Clay Oven No Stick-in-the-Mud When It Comes to Indian Cuisine
There are few places where you can have lunch seven days a week. But Bayside in Newport Beach, barely 6 months old, continues to offer interesting alternatives for dining. Since its opening, there has been the interesting food of chef Paul Gstrein, first at dinner, then also at lunch. I don’t worry anymore when I have to meet someone at midday on Saturday or Sunday because the same lunch menu is in effect every day.
In addition, on Sundays there’s one corner of the menu given over to specialties of the house that lend themselves to the brunch genre. Start the relaxing repast with a Mimosa, a nice spicy Bloody Mary, a fresh fruit libation, or one of 31 wines by the glass. On the brunch menu, there’s a special soup each Sunday. Ours was made with pureed cantaloupe and Champagne (served in a martini glass) that was quite refreshing. Smoked salmon, which I had, is stacked on a toasted onion bagel, adorned with some asparagus spears and topped with a poached egg. Patrick had no problem finishing off his pasta in a creamy Parmesan sauce strewn with little cubes of bacon and topped with a poached egg. I stole several bites.
For a couple of hours we watched other dishes march by, all unique. Pancakes became sophisticated, given star treatment with fresh fruit. Paul makes his own version of spa-style granola. He does a sleek take on a steak-and-egg sandwich. For an ultra-sophisticated touch, quail is butterflied, grilled and perched atop a mushroom pancake, then surrounded by a squiggle of truffle essence. That one left lovely aromas drifting our way.
Items are priced a la carte.
Ricardo, who has played for 10 years on Sunday nights at Bistango (Bayside is under the same ownership) plays modern ballads and romantic classical-style Spanish guitar to make the afternoon more enjoyable.
The regular lunch menu also is presented. At past business lunches, I’ve had the Mediterranean salad with prawns and light lemon dressing, grilled lamb chops with grain mustard sauce and mashed potatoes, filet of Atlantic salmon on baby artichokes, a very wonderful center cut of Alaskan halibut in a wild mushroom crust, and the open-face fresh mozzarella cheese sandwich in the Proven & #231;e style with leaves of basil, slices of tomato and black-olive tapenade.
Bayside also offers a very pleasant atmosphere. The slate entrance is dominated by a huge, curvy, wine vault of shiny metal and glass. To the right is a quieter, more sophisticated dining salon with banquettes along the walls, nice art on the walls, and starched linen dress.
Behind the wine vault is probably the most comfortable bar in Orange County. Continuing the sleek, curved theme, it is fronted by a dozen wrought-iron stools from Europe that are lushly padded. One hardly wants to move from such solace.
To the left of the entrance is a more bistro-like setting with a few intimate booths down the center of the room and Italian woven chairs in beige, rust and a straw-and-black combination inviting us to relax. One of the best things about Bayside is the garden-like patio adorned with huge hanging baskets of colorful flowers.
Bayside, it is obvious, is intent on competing head-on with our most sophisticated restaurants. Yet it does not have a stuffy note about it. I wouldn’t be spending so much time there if it didn’t offer a lot of the right things to me. Relax one Sunday over the brunch, but be sure to have dinner there, as well, because the whole place takes on a totally different look in the soft light of evening.
India in Irvine
We have a few friends who cannot stay out of Clay Oven in Irvine. Count us in that group. We’ve had some of the best Indian food in London and parts of Asia,though we have not visited India. This restaurant has given us an array of wonderful tastes over the years that bring back fond memories of those dishes afar. Our dear friends, Carol and Merv Goldstein,he’s a well-known retired cosmetic surgeon from Newport Beach,have problems staying away for more than a month. We joined them for dinner the other night and then I had my regular buffet lunch again a couple of times. It’s only $6.95 for this lunch, every day.
First, let’s talk about that bargain lunch. There are always some meat entrees and several vegetarian dishes, plus all the condiments such as the addictive naan bread. Fragrant basmati rice is the bed on my plate for some tandoor-roasted meat, some chicken or meat in a masala sauce, vegetables stewed in tomato and hand-mixed spices and regional dishes the chef varies by day. It is simply delicious.
On the regular dinner menu are very spicy vindaloo dishes, a delicious Sadabahar chicken saut & #233;ed in a rather tangy green vegetable sauce, and stir-fried dishes of lamb that are addictive. There is no shortage of meats and fresh seafood (swordfish is particularly tasty) skewered and baked in the tandoor, a clay oven. But do not miss the Clay Oven specials, unique to this restaurant. The lamb Jalfrezi is composed of moist, lean pieces of lamb from the tandoor that are then stir-fried with crispy fresh vegetables and precision-mixed spices. Chicken Anarkali finds the moist chicken stuffed with Indian cheese and nuts and braised in a sauce of fresh tomatoes and spices. One of my favorites. Handi Lamb, is a fork-tender lamb shank braised very slowly for hours with vegetables. And there’s my all-time favorite vegetable dish: Paneer Keema, which consists of Indian cheese and green peas cooked together with mild spices. I could almost live on this dish alone.
