Grand Canyon
While other restaurant’s backsides feature dumpsters, bike racks and other unsightly F&B industry necessities, Richard Mead’s latest project, Canyon has a professionally-tended garden out back. What he doesn’t have yet is the Kingsolver-inspired bumper crop one might expect from such a dedicated space. Give him time.
Beet it.
Chef/Owner Mead, (also of Sage in Newport Beach) like David Slay of Park Ave. in Stanton nurtures a viable on-site garden that will provide seasonal, organic produce to his restaurant. Don’t expect either to install an abattoir anytime soon, but in the vegetable department, both are D.I.Y. enough to bring farm to table in a matter of yards.
Open just under a month, Canyon is true to the Mead aesthetic of serving comfort food in an upscale setting with easy-drinking wines. Consider garnet-hued beets dotted with walnut halves, tender goat cheese morsels and peppery arugula in a gossamer horseradish and Dijon vinaigrette. I love it with a glass of grapefruit aroma-laden Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. Crispy, sweet Blue Crab cakes with grilled corn relish and creamy roasted garlic tartar sauce benefit from off-dry Kung Fu Girl Riesling.
13 buck chuck.
Some dishes don’t work. A mushroom soup had all the earthy funk of varied fungi, but I can’t get past the the spa mud treatment color. Tuna tartar with wasabi crème fraîche was surprisingly bland.
Natural and repurposed design elements abound, occasionally looking as if someone scored on craigslist with Walker Zanger samples and Ganahl Lumber remnants.
With Slater’s 50/50 down the street serving carnal gut bombs versatile enough for a team party or debauched cougars night out, Canyon needed their burger to be a contender. They deliver with an oozing, juicy ground chuck patty topped with cheddar and pancetta. Sesame seed-flecked Asian slaw, house-made fries and subtly smoky ketchup accompany it.
Jasana's asana.
Canyon hired Laguna Beach native and nascent pastry chef Jasana Singer to do desserts. We tried Panna cotta with blood orange sorbet. The rich, vanilla bean-flecked cooked cream against the astringent bite of citrus is a fifty-fifty creamsicle without the freezer burn or stick. Next time: her molten chocolate cake with Merlot sauce.
5775 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd. Anaheim Hills, Ca. 92806. 714.283.1062. Dinner for two, $65.00, food only.
