Best New Restaurants of 2009
Cover story in Beach Magazine/Easy Reader
Published January 5, 2010
It would be nice if the Lunada BayHouse actually had a view of Lunada Bay, but it doesn’t. Most tables have a view of a pretty little courtyard instead. It doesn’t matter, because this is a place where you’re there for the food – corn and blue crab bisque, superb seafood pasta, pork ribs in a tangy tamarind chipotle glaze, and some of the best lamb chops in a wide radius. The style here is an upscale steak and seafood house like many others, but the food is a cut above and makes the place stand out.
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By Richard Foss
Reviewed in the Easy Reader
Published November 5, 2009
You probably know someone who is a gifted amateur cook – the one who has a huge cookbook collection but puts a little personal touch in each thing he or she makes. That is the signature of a gifted cook, professional or otherwise – to make every dish one’s own. It may be a little hint of a beloved spice; some detail of presentation, but there is a signature there.
Chef Rafael Solorzano has a very wide repertoire, with stints cooking for prestigious country clubs, upscale Mexican restaurants, and a restaurant in Hawaii that featured sushi, and if he wished to, he could create a startlingly eclectic menu. For his newest venture, the Lunada BayHouse, he decided that a more subtle approach was in order – a steak and seafood house with an eclectic touch would suit the Palos Verdes neighborhood much better. If you’re a salad, meat, and potatoes person then you can get it here, but if you care to experiment then you have options available from all over he world, filtered through one chef’s sensibilities.
The space that used to be Viva La Pasta has been modernized with stylish Asian touches, and it’s now a cool casual space, on the hip side for the area. I’ve visited four times, twice when Rafael was in the kitchen and twice when his sous-chefs were handling things, and found the food to be consistent each time. I mention this because since I know Rafael socially, there might be a suspicion that things are tarted up for a friend who is also a reviewer, but I had fine experiences when the staff were new hires who don’t know what I do for a living.
Among the starters, my favorites are the crisp-fried artichoke hearts, a roasted corn and blue crab bisque, and a fresh ceviche that nicely balances seafood, citrus, and onion. Ceviches come in many styles, from fruity and spicy Yucatan style to peppery, tart Peruvian versions, and in some cases the flavor of seafood is obscured behind the wall of heat, onion and pepper sharpness. Rafael’s version uses fresh fish, scallops, and shrimp in a flavorful but relatively mild marinade that has an exquisite balance. That skill with seafood is also on display in the creamy, delicate bisque that has chunks of crab in a chowder-like bisque. The corn is almost imperceptible at first, a warm, slightly sweet background flavor, but that richness is the background that allows the crab to shine. I’ve had a very good clam chowder here too, but though I consider ordering it almost every time, the bisque keeps winning out. The other seafood starter that is very popular is the crab quesadilla – not one of my favorites because it’s so rich that I don’t have room for the main course. Two or three people can share one with a salad for a fine starter, and if you like crab and cheese together with a mild salsa then this could be the main course item for you.
There are several salads that are fine as either a main course or a shared appetizer, such as a seared ahi tuna salad that offers a substantial portion of sushi-grade fish over Asian greens in a flavorful soy-ginger dressing. The other that works exceptionally well as an entrée is the Santa Fe salad with grilled chicken, sweet corn, and chips over greens with tortilla strips in a tangy cilantro-ranch dressing; with the dollop of guacamole on the side, it’s both filling and refreshing. As a starter salad, I prefer the goat cheese salad with roasted beets, apple, and pecan – it’s light enough that two can share and still have room for a full meal. My only quibble is that I’d prefer the cheese mixed in with the salad rather than as a medallion on the top – it’s a prettier presentation the way they serve it, but I like to enjoy the goat cheese richness throughout the salad rather than concentrated in a few bites.
