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VIP International Traveller, February 2012
Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel, Carmel… and now we are heading far away,
across the Atlantic and the USA, to California.
For decades now artists, bon vivants, the high
society of Los Angeles and San Francisco have
been drawn to the chic little town of Carmel, on
the renowned Highway One, between the cliffs
and fabulous beaches. Chef Justin Cogley is now
there, too. And his is a name to note! Really!
Absolutely! Cogley has set up residence at the
Relais & Chateaux establishment L’Auberge
Carmel, the finest place in town. He learned his
trade with Charlie Trotter in Chicago. And he
brought his young, wild, bold cuisine along with
him. Previously, the cuisine at L’Auberge was
French, very classical, lots of butter, cream and
boredom. An end has been put to all this.
New Californian cuisine is the name of the game
now. Dungeness crab and sea urchin arrived as
amuse bouche, in a fine, salty seawater aspic.
Cogley skilfully combines the foie gras with
rhubarb, fennel, garlic, shallots and chili. After
this there is Californian abalone on fava beans,
with onion blossoms and melted lardo, wafer-thin
strips of bacon. Cogley serves up the whole thing
in the glittering mother-of-pearl of the abalone
shells and on a bed of kelp, the frequently metrelong seaweed that grows directly off the coast in
forests, flowing gently with the waves. “I want
people to not only eat, to consume, but to develop a feel for the products again, for the wonderful things that grow here,“ says the chef. This
includes respect for nature. “An abalone has to
grow for four years before it reaches our plates!“
More of the same, Mr Cogley! We were very impressed! Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel, Carmel
by the Sea, CA 93921, Monte Verde at Seventh,
Tel. +1-831-624 8578, www.laubergecarmel.com
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For Off 68, February 10, 2012
Peninsula diners who thought they had to travel to the French Laundry or Manresa to dine at a top-level Zagat-rated restaurant need look no further than Aubergine, in the L'Auberge Carmel hotel.
In late 2010, Zagat announced that Aubergine was ranked fifth among San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants, sharing the rarified atmosphere with the aforementioned culinary shrines. Not one to rest on his laurels, Chef de Cuisine Justin Cogley (who spent four years working with Chef Charlie Trotter) is serving up a series of four-course dinners based on landscapes. He's calling the series "Terroir," which is a French word usually associated with winemaking. While conveying the precise definition is difficult (sometimes things really are lost in translation), the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate."
The words "complete natural environment" capture the essence of the series. Cogley is re-creating natural environments on the plate. At $75 per person, including the wine, it's a bit of a splurge, but well within reason for the experience and quality of food and service. The most recent dinner, "an introduction to the coast," featured an array of deftly prepared seafood with whimsical touches that teased diners' palates in unexpected ways, like icy Pacific waters splashing up on a beach.
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Hotel Les Mars
Recommended rating, 2012
"Good things come in small packages, as (Hotel) Les Mars - just off Healdsburg's central square - proves beyond the shadow of a doubt. The hotel has only 16 rooms, but each is a study in old-world elegance. Whatever your preference, in all the rooms you'll revel in period antiques, a gas fireplace, marble bath, and sumptuous Italian linens. The place oozes luxury, from the 17th-century Flemish tapestry to the hand-carved walnut panels and leather-bound books that line the library." - 2012 Michelin Guide
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Monterey Herald, January 4, 2012
Our economy still sputters and coughs, and the days of high-end, pretentious dining may be behind us, but there is still a market for classy, dress-up, adult experiences with delicious, artfully crafted food.
With Club XIX's closure last year, the list of fine-dining places has really shrunk to three: Marinus at Bernardus Lodge, Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn and Aubergine at L'Auberge Carmel.
Under wunderkind chef Justin Cogley, Aubergine in Carmel really stands out in my mind as a place to splurge and indulge, with the memories fresh in your mind weeks or months later. In 2011 the restaurant earned a No. 5 Zagat ranking throughout the San Francisco Bay Area region.
Aubergine's new monthly dinner series called Terroir allows diners a less expensive entry into this world created by Cogley and executive pastry chef Ron Mendoza. The series, inspired by landscapes, includes wine pairings and costs $75 per person.
