CLOSED – Riviera at The Fireside, Westminster, California

Posted on June 28, 2012 by The Jab

This blog is primarily intended to celebrate classic and historic restaurants that still exist, but occasionally I will be mentioning a restaurant that is gone.

I was planning an upcoming trip to Southern Cal. and since I will be staying on the Queen Mary in Long Beach I thought I would visit an old restaurant in the area. The Riviera at The Fireside has been on my to-visit list for many years, since I first read about it on the sadly defunct L.A. Time Machines web site. I once popped in for a look (and a quick drink) once on my way to LAX from San Diego (and I took pictures, which I can’t find now), but I never got to dine there, despite many opportunities. So I was saddened this week to hear that it closed for good in October 2011, after 44 years in business.

The Riviera opened in 1967 at the South Coast Plaza and moved in 1992 into another long-time restaurant, The Fireside in Westminster just off the I-405 freeway. The restaurant offered Continental cuisine, with flambé dishes their specialty, which included Caesar Salad, Spinach Salad with hot bacon dressing, Filet Diane, Pepper Steak Flambé, Duckling A L’Orange, Cherries Jubilee and Crepes Suzette. Yes, they even flambéd salads! All served by waiters in bow ties and dinner jackets (just my kind of place!) and (as I can recall) the decor was updated original with large black booths, but with newer fabrics and lighting. When I peeked inside it was nicely decorated for Christmas, but it was hard to get an idea of what it was like during the rest of the year.

Let this downer of a post encourage you to visit a classic restaurant while you still can. Do it this weekend!

CLOSED – Country Bill’s, Portland, Oregon

Posted on June 19, 2012 by The Jab

In the Woodstock neighborhood of Southeast Portland is a steakhouse that has been owned and operated by the same family since 1964, Country Bill’s.

Inside is a large restaurant but the cocktail lounge is where you want to dine, among its red vinyl booths and wood-paneled walls. I’m not sure if they still use the restaurant side because when I went there recently with my Portland friends Drew and Dana we were seated in the lounge.

I had a New York steak, which had nice grill marks and was done just right. The meals are very reasonably priced and come with choice of soup or salad and potato, but you can substitute homemade dumplings and gravy for the potato (or rice pilaf, cottage cheese, vegetables, sliced tomatoes, or cole slaw).

New York steak with dumplings and gravy and garlic bread

I’m glad my friend suggested this place when I said I wanted to visit an old steakhouse because it has been up for sale since last year as the owners want to retire, and the real estate broker makes its preservation sound unlikely: “I can’t tell you how many people tell me they just need something like a nice sports bar or something.”. Better go soon!

Country Bill’s mascot

Country Bill’s
4415 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland, OR 97206
(503) 774-4198
Open for dinner M-Th 4pm-10pm; Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm; Sun 4pm-9pm; bar opens at 3pm daily

Roger la Grenouille, Paris

Posted on June 8, 2012 by The Jab

My first trip to Paris and I had to try frogs legs, so I headed to the most famous restaurant in Paris for frogs legs, Roger la Grenouille (Roger The Frog), in the charming Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood (in the 6th arrondissement). Scant information on its history is available online, but I found out that it originally opened in 1930 by Roger Spinhirny in a cobbler’s shop. Over the years it became very famous and popular, hosting the Queen of England, popes, prime ministers of France, and famous entertainers.

The decor was homey and classic with lots of good clutter: hanging pots and bottles, plenty of photos, art, and clippings on the wall to look at.

I went for lunch to save a lot of money. There is usually a reasonable two or three course prix fixe meal at Parisian restaurants during lunch. Here a two course meal was 19 € (for an appetizer and main or a main with dessert) and a three course meal was 25 €. There was an amouse bouche of salmon mousse that was very good.

salmon mousse

My starter was a delicious savory foie gras crème brulée.

foie gras crème brulée

My main course was battered and fried frogs legs with fried plantains and manioc root. The frogs legs tasted like chicken. No, really, they did! The small bones are a little difficult to manage, but I enjoyed them. They also serve frogs legs prepared in other ways (not fried) for dinner, but it’s quite expensive so it would be a waste if you didn’t like them.

fried frogs legs with fried plantains and manioc root

Roger la Grenouille
26-28 rue des Grands Augustins, 75006 Paris – France
Tel : 00 33 (0)1 45 72 07 14
Open for lunch Tues-Sat 12:00pm-2:00pm; dinner Mon-Sat 7:00pm-11:00pm; closed Sunday

Turquoise Room, La Posada Hotel, Winslow, Arizona

Posted on May 30, 2012 by The Jab

In the 19th century an Englishman named Fred Harvey, while working as a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, negotiated a contract with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to open a chain of restaurants at railroad meal stops along their line (before dining cars were common). The “Harvey Houses”, often including a hotel, grew into a chain of 84 at their peak, and had a reputation of good food and excellent service. A few survive as hotels today, including El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, The Fray Marcos in Williams, Arizona, La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and La Posada on Route 66 in Winslow, Arizona.

