Dining with a view (of the clothing department)
Bazille, which is located within the Nordstroms at the Del Amo Fashion Center. Photo
The South Bay has had a fair number of restaurants themed around art, including eateries named after Picasso, Matisse, Boccaccio, and other painters ancient and modern. This is usually an excuse to decorate the place for the appropriate century, hang a few impressionists or old masters, and get to the more important business of ordering the food and taking reservations. It’s also an appealing way to connect a cuisine with visual art by someone immediately recognizable, so it works aesthetically as well as practically.
Torrance has one restaurant that bucks the trend. Bazille is named after a French impressionist you will probably look up when you finish reading this. While his work was admired by Monet and Renoir among others, he died young and doesn’t have the same name recognition. The restaurant named after him is on the second floor of Nordstrom, and not only does it not have any of his art on display, it is decorated in sleek modern style rather than that of nineteenth century Paris.
Nordstrom doesn’t do much to publicize this restaurant, which has no exterior signage and little inside the store, but people are evidently finding it. On a lunch visit we had to wait for a seat on the outdoor patio, though it was more sparsely populated on a midweek evening. Though the view outside is of nothing more exciting than the parking lot it’s comfortable and quiet, and the noise level inside while slightly higher is still moderate.
The menu is health-conscious and contemporary food with a Franco-Italian influence, which is about what you’d expect here. Nordstrom has a corporate image that is sophisticated but not daring, and that describes this nicely. The crowd on both visits included families with children and a mix of casual and business dress, suggesting that this is a hideaway for both shoppers and business meetings.
The starters we tried included a very rich, sherry-infused crab bisque, a “crab stack” salad, and a four cheese flatbread topped with baby arugula and a dusting of Parmesan. The flatbread was imposingly large but had such a thin, cracker-like crust that it wasn’t excessively filling. It’s a good lunch for one or appetizer for two or three. The topping of Alfredo sauce, roasted garlic, bits of pancetta, and cheese was toasted on before the fresh arugula leaves were put on top, and it was a nice cross between a pizza and a salad.
The Bistro Crab Stack Salad at Bazille. Photo
The crab stack was a timbale of crabmeat layered with mango, avocado, tomato, and cucumber, topped with baby greens, and surrounded with a ring of cilantro lime vinaigrette. The cylinder of layered ingredients makes a pretty presentation, and the cool flavors of fruit and vegetable with a large portion of
Lump crab is a winner. Toast points are provided, and since they use good bread that is made in-house we actually ate it.
We tried four main courses: a pan-seared chicken palliard topped with salad, roasted chicken with French fries and olive aioli, salmon with an herbed mushroom risotto, and a daily special of steelhead trout with cauliflower puree, market vegetables, romesco sauce, and pickled pearl onions. Steelhead is only in season for a short time and may be off the menu by the time you read this, but if it is offered get it. This dish is off the charts, the cornmeal-crusted fish perfectly executed and brilliantly balanced with the sauce and mix of fresh and pickled vegetable flavors. Now that I am reminded of how well pickled onions go with fish I’m going to have to stop keeping them around the house exclusively for martinis.
The salmon from the regular menu was a strong contender too, the simply roasted fish over a creamy risotto with rich mushroom and parmesan flavors. The fish was topped with raw fennel shavings so thin they were transparent, and along with the line of roasted criminis and a circle of rosemary butter added fragrance and variety to the plate.
The flattened chicken and salmon at Bazille. Photo by Ric hard Foss
Of the two chicken dishes I preferred the simple chicken with frites. The bird is deboned and flattened before grilling under a weight, and you can request it skin on or skin off. I like the skin (and yes, I know it has more calories) and appreciated that I was given the choice. It had the dense texture and juiciness that you get from a good brick-flattened chicken and along with the fries was a fine simple meal. I might have preferred standard garlic mayo to the version with pureed olive, but I’m sure that can be arranged.
The chicken paillard topped with arugula, onion, and tomato and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette wasn’t the equal of the other dishes, though not from any fault in preparation. It was a nice salad atop a piece of perfectly cooked white meat chicken, but it didn’t have the flavor flourishes we experienced in the rest of our selections.
Bazille has a full bar with craft drinks, and their updating of the classic Sidecar is worth a visit by itself. To the classic mix of cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice they add fig jam and cinnamon, and it’s terrific. Their Martinez made with barrel-aged Plymouth gin hit the spot too. Finding a highly accomplished bar of the upper floor of a department store was one of the more interesting surprises of the year so far.
Alas, the one aspect of the meal that didn’t measure up was dessert. We tried a slice of bread pudding over crème anglaise and a peach and berry cobbler, both well-made but extremely sweet. The cobbler might have been better if not topped with an exuberant drizzle of caramel, the bread pudding if it was topped with dark chocolate rather than a large mound of white chocolate. We left most of the bread pudding and our server didn’t charge for it, which we appreciated.
The Impressionist painter Fredric Bazille was rich and supported other artists, but you don’t need a pocketful of gold francs to eat here. Starters run from eight to sixteen dollars, mains from fourteen to thirty, competitive with some much more downscale places in the area. Bazille is more than the place to go if you happen to be in the Del Amo Mall, it’s a reason to make the trip. If you happen to decide that you need a new jacket while you’re dining with a view of them, I’m sure the management won’t mind.
Bazille is at 21500 Hawthorne Boulevard, second floor. Open 11 a.m. daily, closes 9 p.m. Mo-Fr, 8 p.m. Sa, 7 p.m. Su. Full bar, wheelchair access good, vegetarian items. Menu at Nordstrom.com, phone 310-750-1610.