Town and Country Travel Review of Moonshadows Restaurant

LETTER FROM MALIBU
by Adam Baer

Paparazzi swarming a starlet. Moguls negotiating mergers on the beach. Wildfires raging across the highway from the site of Gidget's first wave. Though it has cooler temperatures than Hollywood, Malibu has always been hot in the public consciousness. But to me, a New York-bred expat who has for years communed with the hallowed birthplace of California surf culture on light-traffic weekdays, Malibu is a quiet respite of dramatic canyons and cliff-side beaches, of dolphin sightings and bohemian wave riders. Discovering the best hidden shore breaks, hikes, restaurants and lodging here, I've learned, is like winning admission to a private club. Until recently, though, Malibu didn't offer many traveler comforts, and most Americans chose to worship, or mythologize, it from afar.

Today the city is receiving a shot in the arm that's rendering it accessible without taking away its exclusivity. DreamWorks' David Geffen, a resident of Carbon "Billionaire" Beach, along the winding Pacific Coast Highway, bought and reimagined the forty-seven-room Malibu Beach Inn, Carbon Beach (double rooms from $375; 22878 Pacific Coast Hwy.; 800-462-5428; malibubeachinn.com), just blocks from his own Cape Cod-style sprawl, reopening it last year. The largest and most luxurious getaway in town, the beachfront hotel has in-room fireplaces, Trina Turk kimono bathrobes, flat-screen TVs, Hockney prints and an intimate veranda restaurant serving top regional wines. Its generically high-end appointments and rather small balconies, however, could lead a visiting producer to look elsewhere for something less formal, a more quintessentially Malibu (read: laid-back) brand of lodging.

To that end, down the road another billionaire has made his mark by keeping Malibu's natural charm intact. Larry Ellison, chief executive officer of Oracle, purchased the lower-lying, more modest Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach (double rooms from $159; 22752 Pacific Coast Hwy.; 800-831-0858), a celebrity hideaway since the 1950s (Lana Turner regularly escaped back-lot tensions in the second-floor Catalina Suite). Richard and Joan Page, the husband-and-wife hosts of the twenty-one white Hamptons-style rooms — be sure to reserve one of the eight with spacious beach-level decks and old-school chaises — will gladly reveal their insider secrets, such as the best beach walk (at nearby El Matador State Beach) and the most inspiring hike (to the top of Point Dume State Preserve).

Adding a measure of high culture to this beloved Angeleno summer-weekend retreat is the reopened Getty Villa (17985 Pacific Coast Hwy.; 310-440-7300; getty.edu); the neo-Roman home of the oil magnate's art collection is mainly devoted to Roman, Etruscan and Greek antiquities. And a drive around the hilly, rocky canyons (some are still charred) will often lead you to a winery, like Malibu Family Wines (31800 Mulholland Hwy.; 888-433-9463; malibufamilywines.com), as well as to out-of-the-way architectural masterpieces, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Arch Oboler residence and houses by Craig Ellwood and Frank Gehry.

While Nobu Matsuhisa's nine-year-old strip-mall-chic sushi haven, Nobu Malibu (3835 Cross Creek Rd., 18A; 310-317-9140; noburestaurants.com), is still a hit, innovative dining is certainly on the increase in Malibu. Richard Neutra's erstwhile Holiday Residence Motel is now the upscale waterfront restaurant Geoffrey's Malibu (27400 Pacific Coast Hwy.; 310-457-1519; geoffreysmalibu.com), a hot spot for leisurely brunches of Asian-fusion shrimp and Kobe beef. Former Patina chef Joachim Weritz recently retooled the menu at the alfresco beachfront Moonshadows (20356 Pacific Coast Hwy.; 310-456-3010; moonshadowsmalibu.com); he proves his impeccable taste with fresh local catches and imported Italian razor clams, Tasmanian trout and Nantucket scallops in risotto.

Of course, some lost or naive travelers will still race up the pch en route to Santa Barbara, noting only the gorgeous coastline, the singed cliffs and the fast-food joints. But those willing to look into the unseen Malibu will concede that this misunderstood celebrity city deserves more than snarky mentions on Page Six.

Palasadian Post Review of Moonshadows Restaurant

POST TASTE - MOONSHADOWS
by Grace Hiney

Executive chef Joachim Weritz with his diverse menu has brought Moonshadows to a new level of sophisticated dining. Moonshadows is no longer just a restaurant suspended over the ocean with a great view, but one with superior food, too.

A few years ago, Moonshadows was renovated from the surfer hangout of the 1970s to a classy yet casual seaside destination with subdued lighting, rich wooden details , new heavier silverware and handsome glasses. The outdoor patio with its booths as well as umbrellas, now has heaters making dining during any weather pleasurable.

