LOS ANGELES TIMES SUNDAY MAGAZINE
RESTAURANT REVIEW BY S. IRENE VIRBILA
GOOD SMALL RESTAURANTS OPENED BY COOKS WHO ARE MORE passionate about food than finances are popping up all over, often in out-of-the-way spots. One of the brightest of the bunch is on a non-descript corner of Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica in a modest building painted the color of a Tuscan villa.
The minute you walk in the door, 2424 Pico entices with the smells of cumin and garlic and basil. And either David Larue, who owns the restaurant with chef David Wolfe, or Scott Tracy, the wine director, welcomes you warmly. The dining room, with its picture windows looking out onto the street, is painted in vivid golds and reds. A row of whimsical iron chandeliers leads the way to the long, turn-of-the-century French bar at the back, hidden from view. (There are also, incidentally, a handful of tables near the bar.) The overall effect is charming. Unfortunately, the boldly patterned banquettes are about as comfortable as sitting on ironing boards, but this is a small glitch that's easily fixed.
The menu at 2424 is eclectic, but don't let that put you off. It has a personal stamp perhaps because Larue and Wolfe were caterers first, operating the company Two Guys from Venice, which they still own. The experience cooking feasts and exploring ethnic cuisines has given them a fresh vision. Their menu is a grab bag of dishes from Greek, Moroccan, Arabic, Italian and French traditions prepared with such exuberance that it tastes more like home cooking than restaurant fare. What this food lacks in polish it makes up for in flavor.
When I ask the tall, wholesome-looking waitress a question, she has definite opinions about the food, a response that is refreshing. At one point she describes a dish in such lustful terms, I burst out laughing. When I wonder what sardines "Mo's Way," means, she tells me, "This is a dish from our Moroccan chef, Mohammed. He grills them whole-actually, they're not sardines today, but a similar Japanese fish that David, the chef, got when he went down to the fish market early this morning. You get two of them, charred on the grill, served with wedges of lime and a Thai-inspired peanut sauce.” So, of course, I order them. And, of course, I love them.
She recommends the Greek salad terrine, too, which she describes as a kind of pie with layers of roasted peppers, feta cheese and olives, the whole thing wrapped in cucumber and sliced like a terrine. I will follow this woman anywhere because, of course, she's right again. The terrine is made with creamy, not overly salty feta, and good olives: irresistible.
The menu changes slightly from week to week. Other first courses I've enjoyed include heirloom tomato salad--a platter of old-fashioned varieties such as the meaty Brandywine and gold-orange "pineapple" tomatoes served sliced on a bed of greens with cracked black pepper and just enough balsamic vinaigrette to let the taste of the fruit shine through. The sopes are terrific, too, thick masa patties Make it stand out.
heaped with sweet fresh corn and roasted chiles, only served in rather too much orangish chile sauce. "Korean tacos," frilly lettuce cups filled with cubes of marinated beef and a crisp cucumber-cilantro salsa, are good, too. But proceed with caution, warns the waitress, that dab of habanero salsa is almost pure chile paste.
I'm less in love with the restaurant's nightly seafood appetizer. It might include Malpeque oysters on the half shell, chilled marinated mussels topped with a chunky salsa, miniature skewers of bay scallops with mushrooms and peppers and some grilled fish. The individual components may be good, but somehow the whole effect is a bit too much.
2424 will make both fish lovers and meat eaters happy. One night there is iridescent gold Thai fish, head on, perfectly cooked on the bone, its flesh custardy and sweet, served with flat shiitake mushroom caps and a rough-cut tropical salsa. Yellowtail has Mediterranean accompaniments--roasted pepper strips, cracked green olives and a little fattoush, the Lebanese cucumber and tomato salad. And an Aleppo chile crust goes a long way toward giving ubiquitous sea bass some definition of texture and taste, especially since it's served with an unusual black rice cake.
I'm intrigued, too, by game hen with a honey pomegranate glaze, served sizzling and aromatic with a sweet, exotically spiced couscous that evokes the taste of Morocco. Tall, juicy pork chops are encrusted with mustard and paired with a lovely potato gallette. And while I like the extravagance of serving a whole lamb shank on the bone, the white beans that accompany it seem a bit watery, despite a chipotle chile sauce.
It's nice to see such a small place take pains with its wine list, a sophisticated selection of up-and coming wine makers and regions. You can drink a Merlot from Chile or a Marsanne from Santa Barbara-and more than 30 wines are offered by the glass.
For dessert try the very dark warm chocolate cake, in texture halfway between a soufflé and a fudgy brownie. It comes with a small bowl of softly whipped unsweetened cream. There's also a vanilla custard, barely sweetened, with a layer of honeyed couscous at the bottom. And though the topping on the deep-dish peach and blackberry crisp is perhaps too reminiscent of granola, you can doctor it with a generous dollop of billowy whipped cream.
2424 Pico feels like the place a passionate home cook would open after nudges from friends to go ahead and open a restaurant. Thank God. Because many seasoned restaurateurs have lost the nerve to offer anything but the formulaic. And here are a couple of fledgling restaurateurs daring to dream that somebody might order sardines.