December's dinner was titled "Forest and Fields," and we snagged two seats as an early Christmas present. Wow. It started with amuses of foie gras on flatbread served on a log with forest scents, followed by hay-smoked pickled quail eggs and a small shot of warm apple cider and bourbon. And it only got better from there. We ate squab cooked in smoked butter, with apple and strips of succulent lardo; porcini mushrooms with caramelized onion and black garlic; and venison with salsify, birch syrup and devils club root (a crunch component that looks like a twig). Dessert was a "painted landscape," with guanaja cremeux (a decadent chocolate cream), bits of torn chocolate cake and eucalyptus ice cream playing the moon and a sweet, dark orange gelee serving as the setting sun. Edible art, and visually stunning.
Jan. 24 brings "Pacific Coastlines." Call 624-8578 for reservations.
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by Nic Coury |
by Ulia Zettie, MC Weekly,
December 22, 2011
The first I heard of Salumeria Luca was from a friend who bought her father a salami sandwich for his birthday. He promptly reported that it transported him back to his native Italy with the first bite. I knew with similar immediacy that I had to compare Luca against the high salumeria standards I developed tasting my way through Rome.
Traditionally a salumeria is more than a butcher shop. It’s an Italian deli that carries fine, artisanal charcuterie like prosciutto, salami, bologna, mortadella and beef bresaola. Carmel recently gained its only traditional Italian salumeria when Luca opened right next door to its sister Italian restaurant Cantinetta Luca on Dolores Avenue, where riches like imported Italian salume, Chef Jason Balestrieri’s house made sausages and cheeses, carefully curated wines, fresh pasta, fresh baked bread and shelves full of Italian grandmother’s favorite pantry items reside.
Luca’s modern, clean lines of red and black differ dramatically from the dusky, ancient Rome treasure shops I’ve experienced. The walls here are lined with everything edible and Italian, with a focus on organic, from imported olive oils from various regions to interesting honey vinegars like chestnut and honey dew ($12.75), fig spreads ($5.99), Italian truffle salts ($14.99), mountain lentils ($3.99-$4.99) and pasta of all shapes. Emanuele Bartolini, the knowledgeable and native Italian general manager of both the restaurant and deli, popped in and out through the door between the two places, juggling responsibility like a well-olive-oiled machine. He knew all of the oils, and the regions for each, personally – one was just two miles from his hometown in Florence. Between his adorable accent and contagious passion he added a very authentic touch to the experience.
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By Elaine Giuliano, Edible Monterey, December 2011
Local lovers of all things porcine gathered last Friday at Cantinetta Luca in Carmel for Chef Jason Balestrieri’s La Maialata IV: Celebration of the Pig. Maialata means pork festival in Italian, and for one evening only, Chef Balestrieri hosted a revelry dedicated to the many succulent delights we owe to the pig.
The evening started with a flight of three Italian wines selected by sommelier Bernabe De Luna for the occasion. One of the most notable was the Kellerei Terlan “Terlaner” Alto Adige 2010, a proprietary blend of pinot bianco, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc with a great balance of spice, fruit and acid, as well as a crisp finish.
The wine paired beautifully with a bruschetta with pork liver, caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar. The very generous serving of liver was rich and velvety but still somewhat chunky, maintaining the integrity of both texture and pork flavor.
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Cantinetta Luca's delicious La Maialata pig dinner happens only one night a year
By Raul N., Monterey Herald, December 15, 2011
For one night only, the menu at Cantinetta Luca is filled with pork, pig and hog. Everything on the menu — from starters to salads, entrees to side dishes — featured pork.
We started with a couple appetizers. The arancini — fried risotto balls filled with speck, leeks, thyme and Fontina (five for $6) — were excellent.
The golden nuggets were filled with savory cheese and a bite of salty ham. We devoured these tasty bites so fast, I was tempted to order a second batch, but exercised restraint knowing more pork delights would be coming along shortly.
The carpaccio — sliced sweet capicola, topped with rucola, lemon and shaved Parmesan ($10) — was flavorful. The bitter rucola (arugula) and tart lemon offered a nice contrast to the cured meat.
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The arrival of fall means pumpkin and squash galore at many restaurants
by Raul N., Monterey Herald, November 3, 2011
Fall is probably my favorite season for food. As soon as the calendar flips to October, my mouth starts watering. The arrival of fall means pumpkin and squash galore at many restaurants.
After traveling for most of October, when I finally settled back into town this past weekend, a single thought was going through my mind: I must get some pumpkin ravioli.
The calling was too strong to resist, and I ventured into Carmel this weekend, joining my friend for a fall feast at Cantinetta Luca — famous around town for its pumpkin ravioli.
