The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa has had several things going on in the past few weeks that have so piqued my curiosity that I have spent several long evenings over food and wine at this beautiful resort.
Remember the name Stonehill Tavern. It’s sure to change your perception of fine dining and it will redefine your mental image of what a “tavern” is.
We have to set the stage. Michael Mina was named as Best Chef in California in 2002 by the James Beard Foundation. He’s been racking up awards since then.
Michael was born in Cairo, Egypt, and raised in Ellensburg, Wash. He had a love affair with cooking from his teen years. When he was 15, he was cooking in a small French restaurant. A few years later, he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
In 1991, he launched San Francisco’s Aqua. Through a partnership that lasted a decade, other restaurants were opened.
In 2002, Michael forged a partnership with tennis star Andre Agassi called Mina Group. He’s only 37 and Stonehill Tavern is one of his six restaurants.
On the design side of this elegantly appointed place,this probably is the most luxurious “tavern” you are ever likely to see,is designer Tony Chi. He’s responsible for the modern design of many hotels and restaurants and has delivered a bouquet of sensory appeal as the stage for Michael’s magnificently structured food.
Michael has made a reputation as a master of presenting an ingredient in a trio of ways on a plate. There are other chefs doing this. But locally it is not at the level executed here. He works with his executive chef for Stonehill, Joshua Skenes, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York and, like Michael, alumni of some very renowned kitchens.
The first part of the current menu has five possibilities for trio tastings. Any of the items also can be ordered a la carte. This has turned out to be a divine tasting adventure for us and for the many friends of ours who have followed my lead and sent back rave reviews.
How can one not love Maine lobster three ways? Envision a rectangular plate holding a portion of lobster carpaccio with a little serving of hearts of palm and a drizzle of grapefruit oil, lobster fritter wrapped in shiso leaf and a small bowl of rich bisque.
Love the Liberty Farms duck threesome: rare breast with chanterelles and quince, crispy thigh with green apple and foie gras,ours came with roasted pineapple one evening, with an Asian pear salad another.
Tuna gets its staging as Ni & #231;oise-influenced with greens, toro sashimi with caviar and as tartare with pear and chile-infused sesame oil.
Sea scallops are luscious almost any way they are done. Here, the offering is poached with shaved fennel, crudo with crispy rice and seared with speck ham in a dab of creamy broth. The salad trio showing diverse ways with greens, cheeses, figs and unique house dressings makes previously known salads seem pretty dull.
While the above can make for a complete tasting meal, there are about a dozen plates that fit the real entree mode. We kept sighing happily one evening as a prime filet of beef sat atop an oxtail rago & #369;t studded with c & #269;pe mushrooms and a serving of Tasmanian ocean trout (salmon-pink flesh and more subtle than salmon) played the ultimate texture game with the crispiest skin ever and a side of silky cauliflower pur & #233;e.
Berkshire pigs are like Kobe beef, specially raised in natural settings for prime flavor. This kitchen sends it out two ways on the same plate: pork belly braised until it shreds at the touch of a fork and as a tenderloin. Dribble it with truffle sauce and it sings even more. Black bass is one of my favorite species of fish. I never expected to find it with tiny tortellini in a shellfish broth seasoned with sea urchin. Lamb is from Colorado and given a garden vegetable and Ni & #231;oise olive jus marriage.
There’s a section of the menu called Modern American Tavern Fare. The whole lobster is baked in a salt crust and served with fennel chowder. There’s also shellfish stew. Prime short ribs constitute more fork-tender meat. A whole free-range chicken is fried (for two persons) in some greaseless and almost ethereal manner and comes with mascarpone polenta. Then, just in case someone really wants a burger in real tavern fashion, there’s one offered, albeit with Kobe beef and truffle cheese, pickled onions and watercress. I already have three reports of it being the best burger that ever graced a plate.
There are two wine lists. One is a multipage affair inside a leather cover. The other is a stunning page of 18 wines by the glass and a slew of cocktails that are as interesting as the food and atmosphere. We’ve promised ourselves that we are going to sit on the sumptuous couch in the bar area next time we go, just so we can linger over one or two of those unique blends the mixologists are whipping up.
AT A GLANCE – STONEHILL TAVERN
Address: St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort One Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point
Phone: (949) 234-3318
Hours: Dinner only, from 5:30 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday
Cost: Appetizers $14 to $30; entrees $28 to $36; prix fixe seven-course dinner is $95 for food, wines to match are $55
Parking: hotel valet; complimentary with restaurant validation