The hotel was designed by Mary Colter in 1929, who later proclaimed it her masterpiece (she also designed several buildings at the Grand Canyon, including Bright Angel Lodge, and the beautiful Harvey House dining room and cocktail lounge in Union Station in Los Angeles, which is only open for private functions and tours). Santa Fe closed the hotel in 1957 and it was later vastly remodeled into an office building, with most of its interior beauty hidden behind plain walls and dropped ceilings. Incredibly, a man named Allan Affeldt purchased it in 1997 to save it from demolition, and with some partners restored it to its original grandeur. The hotel is beautiful – wonderfully restored and decorated with gorgeous artifacts with great attention to detail. A must stay if you are going along Route 66, or traveling by train on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief (the old Super Chief route), which stops directly behind the hotel (I have ridden the entire Chicago-Los Angeles route two or three times and loved every minute of it).

The ballroom at La Posada – open to guests for lounging or reading

The original Harvey House at La Posada, the Turquoise Room, has been restored as well, and is open every day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between meals. I was not able to stay in the hotel on my last Arizona road trip in Fall of 2008, but I stopped for lunch. I had a traditional Harvey House type meal of delicious fall-off-the-bone ribs, with house made beans, cole slaw, and cornbread. The dinner menu is fancier with classic and modern Southwest cuisine by chef John Sharpe, who was nominated among the best chefs in the U.S. by the James Beard Foundation in 2011. Many of the ingredients are traditional to the area and/or locally produced.

The Turqoise Room

The Turquoise Room
303 E. 2nd Street (Route 66), Winslow, AZ 86047
Phone 928.289.4366
Open 7am-9pm daily

Chez Chartier, Paris, France

Posted on May 23, 2012 by The Jab

One my recent visit to Paris, I met up with some friends from the bay area for drinks at Le Déli-Cieux on the roof of Printemps department store (a wonderful, inexpensive, “under-the-radar” spot for a champagne and a light meal with an incredible view of Paris – take the elevator to the 9th floor). Afterwards we had drinks at Harry’s, and then headed for a restaurant we heard good things about, only to find it closed on Mondays. We were in the 9th district (Faubourg-Montmartre) so I suggested we check out one of the oldest restaurants in Paris (which I had on my list).

There was a line at Chez Chartier when we arrived very hungry, but the line moved pretty fast as the restaurant is a big place. Originally opened in 1896 by the Chartier brothers, Frédéric and Camille, by the name Le Bouillon Chartier as a brasserie for the working classes to dine on a meat and vegetable stew (bouillon).

The dining room hasn’t changed much since it was designed in the Belle Époque era. The ceiling is very high and there is a mezzanine with additional seating. There is a skylight, dark wood and mirrors on the walls, and hat racks all the way down the center of the space. It was very crowded and bustling with waiters wearing the traditional rondin, a black waistcoat with many pockets, and long white aprons.

My advice is to go with a friend who speaks some French because the waiters are very busy and don’t have time to translate every item on the extensive menu of basic traditional French food at reasonable prices. They aren’t brusque, but they are fast and efficient (like at Tadich Grill in San Francisco). Despite the beautiful décor and fancy dressed waiters, it’s a fairly casual restaurant. The waiter writes down your order on the tablecloth so there’s no question about what you ordered later on. Good luck reading it though!

The food was simple and pretty good, yet nothing truly memorable. Your best bet is to stick with the classics, which is pretty much all they serve. I ordered the frisee salad with bacon and steak frites. I recommend skipping dessert, as we tried three of them, and they ranged from so-so to awful (including their famous Chantilly cream).

mustard jar at Chartier

Eating here is mostly about the setting, not about the food. And brush up on your French, or bring a French-speaking friend because when the waiter stares at you while you mangle his language it can be a little unnerving.

Old wooden boxes that used to store regular customers’ private napkins.

Chez Chartier
7 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009
+33 1 47 70 86 29
Open daily 11:30am-10pm

Le Continental

dining and drinking with The Jab

Author Archives: The Jab

CLOSED – Riviera at The Fireside, Westminster, California

CLOSED – Country Bill’s, Portland, Oregon

Roger la Grenouille, Paris

Turquoise Room, La Posada Hotel, Winslow, Arizona

Chez Chartier, Paris, France

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