El Segundo has had a tough time being recognized as anything other than That Place Next To The Refinery, even as the downtown area has developed an interesting shopping and dining scene. The distinctive 1920’s architecture, particularly the lovely high school, evokes a different era, and the descendants of the Texans and Oklahomans who founded the town have long supported businesses that evoked a Midwestern and rural atmosphere.
You might expect a new restaurant called Farm Stand to have rustic décor and serve home-style food, and you’d be half right. Though the decoration is high style, the food is prepared according to family recipes but that family’s heritage includes Persian, Turkish, and French grandparents. The room itself is decorated with stylish modern art, divorced from any tradition except the Californian idea of making restaurants like gallery spaces.
The food is remarkably different from any farm stand I’ve ever seen, though perhaps I just missed the ones selling grilled eggplant with goat cheese or stuffed mushrooms in pecan coriander sauce. Having tried those mushrooms, I’d happily eat them at a roadside stand or anywhere else; the stuffing of cheese, herbs, and bacon is delicious, and the pesto-like sauce suited them perfectly. The house-made soups have been impressive too, as were both a Caesar salad and a salad Niçoise.
The main courses show their Mediterranean roots, in some cases altered for Californian tastes. The item listed as chicken, walnut, and pomegranate stew is recognizably the Persian favorite known as Fesenjon, but lighter and more restrained than the original. The herbed ground chicken is likewise a descendant of a kebab, but with greater subtlety than the garlicky and peppery original, and served over fruited rice that is a joy. Other dishes are served in something close to their traditional form, such as a sublime lasagne Bolognese and a delicate meatloaf complete with mashed potatoes and side of vegetables.
The only downside of the restaurant is the poor acoustics of the main dining room, which is loud and echoing at peak times. Our server mentioned that the management plans to do something about this, and in the meantime I’ll request seating on their quiet and comfortable outside patio.
Farm Stand calls their cuisine Urban Country Food, and it’s a good label – we tend to associate urbanity with a cosmopolitan outlook, and countryside with freshness. Finding this restaurant in a modern California city with an old Midwestern center makes a strange kind of sense.
Farm Stand is located at 422 Main Street in El Segundo. Starters $5- $8, entrées $10-$15. Beer and wine served. Wheelchair access good. Vegetarian/vegan options. Call 640-3276 for reservations.
