Ava is a name that has become increasingly popular for baby girls in the past few years. There are a lot of little Ava's running around, so one could imagine that a restaurant called AVA might have been named in honor of the chef's child. But in the case of AVA (pronounced A-VEE-A), the new dinner house on San Anselmo Avenue, that guess would be wrong.The initials are an acronym for American Viticultural Areas, grape-growing regions akin to the French appellations. Think Carneros or Santa Ynez; Burgundy or Cotes du Rhone.
Dan and Holly Baker, who own Marche aux Fleurs in Ross and opened AVA in late October, chose the name to signify that their new venue would showcase an all-California cuisine made with locally grown or processed ingredients, and a wine list comprised entirely of California wines.
Everything they use, with the exception of a few spices such as black pepper, comes from a farmer, grower or processor operating within 100 miles of San Anselmo. They have even found local sources for sea salt, flour and sugar. Chocolate and coffee are processed by Bay Area enterprises. They use only sustainably raised meats, fish and dairy products, and organic produce whenever possible.
Raising the bar a bit higher, each bottle on Holly Baker's list is from a different AVA and made from a different grape varietal or meritage. She buys only wines from small, family-owned artisanal wineries that grow the grapes and make the wines themselves. Of the current 49 bottles on her list, 11 are available by the glass, and seven are available in 375 ml size bottles. Prices range from $23 for a bottle of 2004 Karly Zinfandel from Amador County to $100 for a 2002 Napa Peacock Vineyards Spring Mountain Cabernet.
The décor in the space formerly occupied by Mama Teresa's and Alfy's was redesigned with a commitment to sustainable products and local woodworkers and craftspeople. The soft pumpkin paint on the dining room walls and the dark finish on the bare wooden tables and photograph frames are all non-toxic. The real grapevine on the dining room wall was donated by a customer who knew Holly was looking for one. And she took the enlarged landscape photos of rural and agricultural Marin scenes herself.
In spite of a concrete floor and assorted hard surfaces, the dining room at AVA remains surprisingly quiet even when full. Service is friendly, knowledgeable and personal. Reflecting the Bakers' desire for a casual, young atmosphere, wine is served in stemless Riedel glassware which eliminates the task of trying to remember to hold your glass by the stem. (I don't know about you, but that one always escapes me, especially when trying to balance an oversized goblet with a long, thin stem. The bowl just feels better in the palm of my hand!)
Dan Baker is executive chef, and chef de cuisine Ian Banks--who worked at Marche auz Fleurs before returning to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park for his culinary diploma--designs the menu, which changes both nightly and seasonally. The top of the menu exhibits a small selection called "nibbles" and a cheese list that may be sampled before or after the meal. A section of salads and appetizers follows, then another of flat breads and pastas, before a final list of "mains" (which come with a choice of sides). Additional side orders are priced at $6. A vegetarian plate can be prepared from three side dishes.
On the evening of our visit, AVA's most popular of the nibbles, Happy Quail Piedras de Padron ($6) was not available. Our server encouraged us to settle instead on three St. George cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in Hobbs bacon ($7). These sounded and proved to be rich and sweet, but also quite delicious. The warmed combination of salty cheese and crisp bacon lent a nice bite to the velvety flesh of the dates. One each would have been enough. Dividing the extra one perhaps started us on the road to overload.
Our server told us that one choice from each list would probably suffice, but did we listen? We did not, so enchanted were we by the descriptions. We had hiked during the afternoon, and were hungry enough to be greedy. In that state, who could choose between a bowl of mushroom soup ($8) and a salad of roasted red and gold beets ($12) with local Dungeness crab, butter lettuce and avocado dressing? Not we. Nor could we pass on crisp flatbread with seared Sonoma duck breast, red radicchio and cipollini onions ($12.50).
Of all the dishes we sampled, the chunky mushroom puree was our favorite. Served very hot in generous portion, the fungi and stock were enriched with just enough cream to bind their flavors together. Smoky and a bit chewy, the soup was garnished with sautéed chanterelles and drops of green herb flecked olive oil. Each bite tasted of the forest on a wintry day.
We also loved the pretty look and delicate flavors of the crab and beet salad. Translucent slices of red and golden beets were fanned around butter lettuce leaves mounded with crab. I wondered about the chef's choice to serve this salad chilled on the plate, which made it taste as though it had been stored in the refrigerator before serving. Perhaps on a warm evening I would have appreciated this, but in winter it seemed too cold.
The flatbread was a thin and very crisp pizza disc, dusted with cornmeal on the underside and cut in quarters. Rosy slices of warm duck breast rested among shreds of roasted radicchio and caramelized onion. I loved the sensual combination of the soft, sweet onion and game flavors, but wanted a scattering of some aromatic herb, such as chervil or tarragon, to help pull them together. This course was almost a meal in itself.
And we still had two entrees coming! In our famished state, we chose as our two sides the most substantial, potatoes with cauliflower and Carmody cheese, and the lighter chanterelle mushroom and leek brioche budino. Our server worked out that the gratin should pair with our order of Cedar River braised short ribs ($19.50) and the budino, a savory bread pudding, would be plated with poached Monterey Bay Petrale sole ($19).
Two thick beef ribs had been braised to a deep, caramelized, scrumptiously fork-tender brown. I had salivated over the menu description of candied lemon gremolata, but found the sweetness of the candied zest too cloying with such an unctuous cut of meat. I found my fork searching among the herbs for tart bits of lemon flesh to cut the richness of each bite. The gratin was lovely--a perfect balance of potato and cauliflower bubbling with melted cheese but, again, this was too rich when paired with the ribs. As a footnote, though, I loved the gratin cold as a midnight snack.
We had hesitated about ordering poached sole, thinking it sounded difficult to pull off, but surrendered to the sound of sun choke and artichoke sauce. The snow-white sole was fresh and perfectly cooked, and we liked the subtle earthy notes lent by the two kinds of chokes. But to my palate the cream sauce, which tasted of fish stock, overpowered the flavor of the filet itself. I thought the delicacy of the fish would have shone through had the sauce been made with a less fishy base. And the budino, which again had been our choice, was more like a vegetarian entrée on its own, and far too hearty for the fish.
For dessert, cappuccino pot de Crme ($7) sounded perfect to me. My companion wanted to taste the house made peanut butter ice cream, which could be had for $3 a scoop, so we ordered both. The little pot was mounded so deeply with softly whipped cream that it took several forays with my spoon to locate the dark coffee custard with its layer of fine sweetened grounds at the bottom, like Turkish coffee. Since many desserts don't have enough whipped cream, I don't want to complain. The ice cream indeed had a buttery texture, almost as dense and salty as cookie dough. As we were already in the red zone on the richness scale, we couldn't finish even a smallish scoop.
In spite of the need to order more judiciously, I enjoyed our dinner at AVA, and I will go back. I love the thoughtfulness of the concept, and admire the Bakers for taking on the challenge of finding locally sourced ingredients. As at Marche aux Fleurs, their food is gently prepared, and as the weather warms up, they will serve on the patio. Prices are reasonable and portions generous. Holly and Dan Baker are well on their way to realizing their vision of a neighborhood restaurant serving California cuisine, where diners will feel comfortable ordering a casual meal or a special occasion dinner. Even in San Anselmo, there can never be too many of those!
