SECOND TIME AROUND: SANTA MONICA VOTED
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD DINING
2008 Zagat Survey Honors Beach City Finest in Southern California
Press Release: July 2007
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. - The 2008 Zagat Los Angeles/Southern California Guide declared for the
second year in a row, Santa Monica as the best neighborhood/area for great restaurants in all of Southern
California. Santa Monica (with Mélisse, Josie, Capo, Chinois on Main, and Valentino) remains Zagat
surveyors' pick for the area with the best restaurants. Los Angeles area restaurants - citing several from
Santa Monica - were also honored by Forbes.com recently as being one of the top 10 dining
destinations in the world, named alongside cities such as Paris and New York City.
"[Santa Monica] is a hot neighborhood, it's been a hot neighborhood," said Michael Mahle, a spokesman
for Zagat. "It's got so many great restaurants in such a small area that you can't go wrong, really. I think
our surveyors believed that as well."
The 2008 guide covers 2,187 restaurants and its ratings are based on the experiences of 8,859 area
residents who eat out or take out more than half of their meals. The survey found that Santa Monicans
have access to the best restaurants in Southern California, a tourist destination claiming longtime dining
favorites such as The Hump, Josie and Michael's Restaurant. The survey also found that many local
diners are willing to pay more for organic food/dishes, while 61 percent said they prefer food that is locally
grown or raised.
This beachside city attracts chefs to open up shop and test their creations amongst the hardest critics, the
locals. The city's kitchens are full of people crafting wonderful food and infamous chefs such as: Allyson
Thurber at The Lobster; visionary Wolfgang Puck's institution, Chinois on Main; French Chef Dominique
Crenn at Adobe; Douglas Silberberg, Chef de Cuisine at Michael's; Michael Reardon, Chef at Catch in
Hotel Casa Del Mar; Chef Desi Szonntagh of Cezanne in Le Merigot Hotel & Spa; Chef Michael Reidt at
The Penthouse in the Huntley Hotel; and Gregg Wangard at Ocean & Vine in Loews Santa Monica Beach
Hotel.
"Few cities offer more variety than Los Angeles' [Santa Monica's] dining scene," said Tim Zagat, cofounder
of Zagat Survey. "The people of Paris can only dream of having as many top quality Japanese,
Chinese, Italian, Mexican and Cal-Med style restaurants from which to choose."
Josiah Citrin owns and operates Mélisse, which won the Four-Star Mobil Travel Guide Award and was
honored by Zagat in the past, earning the best American-French restaurant in Los Angeles award for the
past five years and the number one wine list for the past two years. Citrin heads to the local farmers
market at least twice a week to find fresh inspiration for his ever-changing menu.
Mélisse is perhaps most unique for its cheese cart offering of more than 25 different varieties of cheeses.
The cheese menu includes both international and domestic flavors, is crafted by a captain who, like a
sommelier with a wine list, who will assist his customers in selecting the right cheese. One of the
restaurant's specialties is the egg caviar, a multi-layer dish comprised of a poached egg, lemon-chive
crème fraiché and American Osetra Caviar. The 20-page wine menu is unique in that it includes many
hidden gems produced by small vintners, and designed by Brian Kallile, who started working at the
restaurant as a bartender.
"Santa Monica and the surrounding territories are food savvy, wine savvy and value savvy," said Merrill
Shindler, Senior Editor of Zagat. "They know their olive oils and their cheeses."
The Westside of Los Angeles [Santa Monica] has long been a foodie favorite destination in Southern
California, Shindler added, with a vibrant farmers' market scene, ideal weather year-round and traffic that
just doesn't seem as dreadful as it is in the heart of Los Angeles.
Santa Monica continues to excel as a city with its reputation as a fantastic dining destination. With the
winter season slowly approaching, chefs are gearing up for new menu additions to suit the change in
temperature. Chef Josiah Citrin offers a winter soup recipe fresh from his chopping block for cooking
aficionados to test in their own kitchens.
 Sweet Onion Parmesan Soup
Crab Cake and Meyer Lemon
3 sweet onions
1tbs. sugar
6 cups chicken stock
½ yukon gold potato peeled and diced
½ cup cream
2 cups grated parmesan reggiano
2 tbs butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Crab Cake
10 oz fresh lump crab meat
1 ea potato, baked and smashed
chopped chives
chopped parsley
chopped shallots
1 tbs. heavy cream
1 egg
For Dredging:
All purpose flour
1 egg mixed with ¼ cup cream
panko or bread crumbs
Crab Salad
6 oz jumbo limp crab
1tbs fine chopped lemon zest
1tbs chopped chives
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
A few drops lemon juice
To prepare soup: Heat a soup pot on medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil and the sliced onions.
Sweat the onions. Add sugar and cook on low heat until almost dry. Add stock and potatoes. Bring to a
boil and then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the cream and cook for 5 more minutes. Transfers to a blender add cheese and puree until fine. Season the soup to taste with salt and
white pepper. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Set aside if serving hot or chill if serving cold.
Prepare the crab cakes: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Season to taste. Form into two inch circles
about 1 inch high. Place the flour, egg and cream mixture and panko into three separate dishes. Dip
each cake into the flour, patting off any excess, then coat with the egg and dredge in the panko. Re-dip a
second time into the egg and panko. Keep cold in the refrigerator.
Prepare the crab salad: Mix all ingredients together and season to taste. Add a few drops fresh lemon juice
To Finish: Reheat the soup in a large saucepot and finish with 2 tbs. butter. While the soup is heating,
heat a large skillet over high heat. Add oil about 1/8 inch deep. Add the crab cakes and cook for 2 to 3
minutes on each side or until evenly browned and hot. Set aside and keep hot.
To Serve: Pre heat the soup bowls Place a ¼ tsp crab salad in the middle of the soup bowls (to prevent
crab cake from sliding) place the crab cake in bowl and cover with a mound of crab salad. Froth soup with
a hand blender so it is light and airy Serve to your guests. Ladle soup around the crab cakes at the table.
To serve cold: whip the soup before serving and present the same way.
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