The Gossiping Gourmet: Sorrento gets birthday makeover

David Wilhelm is back at the helm of Sorrento Grille as managing partner with new owners Philo and Diane-Jordan Smith. For the Grille’s 21st birthday, she has had some work done, the design equivalent of fillers and botox, and chef Ryan Adams has given the menu a facelift. As with all milestone birthdays, a celebration was in order and we were invited to dinner to sample the new menu items.

Adams continues to create memorable dishes with his “farm to fork” concept and these are not empty words, as Adams is an avid gardener and is committed to the creative use of seasonal, locally grown ingredients, as well as sustainable seafood.

He is continually inventive because as he says, “I gets bored cooking the same thing all the time” and that’s just great for Sorrento’s clientele. The menu has shifted emphasis away from “California wine country cooking with a Mediterranean edge” to a “new American style with international influences.”

For spring, the menu features a new small plates menu. Chilled shellfish platters have been made possible by the addition of a “virtual” raw seafood bar to the kitchen. Making use of the only wood-fired grill in Laguna, Sorrento now has a daily flatbread and new entrées. Long known for their martini bar and cocktails, they are introducing a new signature martini called the mermaid, a complex concoction of Bacardi Limon, blue curacao, lime juice, mint and a splash of champagne.

At the celebration, during the cocktail hour, rather than serve small plates, they transformed two of the offerings into passed hors d’oeuvres. The Maui style tuna poke was served in lettuce cups instead of with nori crackers. The zesty tuna was seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, chili, onions and macadamia nuts for crunch. We particularly enjoyed the inventive addition of the nuts balancing the creamy fish “” a very tasty mouthful.

Equally delicious was the wild mushroom and artichoke croustade that is served as a risotto on the new menu but here it arrived on a crunchy toast. The mushrooms and artichokes were mixed with porcini oil giving them richness and the combination had tons of flavor.

The flatbread of the evening was topped with garlicky Spanish chorizo, accented with garlic cream, layered on silky burrata cheese and punctuated by chopped sweet tomato. Somehow, it was just so-so.

Another interesting sounding small plate from the new menu is hiramasu crudo, which is raw young yellow tail, served with cilantro, roasted peanut chiles, hot oil and lime vinaigrette. Crudo is the Italian version of sashimi.

Although we were seated at a table with other food writers, the animated conversation focused on movies, both current and oldies. We did stop talking long enough to eat the peppered rare tuna Niçoise, a terrific deconstructed riff on a Niçoise salad. The centerpiece was a seared, sliced filet of peppered ahi, topped with a gently fried quail egg showing off its bright yellow center.

Fingerling potatoes, haricots verts and teardrop tomatoes surrounded the fish, peppery arugula provided the “salad” and a tapenade vinaigrette provided the olive component. As one broke open the egg, the creamy yolk spilled out to coat the silky fish, giving it a whole new dimension. The dish was a marvel of texture and flavor “” our favorite of the evening.

Lamb chopsicles were small Frenched lamb chops that you’ll find on the small plate menu. These tender rosy chops were served with a mint chimichurri sauce (an Argentinian spicy vinaigrette, thick with garlic, onion and herbs) “” a far (and far more interesting) cry from mint jelly. The accompaniment was a perfectly calibrated, smoky eggplant puree, which avoided the common pitfalls of excessive smokiness and puckery acidity.

The sustainable seafood was also represented by day boat scallops, quickly pan seared for a caramelly crust and moist interior and nestled in a bed of delicious creamy polenta. The only drawback was the very oily piperade vinaigrette poured over all “” a bit of greasy overkill. Piperade is a Basque dish based on tomatoes and peppers cooked in olive oil with the optional addition of other vegetables, garlic, onions, ham or eggs. Piperade vinaigrette is an Adams invention.

The Tuscan-style rib eye was a thick, juicy hunk o’ meat, a good steak but what can you say about steak? This is a nice fat piece of meat cooked rare and served with its natural jus, which retained a bit of smokiness from the wood-fired grill. There is nothing creative here but that’s the way steak lovers like it. The rib eye came with nice little braised creamy fingerlings and yet another garnish of arugula, which married well with the beef.

Confit of Jidori chicken thighs is another new large plate. The chicken combined with frisee, apples, radish, bacon, grain mustard vinaigrette and smoky croutons sounds intriguing. The spring preparation for the wood grilled salmon has a Spanish influence with cannelloni beans, chorizo, fennel, spinach, paprika and brown butter vinaigrette.

Dessert was crème brulée French toast with Foster’s sauce, a piece of banana and salty caramel ice cream. This is French toast made with crème brulée custard rather than just eggs and milk. The only part that was bruléed was the top of the banana chunk and the Foster’s sauce was the classic New Orleans butter rum sauce; however, it was thin and tasted too strong. Although the dessert was quite nice, the ice cream was sensational! The creamy caramel flavor was spiked with crunchy crystals of salt creating a dynamic duo in your mouth. It would make cardboard taste good.

We are always excited to see what’s new in Adams’ bag of tricks.

If You Go

What: Sorrento Grille

Where: 370 Glenneyre St.

When: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday to Saturday.

Prices:

Appetizers: $8 to $14

Entrées: $14 to $29

Desserts: $8 to $12

Wine:

Bottles: $21 to $525

Carafes: $14 to $30

By the glass: $8 to $20

Corkage Fee: $15

Info: (949) 494-8686 www.sorrento-grille.com

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ were in the gourmet foods and catering business for 20 years. They can be reached for comments or questions at themarkos755@yahoo.com.