Morning in Oxnard

The day dawns gray and soft rain blankets Oxnard.  We peek out the glass doors leading to the balcony of our vacation rental. Turning, we grab a cup of coffee, our books, an Afghan, and then settle in.  The refrigerator arrives by noon. The food rescued from the original disaster is a paltry assortment, and looks lost in the new clean interior.  We fill the ice trays and head back to our books, looking forward to today’s events which includes a fine dining experience at Saddle Peak Lodge.

3:45 p.m. finds us battling traffic, fog, smog, and rain on The 101. The nose of our car heads toward Agoura Hills — a rock concert of rising new stars our destination.  It seems that Kevin — an official preteen — has discovered music since his move to California.  He has been taking guitar lessons for several months, joining a rock band in the process.  Our expectations are — expectant?

A Preteen Rock Concert

We are the first at the concert hall, so we sit in the car and wait.  When the parking lot is almost full, Heather and family arrive. We see Kevin dash madly from the car, through the rain, to the stage door.  He will wait in the green room with other band members as the rest of us take our stair-stepped, elevated-seats.  Owen chooses a seat in the back, till deciding it is indeed lonely at the top, and he heads down to his Mom’s lap — the lap chosen grudgingly.  Only four seats are in a row and parents and grandparents fill the row.  There are perhaps five rows in the theater and less than a dozen spectators.

Lights dim.  The announcer’s voice booms.  The band is pumped.  They hit the stage ready to perform. The band, The Doors of Rock, consists of two guitarists, a keyboard, a singer, a drummer and the instructor — until the singer later takes possession of the sticks and the instructor disappears into the green room. 

The kids, ranging in ages 11 thru 14, do their best.  Serious.  Concentrating.  Showman. The singer has presence and a good voice.  The lead guitarist (eleven) has been playing for years, practices two hours a day, and has all of the right moves. Kevin has told us he has to work hard to keep up and is a bit nervous about his performance.  He does well. Suddenly, it’s over. All the parents are proud and try to refrain from walking on stage, embarrassing the band members and giving their kids a hug. You would never know we weren’t an audience of thousands we cheer and clap so loudly.  We are given a cookie and walk out the door.

Saddle Peak Lodge

We point our car in the direction of Heather’s house in Malibu Canyon while Heather and Brendan drive north in search of a McDonald’s for burgers — the kid’s dinner.  The adult’s dinner reservations are for 7:30 at Saddle Peak Lodge.  We sip wine and munch on healthy snacks as we wait for the clock to move. The restaurant is a bare five minutes from the house.

“Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Saddle Peak Lodge is LA’s most iconic fine dining & private event destination. Its critically-acclaimed New American menu is most notable for its emphasis on exotic wild game. Coupled with the Lodge’s award-winning service, rustic yet elegant ambiance, and rich history, Saddle Peak Lodge is just minutes away, but worlds apart.

Part roadhouse, Pony Express stop, hunting lodge, European auberge, perhaps even a hint of a bordello, Saddle Peak Lodge has been many things to many people in its long history. For 100 years—some say even more—Saddle Peak Lodge has been a place of enchantment, romance and great dining for generations of those who seek a unique experience.”

And surprise — Heather tells me it is expensive.  She and Brendan have only been to half price happy hour in their cozy, log-fire-warmed bar.

For me, the a la cart wild game menu is not a draw, so I perused their offerings on the Internet before arriving and found two suitable, alternate choices.  Chicken and trout.  Both plated.  Both the least expensive items on the menu. Before we depart the house, we all agree, one bottle of wine for the four of us is sufficient.

A Tasting Menu Temptation

So much for the best laid plans of mothers and daughters and husbands.  It is the mother that messes everything up. Escorted up one long flight of stairs, punctuated with a landing with more steps, we are shown to our table, menus placed before us.  All is as expected.  Earlier, I advised Heather to order the trout or chicken, then I look at the menu and everything changes.  A tasting menu is one of the offerings.  It is as if they knew my weakness.  Then I discover that the entire table has to order the tasting menu. I can feel my dinner companions do a major push back.

“Oh come on, it will be like the food on Iron Chef, and we will be the judges.”  For some reason they all agree.

I was handed the wine list and told to find us all a wine.  I found one. 

“Find something cheaper,” my daughter tells me.

“This is the cheaper,” is my reply. We settle in for an evening of decadence.

A Fine Dining Experience

The waiter appears with our amuse bouche, heady French onion soup served in delicate demitasse cups. We try licking the cups it is so good, but the cups are smaller than our respective tongues.  When another waiter brings us a second serving of the same soup, Mike quickly put his finger to his lips; we all smile in agreement, once again trying unsuccessfully to lick the cup clean.

Our first official course is placed before me.  Strawberry Point oysters from Prince Edward Island.  I feel so very worldly, knowing about this particular oyster, eating them when we were in PEI.  But not raw.  Not with lemon foam.  I hold my breath, close my eyes, and slide the delicacy into my mouth.  Everyone else follows suit.  Oh my gosh…they are delicious.  We eat the second, and all want a third.

We continue with the eight courses, ordering another bottle of wine half way through, as I said — the best laid plans, etc.  I eat food I never thought I would.  And the items I was most worried about, I love the best. i.e., venison carpaccio. The tender, delicately smoked fillet of elk was more delicious than the fillet of beef.  All in all, a lovely, lovely, more than decadent dining experience. 

I try to remember to take pictures of all the food, but I am so excited to try each course I have fork in hand and food in mouth before I remember my camera. I’ll save my money and go back again.

The Tastings at Saddle Peak Lodge

Chef’s daily selection of market oysters

Sautéed jumbo wild shrimp, garlic butter, arugula, cherry tomato

Baby beet salad, raisin mustard, grapes, pumpkin seed granola, goat cheese

Brûléed egg with shaved truffle

Seared venison carpaccio, horseradish, avocado, parmesan, capers, ciabbata

Lone pine natural filet mignon, Yukon potato puree, brown butter, chives, spinach, wild mushrooms

New Zealand elk tenderloin, sunchoke gratin, caramelized onions, rosemary

Dessert -(I can only call it a chocolate decadence artfully displayed on a rectangular piece of slate)