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QLI, October 27, 2011
At times you are genuinely surprised by a meal. You walk in without any expectations and see an uninspiring room. However, once the food starts to appear, things start looking radically different. Aubergine in Carmel is such a restaurant.
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Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle |
by Michael Bauer, SF Chronicle Restaurant Critic, September 18, 2011
Opened in 2006, Cantinetta Luca quickly became the best place to go for casual, well-prepared Italian-inspired food. Chef Jason Balestrieri offers all the right things - burrata cheese ($9), arancini ($6), excellent pizza ($13-$16), house-made pastas and beautifully roasted meats and fish ($22-$29).
One of the chef's main loves is salumi. In fact, beside the open kitchen he has a salumi room, which led to his next big idea.
In August, the restaurant expanded next door with Salumeria Luca, a takeout deli and bakery. As with the restaurant, the offerings change seasonally, but now Balestrieri has a venue to sell his prosciutto, house-made cheeses and other handiwork. The restaurant also offers grilled panini and other items that can be taken away for a picnic.
In addition, you can buy pizza dough, olive oils, pasta sauce and pastas, and even some hand-cut steaks.
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Fifth Best in San Francisco and the Bay Area by Zagat, September 2011 |
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Hotel Les Mars
Conde Nast Johansens Finialist for Most Excellent Small Hotel, January 2012
Finialist for Most Excellent Inn, January 2012
Most Excellent Romantic Getaway, January 2011
Gold List - 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006
"This three-story white stucco inn, once an apartment building, reflects Bohemian architecture. European-style rooms with tan walls, red furnishings, and duvets center around a brick courtyard and have coved plaster and antique doorknobs. At Aubergine, which has a 4,500 bottle wine collection, "the nicely varied menu" plumbs the riches of local farmers' markets."
Readers' Choice Awards - "#11 Best Small Hotel in the U.S.” - November 2009“#31 Best Hotel in the U.S.” - November 2008"#29 Hotel in the U.S." - November 2007
"#37 Best Hotel in the U.S." - November 2006 "#42 Best Hotel in the U.S." - November 2005 |
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Top 500 World's Best Hotels List - January 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007
#22 hotel in the "Top 100 in the Continental U.S. and Canada" - August 2006
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Voted "Best Restaurant in Carmel"
2008-2011-Monterey County Reader's Poll
March 2011
Executive Chef Jason Balestrieri brings out bold, authentic Italian flavors – grilled octopus, wild arugula and roasted beets, grilled king prawns with corona beans – using fresh, seasonal ingredients in a casual and relaxing atmosphere that buzzes like no other eatery-by-the-sea. The focus is on hand-crafted Italian specialties: pastas, wood-fired pizzas and a dozen different house-made salamies hanging visibly in a glass curing room. You can watch the chefs prepare your dish in the kitchen, located in the middle of the gorgeous restaurant. Friendly bartenders, fun cocktails and a huge list of Italian wines, complete with a visiting sommelier, add to the experience.
March 2010
It’s the gorgonzola prosciutto olive in the Cavallivodka Luca Tini. It’s the house-cured artisan bresaola and salame cotto hanging by the bar. It’s the casual pizza counter— try the “bianca”—and the sumptuously big-city open spaces. It’s the stozapreti with housemade sausage, the arrosto di pollo that’s vacuum-sealed to elevate juiciness, and the braised Colorado lamb shank with Taffiasca olives and fresh rosemary. It’s the endless racks of carefully curated Italian wines ringing the inviting back room. It’s the Dolores location. It’s the great bartender. It’s the general buzz about it. It’s the bomb.
March 2009
March 2008
"This hip, city style casual Italian eatery erupted onto the spot where Toots Lagoon used to reign during the 1980s, reincarnating with the same high energy and magnetic appeal. Redesigned by wife Kathleen, this David Fink creation matches fresh hand-crafted Italian specialties like wood-oven-fired pizzas, home-cured salamis, pasta dishes and seasonal specialties with an extensive all-Italian wine list offering tastes, glasses and bottles from across every region in Italy. Add a full, lively bar scene, friendly staff and local buzz that won't quit and you've got the hottest—and the best restaurant in Carmel."
