I watch the restaurant mix at the Del Amo mall with interest, and lately have been trying to figure out the logic behind who moves in. There’s a heap of money to be made or lost there, so both landlord and tenant have an interest in getting things right. When I saw a sign announcing the imminent opening of a restaurant called Brio, I looked the company up on the net and found that they operate several outlets called Brio Tuscan Kitchen. I said to myself, yeah, upscale Italian — they’ve checked off that box. It’ll fit right in.
When I actually visited for the first time, I was surprised to see a slight difference between this one and the others in the chain: it’s called Brio Coastal Bar & Kitchen. Right, I said to myself, an Italian seafood specialist. Then I discovered that they don’t specialize in seafood or Italian cuisine, so I gave up guessing and sat down for lunch.
On that particular visit the service was cheerful and attentive, the food a bit uneven but interesting. The carpaccio was a surprising success, unusual because they use eye of round rather than the usual tenderloin. Eye of round is a cheaper cut of beef usually used for roasting but the well marbled meat worked when sliced very thin and topped with drizzles of caper aioli, bits of pickled onion, micro-greens, and some arugula salad. The only thing I would change is that it came with two tiny slices of toast, which meant you had a lot of meat and only a few bites of bread to vary the texture. Our server was busy with a dithering large party and we couldn’t catch anybody else’s eye, so we couldn’t ask for more. A little more bread or toast with this starter would make it a winner.
The shrimp and grits also had a fine flavor but odd portioning. The large bed of creamy smoked gouda polenta was topped with a savory and slightly peppery sauce, roasted cherry tomatoes, and a scattering of scallions, but only three prawns. The flavor balance was excellent, but at over thirteen dollars for the plate we expected a little more seafood.
Our other shared plate was Brussel sprouts with bacon, walnuts, maple mustard aioli, and balsamic vinegar, and it was a surprising success. I’m not sure who came up with maple mustard aioli and then paired it with vinegar, but the balance of gently spicy with sweet and sour was genuinely interesting. It worked well with the seared sprouts, nuts, and bacon, and was a successful twist on an ingredient that has been overworked lately.
That meal was interesting enough that I returned with family a few weeks later to see what the place is like at dinner. The high-ceilinged open room is decorated with random pictures of seascapes and lamps that look like giant hanging jellyfish, and it’s a pleasant though slightly loud environment. The outside area is even prettier and looks more comfortable, but on the day we were there it was too cold and windy to consider dining there.
We ordered starters of ”cauliflower steak,” calamari, and a roasted beet salad with whipped feta and lemon vinaigrette. All were worth having, but the beet salad was the best of the bunch, the creamy feta a great base for sweet, fruity roasted red and gold beets. Whether this was one of those rare fetas that had a high enough fat content that it could be whipped or they added something else to make it cream like this, the effect was excellent. This too should have come with bread because there was a lot more cheese than anybody is likely to eat with just the beets, greens, and hazelnuts that were provided. By the time you realize you need bread with this, your server is off somewhere else and the moment is lost.
The calamari is called crispy on the menu, which it wasn’t — the cornstarch breading was soft but the dish was successful anyway because the squid pieces were unusually tender. How they get this effect I don’t know, but it would tempt even someone who usually doesn’t like calamari because it might be rubbery. It arrived with a drizzle of spicy buffalo sauce and over a gentle chili aioli. The buffalo sauce should have been served on the side, both because it was hotter than some people would like and because some pieces were doused with it while others had none. The drizzle makes a prettier plate, but an inferior dining experience.
As for the “cauliflower steak,” can we all just agree that with the exception of fake meat products that are engineered to resemble steak, nothing that comes from a plant should be called a steak? Thank you, I thought you’d be with me on that. The silly name aside, it’s a great idea to roast cauliflower and top it with dabs of buffalo sauce and a dreamy gorgonzola sauce with mild horseradish. The cheese mellows the sharpness of the horseradish, and it goes nicely with the mild taste of the vegetable. I’d happily try that sauce on a real steak, because I like both blue cheese and horseradish with meat too.
For main courses we selected a pork milanese, herb marinated grilled swordfish, grilled salmon over a farro and vegetable mix, and a Tuesday special of a grilled pork chop. The pork chop was a standout, the thick piece very moist and tender and cooked so there was still some pinkness at the center. Most places overcook pork and dry it out, but they nailed it here. It was served over a cheesy risotto and a bacon and chard mix, and it’s certainly good enough to deserve a regular place on the menu.
We also liked the pork milanese, usually a simple piece of breaded meat that might be called a schnitzel in Germany or a chicken fried steak if purchased in Texas. They’re usually unremarkable, but this one was particularly juicy and dusted with Parmesan cheese and micro greens that added a different dimension. It came with roasted tomatoes and arugula with lemon vinaigrette, and was a great light meal.
For a place that calls itself coastal cuisine, they’re light on fish here — the two we ordered are the only ones on the menu. The salmon was a substantial meal, the flavors of the fish complemented by the farro grain, kale, beet, and almond salad that came with it. There is a complex and successful harmony of flavors with the mustard vinaigrette complementing both fish and vegetables, and it’s a winner. The swordfish was a bit dull by comparison, competently cooked but a bit bland and served with a small salad that included Italian croutons and feta. The rectangular plate was a third empty, creating the impression that something had been accidentally left out, and the kitchen should perhaps add a little something like cooked vegetable or potato to balance the plate nutritionally and aesthetically.
We tried two desserts, a chocolate coated key lime pie on a stick and an espresso budino. The pie on a stick was not a success; it had a very hard graham crust and the balance of sweet and tart filling didn’t mesh well with the chocolate. It was a novelty right down to being served on a stick despite the fact that eating it that way would be a mess. The budino, on the other hand, was a luscious pudding enhanced by ground espresso bean topping, a judicious amount of moderately sweet caramel, and mascarpone cream.
Brio has a decent wine list and cocktail program, as any new restaurant in this area must, and like the menu it’s cosmopolitan. There is no particular specialty, but all the cocktails we had were well-crafted. The whole restaurant is a departure from regional focus or any deliberate cultural spin in favor of just finding things they can do well and then doing them. Don’t expect anything outrageous or groundbreaking here, but if you want some solid cooking by the mall with a drink to match, this could be the place you’ve been looking for.
Brio Coastal Bar & Kitchen is in Del Amo Fashion Center at 21532 Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance. Open Mo-Sa at 11 a.m., Su at 10 a.m., close 10 p.m. Mo-Thu, 11 p.m. Fr-Sa., 9 p.m. Su. Parking lot, wheelchair access good, patio dining, full bar, no corkage charge. Menu at briocoiastal.com, phone 310-214-1628. ER
