The Winery- Tustin

 

Brandon Brierly and I had been meaning to have a gourmet dinner for a few weeks. We invited Corey Clippinger, who has similar epicurean tastes, to dine with us at The Winery in Tustin. It was a lovely Wednesday evening in August, and after seeing the junior highers at church for all of four minutes, we zipped up to the restaurant in Brandon’s Mazda 3. As we drove up, we saw a Lamborghini and several Maseratis in care of the valet. I deduced that we might run into some “high rollers.” When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you tend to notice these things instinctively.

 

Incidentally, The Winery happens to be operated by Brandon’s stepdad, JC Clow. JC has years of experience in the restaurant industry and he is darn good at his job. Because Brandon is no unfamiliar face around the place, we feel like “high rollers” ourselves as we are systematically greeted throughout the night by the managing partners, maître d’s, cooks, servers, valets, janitors, farmers, etc. Our table was uniquely situated so that we could view the open air kitchen. This night, head Chef Yvon is on vacation, absent in body, but present in spirits... Sous Chef Danny covered his position with finesse. This restaurant operates like a finely tuned automobile.

 

The menu is diverse and impressive. Even the best gourmet meal can start off with something traditionally junky, and we opted for two appetizers: pizza and something deep fried. But these weren’t your ordinary country fair heart cloggers. The pizza was a crispy flatbread creation ordained with crème fraiche, bacon, gruyere, and onion. The deep fried option happened to be crispy almond dusted calamari served with marinated cucumber salad and spicy tomato and saffron aioli. Let me just say that squid never looked so good. But of course, this squid was probably raised in Newport and received Botox and plastic surgery as a teenager.

 

Before long, Brandon gave us a tour of the private wine cellar. This respectable neighborhood of fermented grapes is organized by income, social class, religious affiliation and profession. Not a lot of riff-raff. The whites seem to get along well with the other colors. The weather could be better. Apparently the more rebellious wines have adjusted the thermostat to a temperature that may keep them happy, but nearly froze my purple crocs to my feet.

 

It was time for us to make difficult choices in our lives, and I’m not talking about UCLA vs. USC. It was time to order the entrées. Brandon chose the 12oz USDA Prime flat-iron steak. Vintage all-natural beef, corn and grain fed, aged 28 days, this cow’s funeral was no laughing matter. Corey felt he could do just a hare better, and ordered the rabbit. This bunny was chopped up with some serious risotto and mushroom-spinach Bolognese. I ordered the game special of the night, a venison chop served with goat cheese polenta pancakes, haricot vert, and Huckleberry sauce sans Finn.

 

The first of two side dishes was asparagi (again, I am having trouble with pluralz) and Hollandaise sauce. The asparagus gang members served to us had obviously been raised in a 24-hour fitness because they were big, tough, and ugly. Fortunately the potato gratin dauphinois was made perfect in their weakness. Its casserole dish was layered with thin cuts of Idaho potato, cream, butternut squash and parmesan reggiano cheese, then baked. The potatoes on a thousand hills came alive in this masterpiece.

 

We ate silently amongst the sounds of smooth jazz, clinking glasses, and JC greeting old friends. Corey and Brandon and I have thought about doing a restaurant tour of America when we are old and bored. The Winery is enough to rekindle that desire, perhaps not even when we are old and bored but still young and stupid. OC Concierge Association awarded The Winery “Best Restaurant in Orange County”, three years running. The people who work here deserve it in full. This is the kind of restaurant where I could try every dish, because I know that Chef Yvon, though on vacation, is still thinking about his job.

 

The food was good, the company was great, and this restaurant receives an A.