Darren’s [RESTAURANT REVIEW]
The people who answer the phone at Darren’s in Manhattan Beach must sigh when they’re asked the question, “What kind of food do you serve.” A number of adjectives come to mind: “eclectic”, “creative”, and “excellent” are all accurate descriptions, but raise as many questions as they answer. Chef Darren Weiss is an artist, and his original creations are hard to pigeonhole.
The restaurant itself is in a different niche from most of its neighbors – it’s less of a party place than most Downtown MB eateries, more a destination for people who are actually there to savor the food. Darren’s is one of only two restaurants on Manhattan Avenue where you can have a conversation at something like a normal tone of voice even on a Friday night. It’s lively but sophisticated, and when we dropped in on a Tuesday night around seven, the room was buzzing but the bar was almost empty.
Chef Darren himself was there to greet us – he’s very sociable despite being nearly deaf – and he examined the wines we had brought with interest. (One of my companions was a wine collector, and she had brought some particularly interesting bottles to dinner.) I promised Darren tastes and he promised us a memorable meal to match our beverages, and both of us kept our word.
We started with a daily special appetizer of soft shell crab fritters with avocado, a house salad, and sea scallops over a saffron risotto – the last a dish that is usually served as a main course, but that suited both our moods and our wines so well that we shared it as a starter. The scallops had been lightly seasoned and briefly seared, placed on a bed of saffron risotto with English peas, then topped with a dab of apple compote and garnished with baby greens. It was a nicely calibrated dish, the natural richness of the seafood and rice with cheese balanced by lightly sweet and tart apple.
Crab with avocado is less novel as a flavor combination – it’s everyday sandwich material, after all – but as with so many things, the details made the difference. The two crabs had been tempura-battered, cut in half, and served like monoliths rising from the corners of a square plate, with sliced avocado and salad in the middle. The presentation was strikingly lovely, and the flavors meshed while the textures contrasted. Crisp fritters, avocado, and crunchy greens were accented by a light vinaigrette on the salad and a drizzle of garlic mayonnaise on the crab – this special really was, and should be a regular menu item.
We had hesitated over the duck confit salad, a favorite of mine from a previous visit, but decided on the simpler and lighter house salad since we had all ordered robust entrees. It was a simple salad of top quality items – lettuces, English cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, and a sprinkling of pistachio, topped with effervescent tarragon sherry vinaigrette. The goat cheese croutons added a hint of richness, but the other flavors were natural and refreshing.
For main courses, we had selected braised buffalo goulash, pork chop with mission fig bordelaise, and a daily special of rack of lamb. I’ve had buffalo many times before, and while it can be very tasty, it’s rarely tender; like many game meats, it is low-fat and has little marbling. Braising buffalo in a rich but not overwhelming paprika sauce was a brilliant idea – the coarse texture of the meat and slight gaminess reminded you that you weren’t eating beef, and it made a perfect pairing with the sauce. It’s enough to make you wish the Wild West was settled by Hungarians just so buffalo goulash was available everywhere. The Hungarian cowboys might not have thought to put it over hazelnut spatzle, as was done here, but the slightly nutty homemade noodles were an inspired pairing.
The pork chop was equally successful, the combination of the usually oniony rich wine sauce with sweet fig an excellent idea. There was a little sweet-and-sour tang to the sauce, which was accented when you alternated bites of the sweet potato and mustard greens that accompanied it. The lamb chops were the only item that fell short of our high expectations; they were spiced in a fairly conventional Mediterranean wine, pepper, herb, and garlic marinade, which would have been fine except that they were much rarer than we had expected. We had asked for medium-rare, but they came out very rare, and we considered sending them back for another minute or two on the grill. We ended up eating the excellent side dishes of eggplant, asparagus, onion, and squash and taking the lamb home, because we wanted to save room for dessert.
We started with cheeses, a selection of three from the fifteen that are offered, and we could have selected from nine varieties of charcuterie had we been so inclined. It’s a delight to have a local restaurant with a selection this comprehensive and well-documented, and where the cheese is so well served. Accompaniments included candied nuts, a drizzle of honey, a line of pepper, and plenty of toasted wholegrain bread, which made a beautiful and appetizing presentation.
We finished the meal by splitting a banana napoleon – caramelized bananas sandwiched with layers of banana cream and puff pastry crisps, garnished with fresh berries. It would have been perfect if the kitchen had stopped right there, but they decorated the plate with squiggles of Grand Marnier caramel that we found overly sweet. The natural fruit sweetness was all the dish really needed, and we enjoyed that while eating around the caramel.
Dinner at Darren’s is reasonably priced given the high quality of the ingredients, excellent service, and creativity in the kitchen – starters run from $9 to $16, entrees $23 to $41, and there is an excellent wine list by the bottle and glass. If you appreciate adventurous cooking, you simply have to try it.
Darren’s is at 1141 Manhattan Avenue in Manhattan Beach. Open daily for dinner, kitchen open late, prix fixe on Tuesdays. Street parking only, wheelchair access good, outdoor patio, full bar. Call 310-802-1973.