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Hotel Les Mars
Four Stars, 2011, 2012 |
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"Executive pastry chef Ron Mendoza won first place in the “most innovative” category for his “Strawberries and Basil” dessert in the annual Golden Scoop Awards. The competition was held in New York City in June 2009. Professional bakers, confectioners, and pastry chefs from all over the country sent in submissions with finalists chosen and invited to come to New York to plate their desserts for a panel of judges. Everyone enjoyed the spectacle of seeing and tasting the inventive desserts and appetizing treats being created in America's pastry kitchens. Along with an engraved Golden Scoop and jacket patch, Ron received 100 pounds of chocolate from E. Guittard, a 20-year-anniversary World Pastry Cup book from the Almond Board of California, and his class of at The French Culinary Institute. Ron will also be featured in the January/February issue of Food Arts magazine."
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"Carmel-by-the-Sea is one of California’s gems. Its charms rightly attract many visitors. Thanks to the talents of David Fink, those visitors can enjoy hospitality of the very highest order – at L’Auberge Carmel, Restaurant Aubergine and Cantinetta Luca"
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- Awards for Excellence - "Most Excellent Small Hotel in USA" - February 2007
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#20 "America's Top 50 Restaurants" - October 2006
“Even as many a frazzled city chef is fantasizing about opening a little place in the country, Walter Manzke, previously of the high-powered Patina, in Los Angeles, is living the dream. But he’s not cooking country at the intimate 12-table L’Auberge Carmel. From Thai-inspired riffs on sates and spring rolls to Syrah-braised Wagyu beef short ribs and silky olive-oil-poached tilefish that appears to have washed ashore in a Meyer lemon foam, the dishes on his elegant tasting menu reveal his mastery of pure, focused flavors and faraway cuisines. Before Manzke, no one would have expected to find a dinner they’d talk about for weeks in the sleeply village of Carmel.”
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“Open since 2004, L’Auberge Carmel raises the bar for high-end accommodations in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The building, constructed in 1929, is a particularly formidable example of the town’s distinctive Old World-inspired architecture but has been updated and outfitted with modern amenities. Rooms are stylish, with custom-designed mahogany beds, richly textured linens and walls painted in serene sage tones. The bathrooms are spacious and have heated travertine floors. Weather permitting, breakfast is served in an enclosed brick courtyard brimming with French country charm. Dinner is served daily in the 12-table restaurant adjacent to the lobby.
Dinner at L’Auberge Carmel is like an evening with a brilliant conversationalist who has attention deficit disorder: fascinating but peripatetically challenging. On a recent evening, chef Walter Manzke offered an eight-course tasting menu that started in Mexico then hop scotched to Japan, Thailand, France and Italy. Were it not for the consistent excellence, that much travel might be discomfiting.
Manzke crafts highly inventive food with precise, intense flavors meant to startle and delight. Starters included a plump Kumomoto oyster with a shot of tart green apple juice, followed by a Japanese course of four variations of raw Maine scallop. Another dish offered juicy squab over decadently rich calamarata pasta stuffed with a truffled mouse of foie gras and sweetbreads...” |
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"Combining the French techniques he learned under Alain Ducasse with the creativity he absorbed in Spain at Ferran Adrian's El Bulli, L'Auberge Carmel's executive chef Walter Manzke creates petite, full-flavored dishes sure to seduce the most jaded gastronome. Opened in August 2004 and located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the intimate restaurant is the centerpiece of a landmark European-style inn. L'Auberge diners begin their evenings with an amuse bouche such as the paella—a rendition of the Spanish classic that is compacted into one assertive bite and served with Champagne. Manzke, a San Diego native, has a penchant for Mexican-influenced dishes such as lobster taco, which he separates into three components: clarified tomato and cilantro juice, presented in a shot glass with a single tortilla chip (he calls this chips and salsa); a spoonful of guacamole and lobster; and a second shot glass with lime sorbet with a few drops of reposado tequila, which gives the item the essence of a margarita but not the effect." |
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"How do you top yourself when you already run Bouchée, one of the best restaurants in town? In the case of chef Walter Manzke (formerly of L.A.’s acclaimed Patina) and co-owners David and Kathleen Fink, the answer is: Think small. At the team’s newest venture, there are only 12 tables—and just a single tasting menu offered nightly. The results, however, are big and impressive—taking dining this central California town to a whole new level. Manzke is at the top of his game; David is the consummate host; and Kathleen has overseen each detail of the stunning decor, from interior design to tableware. It’s an elegant jewel box of a place, perfectly suited to this postcard-pretty hamlet. And if you need a place to stay, the trio has taken care of that that, too: The restaurant just happens to be part of their new 20-room inn, another successful collaboration. "
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