If you’re at a party and say you’re going to a Tibetan-Mexican fusion restaurant, heads will turn. People will try to form an idea in their minds, and probably not be able to figure out what that means. A barley tortilla burrito with cabbage and mutton in chile verde? Yak butter with your chips instead of salsa?
I don’t know of any actual Tibetan-Mexican fusion restaurants, but want to make the point that I can describe what they’re doing in three words. It’s probably a horrible idea, but the description is concise and accurate. Real restaurants that serve food that people actually want can be much more difficult to describe. If they’ve been in business a while and respond to customer demand, they may not have any recognizable theme at all.
Zane’s in Hermosa started out as an Italian restaurant, changed name to become a steakhouse, and now serves items from both of those menus along with an eccentric variety of contemporary items. The one thing that hasn’t changed much is the decor, a modernized version of 60s cocktail lounge that is just a bit retro.
No matter what you order, dinner starts with excellent Italian-style bread and a trio of dips: a bland hummus, oil with balsamic vinegar, and good rough texture tapenade. The bread is baked in house and dusted with herbs like a focaccia but is allowed to rise naturally so it’s light and airy, and it’s better than any Italian bakery bread in a wide radius. I liked it so much that I asked about buying a loaf, and was delighted when my server gave me one to go.
The cocktail program here is excellent and has some house creations, so fans of mixed drinks will have something to look forward to. While musing over the menu, we ordered a “Bordeaux” of Citron vodka, Lillet, and lemon zest, and an “Eloise” of gin, St. Germain, and sauvignon blanc. The Bordeaux was a bit dry and astringent for our tastes, but the Eloise was delicious.
We had some time to consider the menu because service, while friendly and professional, was rather slow on the night we visited. I think they might have been shorthanded, and we credit the two servers who were working the room for doing their best.
Though it did take some time, the food was worth waiting for. We started with grilled pesto shrimp atop zucchini coins, five large shrimp atop green circles of vegetable with dabs of bright green sauce and herbs. The menu said there was feta cheese too, but if so it was used very minimally. The vegetable had just been brushed with olive oil and perhaps a hint of garlic before cooking, leaving the fancy flavors to the seafood, and it was a fine start.
The summer salad (which I might pedantically note was served when it was not that season in either hemisphere) is a standard green salad or romaine, purple onion, avocado, and feta with the addition of pistachios and dill. Both of those are used in salads in Persia, but there they use a simple oil dressing rather than honey Dijon vinaigrette. The dill and honey play well together, and it’s an inspired combination.
With our starters we wanted glasses of white wine, and our server offered tastes of two that interested us. Unfortunately these arrived at the table so cold that they were completely flavorless, and it took at least five minutes for them to warm to the temperature where we could discern anything about their character. It is not uncommon for restaurants to serve wines at beer temperature, but we had expected better from a place with a cocktail program of this caliber. The Koehler Grenache was very good once it warmed enough to become aromatic, though we weren’t quite as impressed with the Tooth and Nail white blend. Since our starters were almost gone by then I ordered a Bogle red blend to accompany the main courses instead.
These were a wild halibut steak in soy, honey, and garlic glaze and a bowl of fettuccine with chicken sausage and broccolini in a white wine-parmesan sauce with chili flakes. The glaze and seasoning was delicious but the fish was a bit overcooked, and I’ll ask for it to be done on the rare side on future visits. It was served over rice, with a garnish excellent flash-fried spinach that gave a slightly salty vegetable crunch to the meal.
Our pasta was described as including spicy chicken sausage and chili flakes, so I braced myself for a blast of flavor with the first forkful. Instead it was beautifully balanced, the chili in sauce and sausage lending different levels of spiciness. This big portion of al dente pasta in rich, satisfying sauce is actually better than anything I remember having when this was Italy’s Little Kitchen.
We continued with the Italian theme with tiramisu for dessert, and this too was the real thing. It was light, creamy, and had a nice balance of espresso and chocolate, the perfect end to a good dinner.
Dinner with two cocktails and two glasses of wine ran $141 before tip, about typical for the area, and took about two hours. We considered it time and money well spent at a relaxing, sophisticated place in a hectic neighborhood, a place that blends classic and modern values in a way that is easier to love than to pigeonhole.
Zane’s is at 1150 Hermosa Avenue in Hermosa Beach. Open daily at 5 p.m., close 10:30 p.m. Su-Thu, midnight Fr-Su. Street parking, wheelchair access good, full bar, no corkage on first bottle, $15 thereafter. Menu at zanesrestaurant.com, phone 310-374-7488. ER
