him an appreciation for different seasonings and fresh produce.
Ask for a rib eye and Rich will serve you a rib eye so tasty and tender you’ll never forget it. Ask for some carrots and it’s likely to be of the purple, white, pale yellow or even round varieties. Ask for a potato and you’ll likely be rewarded with a little bundle of starch heaven from Weiser Farms.
Above all, ask, because it’s Rich’s selection of interesting and always prime products that brings such contentment when we dine. He thrives on our satisfaction and, in his quiet demeanor, he seems to keep recommitting himself to calming our lives in the time we spend at his tables.
Rich was a founding partner of the celebrity-laden 17th Street Caf & #233; in Santa Monica. Now, in these two local restaurants, he treats all of his customers like celebrities.
He divides his time between the two locations. Each restaurant has its own welcoming personality but, as with any siblings, they have lovable traits that are theirs alone.
Rich is an unflappable talent, a modest chef and a participant in a wide range of fund-raisers. I intend to continue gathering my food-appreciative friends around his tables. Many business lunch requests I get are for meetings at either Sage.
Everyone absolutely must discover what I already know,that this Restaurateur of the Year is a culinary magician.
