When Melba Rodriguez opened her restaurant in Hermosa Beach it was out of step with a community that was then thought of primarily as a nightlife destination. I distinctly remember people calling it “a Manhattan Beach restaurant in Hermosa,” and predicting the place would flop because people went downtown to drink, not eat. They thought that Chef Melba’s would have to start serving simple stuff aimed at the pre-bar crowd for the place to survive.
Fast forward almost a dozen years and the situation downtown is exactly the opposite: creative restaurants have replaced bars-with-food in several locations, and the Pier Plaza is a respectable dining destination. Meanwhile, Melba Rodriguez has kept serving her Central American-inflected contemporary cuisine at a restaurant that is now in tune with a much more sophisticated local scene.
There’s a little bit of Art Deco in the restaurant’s sleek, modern style, and since tables are packed a bit tight the sound level can get on the high side but is manageable. On any given night you can see Melba herself cooking in the open kitchen, though as the evening continues she takes breaks to table-hop and chat with regulars. She has a remarkable memory, and recalls diners’ likes and dislikes with startling accuracy.
Chef Melba was on the farm-to-table trend well before most of her competitors, and the menu changes frequently depending on what’s in season and what she sees at the market. That’s especially the case at the fish market, since seafood is a specialty here. On a recent evening that meant Peruvian bay scallops were on the menu, served raw in their shells with a little tomato salsa and pesto with a bit of ponzu sauce. It was a lovely presentation, but I would have preferred the salsa and sauces on the side so I might try the scallops alone and in combination. You can ask for this to be done, and it will allow you to explore the flavors for yourself. The sweet, delicate seafood has a great flavor and can be appreciated unadorned or accented.
Our other starter, Portobello mushroom fries, was a triumph of execution rather than imagination. Breading and frying mushrooms isn’t an exotic idea, but as we find out more in this restaurant, it’s certainly something not everyone can do – often it’s a way to ruin good mushrooms by turning them into jerky. These were moist inside and had a crisp herb crust that tasted like it might include a bit of cornmeal. They were served with a sea salt and coarse mustard sauce that packed a punch if not used in moderation.
We asked our server to suggest a wine to go with the starters and were surprised when she brought Bella Union Cabernet. Cabs aren’t my first idea when pairing with shellfish, but this Bordeaux-style had moderate tannins balanced with a little acid and worked quite nicely. As occasionally happens at Chef Melba’s, the bottle isn’t on the wine list by the glass, but was open so available to be served. The by-the-glass list here is short so it’s always worth asking for suggestions in case something else happens to be available.
For main courses we ordered rockfish roulade stuffed with crabmeat, paella, planked white seabass, and a lamb shank adobo style. All came out in artistic presentations, and one of the people at our table mused that Melba could have had a successful career in design or decor if she hadn’t taken up cooking.
Her creativity is even more noticeable in the unusual twists she takes on otherwise traditional preparations. Paella is usually a dry rice dish, but this was served in a stew that had tomato, onion, chorizo, and herbs that made it slightly like a Mexican Caldo de Siete Mares. The rice was topped with an abundant array of seafood that included fish, scallops, calamari, clams, and a gigantic but still tender prawn. I enjoyed the total effect she achieved but feel that the menu description should be changed, because those who expect a traditional paella may be disappointed.
The seabass was a little more conventional, in that it was roasted on a piece of cedar so the aroma of the wood was infused into the fish, but the delicate citrus glaze and garnish of baby vegetables added a dimension. The vegetables that accompanied it, German-style red cabbage and sautéed spinach with mushrooms, had a fine balance of flavors as well as adding their deep purple and green hues to the composition.
The rockfish stuffed with crabmeat was perched atop dill wild rice with a confetti of vegetables including root vegetables and snap peas, and it was crowned with micro-greens and bright yellow beet chips that made it look particularly festive. Chefs tend to save wild rice for thanksgiving and winter, but the nutty grain is a great match with seafood year-round.
As fine as these seafood items all were, the hit of our meal was the lamb shank, which had been marinated in orange juice and spices before being slow-cooked in a sauce that used lamb bone marrow as a base. Bone marrow sauces aren’t used a lot nowadays because they’re time-consuming to make, but were prized in the Victorian era for their rich, buttery flavor and silky texture. I have never seen marrow sauce combined with the tart orange, achiote paste, and other ingredients that are used in Yucatán to make cochinita pibil, a dish usually made with pork. This is a startling cultural mashup and is a show-stopper, and if you have ever enjoyed a fall-off-the-bone tender lamb shank you should get this.
We had some of the Bella Union left, but also tried glasses of a Morgan Pinot Noir and Arbor Bench Cabernet. The Arbor Bench, which is made by a winemaker who commutes between Hermosa and Healdsburg, went particularly well with the lamb, the Pinot with the paella.
The most popular dessert at Chef Melba’s is the “chocolate bag,” actually a box made of chocolate and filled with passionfruit mousse and fresh berries, but on this trip we decided to try a “le chocolat” mousse cake. Since the cake was topped with berries and served with a mixed berry coulis the flavors of the two items are similar, so if you like crunch order the bag, if rich mousse try the cake. Or you can order Peach Melba while it’s in season; it wasn’t invented here but the century-old recipe of peaches and raspberries with vanilla ice cream is still delicious.
Our meals ran about fifty dollars per person for the food, plus wine, and the experience was worth it. Chef Melba brought a new level of stylish contemporary cooking to Hermosa, and while others have followed she is still at the head of the pack.
Chef Melba’s Bistro is at 1501 Hermosa Avenue in Hermosa. Open daily except Monday at 5 p.m., closes 10 p.m. Tue-Thu, 11 p.m. Fr-Sa, 9 p.m. Su. Street parking or pay lot nearby, wheelchair access OK but call in advance to request table with easy access. Some vegetarian/vegan items. Menu at chefmelbasbistro.com, phone 310-376-2984.