Among the main courses, my top choice for seafood would be the Lunada Bay Combo. The name here is confusing – rather than samples of separate items on the same plate, as is usual in a combo, this is a mix of shrimp and scallops in a garlic cream and herb sauce with just a touch of lime, served over rice with vegetables on the side. That sauce would probably make an old sponge taste good, but with the seafood and vegetables it was sheer bliss. The kitchen is just as adept at more standard sauces, such as an almost fruity marinara sauce that accompanied a fettuccini ala mare. An interesting original pasta item is the “David’s Delite,” a dish honoring Rafael’s partner David Letchworth. The ingredients here are anchovies, Roma tomatoes, red pepper, and ricotta cheese, and it faithfully recreates the flavor of a good anchovy pizza, but served over pasta.
Steaks and chops are integral to the Lunada BayHouse, and I’ve had an excellent ribeye here, but my personal favorites are the rack of lamb and the chipotle-tamarind pork ribs. Mixing chipotle sauce and tamarind is apparently a Mexican regional idea that I’ve never encountered before, but the spicy, smoky sauce has a flavor that reminds me of some Southeast Asian dishes. If you’re a fan of barbecuing at home you will find it irresistible to try to recreate this at your next cookout – you probably won’t get the ribs quite this tender, and might have to come back several times to measure against this benchmark. The lamb chops have an entirely different appeal, the herb crust and honey balsamic reduction lending a delightful sweet and sour taste to the substantial portion of juicy meat. I have a particular fondness for good lamb, and this is among of the best I’ve had anywhere in the South Bay.
The only weakness on the menu is the dessert list – on a recent evening two cakes were offered, neither made in-house. With so many excellent choices on the main menu, at least one signature item to finish with would be a nice touch. That said, the savory offerings are so good, and served in such generous portions, that it’s possible most diners are full by the time they finish their main courses.
The Lunada BayHouse is the most interesting new opening on the Peninsula in some time, a place that offers both comfort food and a rich variety for the adventurous. Prices are moderate, service friendly and professional, and the wine list nicely chosen – a balance to be savored in every way.
The Lunada BayHouse is at 2325 Palos Verdes Drive West in Palos Verdes Estates – enter parking lot from Via Anacapa. Dinner only, soon opening for brunch. Full bar, some vegetarian items, wheelchair access good. Phone 310-544-1704.
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By Merrill Shindler
Reviewed in the Daily Breeze
Posted: 07/28/2009 06:23:58 PM PDT
Several miles down the coast from Rock'n Fish, the Lunada Bayhouse is the latest resident of the space most famously occupied by Viva La Pasta - a curiously awful Italian restaurant that lingered in this Palos Verdes Estates shopping center for what seemed like eons.
(I suspect there are locals who haven't touched Italian food since, as a result of a meal at Viva La Pasta.)
When Viva finally decamped, it was replaced by a far better eatery called Tallichet's, which unexpectedly disappeared a few months ago, to be replaced by the Lunada Bayhouse - a solid, decent destination for (as the menu promises) "Seafood, Steaks, Chops."
It's a good neighborhood establishment. (It has to be - flatlanders famously do not risk the curves of the scenic Peninsula.)
The room is comfortable, with a friendly bar near the entrance, and enough space that you don't feel crowded while you work on your blue crab quesadilla, your Cajun crab cakes and your chicken potstickers.
There's a snappy bisque built around roasted corn and yet more blue crab. And both the popcorn rock shrimp and the fried calamari are properly crispy; soggy calamari makes me very sad indeed.
This is a menu that actually says a lot about the state of restaurant dining in the last years of this decade.
Rather than trying to be outre - to create dishes that have never existed before - the cooking at Lunada (and at Rock'n Fish as well, though to a somewhat lesser degree) is based on familiarity. There's very little on the menu you haven't eaten before, from the shrimp scampi to the sauteed mahi; from the grilled salmon to the baby back ribs; from the rack of lamb to the New York; from the rib chop to the pork chop.
And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes (often times?) you just want a good meal. And Lunada is there to do just that.
Merrill Shindler is a freelance restaurant critic. His show, "Feed Your Face," can be heard from 7 to 8 p.m. Sundays on KABC (790 AM).
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