A sense of place: American Farmhouse Roadside Grill
Server Guilherme Kroeff delivers the lobster special to Marge and Harold Frye of Manhattan Beach.
One of the finest dining experiences I can remember was in a rustic farmhouse at the end of a long dirt road. “Everything you are eating was produced within sight of this dining room,” mentioned our server as he set out a magnificent meal. The ideal of local, fresh food was beautifully expressed, and we ate cheese while the cows that had been milked for it stood placidly outside.
That was at La Chevrette in the French Alps, but I’ve had farmhouse meals elsewhere that had the same values – hearty portions with the quality of the ingredients allowed to shine. That converted barn in the hills above Evian had things in common with the Maryland home cooking at Friendly Farms, the converted sawmill where I had a vast breakfast in Humboldt, and other rustic eateries around the world.
I did not expect to find anything remotely similar in a corner of the Goat Hill mini-mall in Manhattan Beach, so I was a little skeptical when the American Farmhouse Roadside Grill opened last year. Goat Hill actually was a farm almost 100 years ago, when Mrs. Auchmoody, the potato queen of the LA County Fair, raised goats here, but nobody has sowed crops in the area lately. Farmhouse cooking without a farm? I figured it was likely to be more about décor than cuisine, but just in case I’d give the place a try.
On that first visit the menu was brief and had a mix-and-match style; pick your protein — meat, chicken, or fish — and have it on a plate, in a sandwich, or over a salad. The prices were moderate and at the time I thought of it as a good place for a simple, hearty meal. The spicy vegetable soup that came with almost everything tasted very fresh, and my wife particularly enjoyed the endearingly named “bowl of stuff.” This contains steak and chicken, pinto beans, rice, Ortega chilies, avocado, sour cream, salsa, and shredded cheese, which looks like the kind of thing you’d make for a 3 a.m. snack by just tossing in everything in the refrigerator. It tastes a heck of a lot better than the hodgepodge recipe sounds, and is a well-balanced meal besides.
Over time the menu grew and changed – they added lobster, steaks, more sides, more desserts – and the sparsely decorated café started developing a 1930s Americana vibe. Thirties and ‘40s jazz played in the background, and black and white movies played silently on an LCD screen in the back. I usually dislike TVs in restaurants with the sole exception of Indian restaurants that play Bollywood dance numbers, but this was pretty cool.
On a recent evening when I was frazzled and wanted a simple, relaxing meal, I grabbed a bottle of wine and sauntered in. (They don’t have a wine license, but allow you to bring your own.) I decided to splurge and get a steak and lobster combination with ranch-fried potatoes, soup, and salad. They make their own vinaigrette and ranch, both of which are very good – ranch is usually bland, but theirs has a tangy flavor suggesting a liberal measure of buttermilk. The salad has sliced carrot, tomato, beet and garbanzo beans, not just the usual mix of greens, and it’s a good way to start. Then came the soup, vegetables with a fresh tomato and onion flavor like some pico de gallo was added just before serving. This is one spicy, interesting vegetable soup, and a vegetarian or light eater could make a meal of this and a side of the sweet potato fries.
The service here is fast but friendly, and just as I finished the last of the soup, the steak and lobster arrived. The ribeye had a nice exterior char but was exactly the medium-rare I had requested, and the oak-grilled flavor suffused every bite. This steak really does have the Santa Maria barbecue flavor that lots of places try to achieve, and I’d rate it with the best in the South Bay. The lobster that accompanied it was a full half-pound of meat that had also benefited from that grill – it was a little chewy but marvelously flavorful. It was accompanied by asparagus, garlic bread, and grilled vegetables, far too much food for one person – I’d order this for two and figure both would be well satisfied. At $23.95 for the steak with all the trimmings, and an extra $13 for the lobster tail, it would be a lavish but inexpensive date.
Dessert was included, a homemade strawberry shortcake, and I saved some room for it. It was a ranch meal to savor, home cooking writ large and served in portions and surroundings of a bygone day. If the ghosts of the farmhands who once worked Mrs. Auchmoody’s spread could see these meals, they’d recognize the style and wish they could return for one more serving.
American Farmhouse Roadside Grill is at 350 North Sepulveda #7 in Manhattan Beach. Entrees, $9 to $22; kids menu available. Breakfast on weekends. Lunch and dinner Tuesday – Sunday. No corkage, lot and street parking. (310) 376-8044. ER