Homestyle gourmet: Four Daughters

When Four Daughters opened it looked like it was going to be a straightforward American restaurant. But as time went by the menu has evolved toward greater complexity and more modern style.

Every time I visit Four Daughters Kitchen, I marvel again at how different it is from the restaurant that was formerly in that space. Bora Bora was dark, adult, and exotic, a windowless hideaway where challenging jazz provided a sultry background. Four Daughters Kitchen is bright, welcoming, and reminiscent of a country diner – a roadside cafe in the wine country, perhaps, homestyle enough to serve a burger or taco salad but hip enough to make either with gourmet ingredients. The picture of four little girls on the wall, the quartet of daughters that the place is named for, gives a family-feel and makes you predisposed to like the place.

And I do, based on a couple of lunches, a breakfast, and two dinners. The first lunch was shortly after they opened, when service and food were both a bit unsteady. It was an amiable sort of confusion – the servers were not sure who was handling what table but were determined to help everybody. The chicken pasta with lemon, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts was the hit of that particular lunch, an exuberant dish bursting with flavor, and the shrimp BLT was a tasty mess that was impossible to eat neatly but worth using a few napkins to enjoy. We were less enamored of a burger with so much sauce that it had to be eaten with a knife and fork, but on a subsequent visit this too was under control.

At the time it looked like Four Daughters was going to be a straightforward American restaurant, but as time went by the menu has evolved toward greater complexity and more modern style. This includes items like “creo toast,” a kind of bruschetta topped with Mexican chorizo and shrimp in a citrus-tabasco sauce. A cajun bruschetta is an interesting idea, but this one didn’t quite work because the sauce was too runny – the sauce soaked through the bread very quickly. If there had been less sauce or it had been thicker, this item could work, because the flavors were interesting.

In two visits I tried two salads, a rich garlicky Caesar and a lobster salad that I actually didn’t expect to like. The Caesar was first class, with an assertive, rich dressing that really tasted homemade and fresh. By contrast, the lobster salad was dressed with a muscat orange vinaigrette that was so subtle that at first I thought it had been accidentally left out. It was there, but was only a whisper of flavor. There were enough other things in that salad to keep things interesting – greens, corn, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, pistachios, and kiwi fruit, plus a substantial amount of lobster. It sounded busy and overly complex, but it actually worked well, and I would order this again as a main meal or starter for at least two people.

For main courses we had chosen spaghetti carbonara and roasted halibut, both of which were excellent. The halibut was flawlessly cooked so that the exterior had a gentle crispness, the interior still moist and flaky – the exact effect that you want when you cook this fish. It had been dusted with black pepper and herbs so that the flavor was enhanced rather than swamped, and served over garlic spinach with mushroom slices. As for the carbonara, it was a surprise; rather than the cream sauce that usually ties this dish together, the pasta had been tossed with a small amount of good olive oil along with chunks of pancetta, peas, and plenty of shredded parmesan, then topped with a poached egg. Our server recommended breaking the egg and mixing the white and yolk into the pasta, and it worked nicely. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had a creamless carbonara, but it was by far the best.

Four Daughters has a short and simple dessert list – brownies, berries with crème anglaise, and bread pudding. The only item that called to me was the bread pudding, and I liked it even though it isn’t my favorite style. I prefer a New Orleans style bread pudding with a crisp exterior, but this soft, moist version with raisins hit the spot.

My lunches and dinners at Four Daughters were memorably good, but the only time I was there for breakfast was less successful. I ordered a breakfast burrito that came with fried potatoes, which came to the table very heavily salted. I asked for an order with less salt, and focused on the burrito while waiting. It was huge but very simple, a sausage and egg scramble that had been wrapped in a tortilla. I am a fan of breakfast burritos that have more onion, salsa, and cheese in the mix, not just a mild salsa on the side. Based on the other good meals I’ve had at Four Daughters, I will be back for breakfast again, but I’m not likely to order another burrito.

Four Daughters Kitchen has a lot going for it, and at a price that is very fair – dinner for two with wine was under $90, not bad for the area. This kitchen is capable of solid cooking and has some original ideas, and I will be watching with interest to see what they do next.

Four Daughters Kitchen is at 3505 Highland Ave. in Manhattan Beach. Open daily 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Beer and wine served, street or public lot parking, wheelchair access good, vegetarian items available. Phone 310-545-2444. ER

Comments:

comments so far. Comments posted to EasyReaderNews.com may be reprinted in the Easy Reader print edition, which is published each Thursday.