My son and I began with a rectangular sampler plate of several appetizers from the spring menu. A bright tuna tartare had a lively little kick from a drizzle of wasabi oil that played well with the marinated seaweed salad and gingered cucumber. Cocktail sauce enlivened with a dash of “Pepper” Absolut was perfect with a meaty tiger shrimp. A sesame-wrapped seafood and mango spring roll with Asian slaw and roasted pepper was also delicious. A demitasse cup of clam chowder made with Quahog clams not only brought back memories of clamming on Black Island, but was indeed, a true New England clam chowder.

Quite the best pear salad I have had followed. Thin slices of ripe Bartlett pear with Point Reyes blue cheese and candied pecans were served on a bed of organic greens topped with a roasted pear vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was spectacular.

Oven-baked fresh escolar from the Gulf of Mexico had a miso glaze that gave this tender fish lovely flavor that was enhanced by the shitake mushrooms, braised baby bok choy and green tea rice. Alaskan white salmon on a bed of spinach with a champagne sauce and Yukon gold potatoes was another winner. Chef Joachim Weritz seems able to reveal nuances of flavor in every dish.

The Niman Ranch pork chop was not as succulent as it might have been despite its mustard glaze. However, the tangy Asian pear served with it was memorable. Sake-braised Kobe short ribs were flavorful and delicious. These came with stone-ground grits and long green beans.

A taste of the sumptuous Valhrona chocolate souffle cake and of the Fuji apple pie verified the care and attention to detail exhibited by the chef in every dish we tasted. He is quite passionate about serving quality fish, fresh organic produce and specialty meats.

Cigar lovers will be happy to note that on the second Tuesday of each month Moonshadows has a 3-course cigar dinner which begins with a reception at 7:30 pm with first-rate hors d'oeuvres followed by dinner at 8. The price of &75 which includes three premium cigars does not include liquor, tax or gratuity.

Lunch is served Monday through Friday from 11:30am to 4pm when dinner service commences. Dinner is served until 10:30pm except on Friday and Saturday when the cutoff time is 11pm. Saturday and Sunday brunch is from 10am to 3:30pm. From Thursday through Sunday, various DJ's spin live music in the Blue Lounge bar area.

Moonshadows is the one “on-the-ocean” restaurant where East Coast visitors applaud not only the view but the food as well.

There is full bar service, an extensive list of moderately priced wines with a number of wines served by the glass, and valet parking.

805 Magazine Review of Moonshadows Restaurant

MOONSHADOW MOONSHADOW
by Angela Pettera

Sometimes, when the sun sets and the moon rises, you want to go somewhere special. How about a winding drive through Malibu Canyon and along the coast to a wave-splashed location with surprisingly good food? You may think you know Moonshadows, a beachfront staple since 1972, but behind the scenes the tide has been turning for this sandy surfer hangout.

Two and a half years ago, chef Joachim Weritz floated in and quietly washed away the salad bar and uninspired appetizers. The first item he changed was the deep-fried calamari with marinara sauce, deftly switching it our for flash-fried hand-battered calamari with chipotle-lime aioli. And so began a sea-change, wave by wave. The shrimp cocktail has become shrimp with a Peppar Vodka sauce; oysters on the half-shell are now dressed in a ponzu mignonette. German-born Weritz has worked in seaside restaurants in France and Italy so he knew that proximity to salty air didn't necessarily mean the food was secondary or unimportant. And he knew that Asian flavors were an integral part of California cooking since his move to Los Angeles in 1999.

Moonshadows' owners were ready to upgrade the kitchen when the hired Weritz so a switch to high-end purveyors was painless. Now the sake-braised Kobe short ribs come from Newport Meat Company , the honey-brined pork chops come from Niman Ranch, the ginger-roasted hormone-free chicken is provided by Shelton Farms, and Honolulu Fish Company Federal Expresses fresh, cold (not frozen) fish from Hawaii's waters every three days. You'll see nightly dinner specials created from unusual species like blue moki, campachi, hapu'upu'u, and kaku (or barracuda). “We don't have any convenient profit oriented fish,” says Weritz, a member of the Slow Food movement. In other words, you'll never see farm-raised salmon on the menu, only eco-smart wild-caught varieties. Nor will you find overfished species like swordfish or Chilean seabass.

And everything is seasonal. When the menu changes from summer to winter at the beginning of this monthy, the Maine lobster in the Caesar salad and the martini appetizer will be replaced with spiny Santa Barbara lobster instead. The soft-shell crabs will become blue crabs; and the seafood and mango spring roll will instead be filled with duck confit.

Before the night air becomes too bitterly cold, take advantage of a seat on the patio. On the weekends a DJ caters to the crowds for a rowdy good time. Cigar aficionados have the patio from 7:30pm until closing on the second Tuesday of every month. They're served a four-course meal and three fine cigars for $75. During the wee, the patio is quieter and perfect for romance. May we suggest Monday, October 17, when the moon will be full and the waves glittering?