Crab Cove
Seafood and Southeast Asian spice prove a winning combination.
Where most gourmands learn their love of cooking in the kitchen, Cu Phan – the man behind the recipes at Crab Cove – took the Robinson Crusoe route. Stranded for a year on a Malaysian island after escaping Cambodian-controlled Vietnam in 1979, the ingenious foodie learned to make the most of the island’s harvest: Phan prepared coconut seafood curries by harvesting salt from the ocean, making coconut oil from the pulp of coconuts, catching fish, cracking oysters and preparing sea cucumber.
While Crab Cove’s succulent two-pound crab (431) may have undergone slightly more civilized preparations, the flavours are as fresh as his island feasts. Roasted in a secret combination of Vietnamese seasonings, the whole Dungeness crab is alive with garlic, pepper and subtle overtones of lemongrass. This simplicity of ingredients and freshness of flavour is precisely what makes the food here so alluring. Throughout the restaurant diners fall victim to the crab’s irresistible allure; even the most elegantly dressed soon find themselves wrist-deep in crab shell, seeking to extract the last, succulent bite.
As Dana Point’s newest restaurant, Crab Cove is establishing itself as a specialist of ‘Euro Asian’ seafood cuisine. And while wary of having their food labelled as Vietnamese, there is little doubt Phan’s childhood experiences in his mother’s kitchen have strongly influenced what appears on the menu today; a flambéed Vietnamese banana is a fiery take on a traditional fruit dessert, while the garlic noodles combine a favourite Asian spice with Vietnam’s staple carb.
Not that you will find Phan in the restaurant kitchen in chef whites: a passionate amateur chef, the Newport Beach surgeon measures the spices himself with precision but has wisely left the cooking to the experts.
Similarly, his decision to take a professional approach with the restaurant design is paying big dividends. The white linen tablecloths are just the beginning: a bronzed Buddha lit by a wall of single white candles presents a stunning backdrop and establishes Crab Cove as a restaurant of class. A striking glass-covered Koi pond that runs the length of the restaurant is borrowed from San Francisco’s Crustacean – a long-standing Vietnamese fusion restaurant that was a favourite of Phan and his wife, Kimberly Tran, during a 10-year stint living in the Bay City. It is a décor highlight, a detail that – along with the menu – encourages diners to consider the restaurant as an establishment. As such, Juicy sweatsuits and dressed-down beach ensembles are few and far between among the evening crowd.
While the couple is going some lengths to ensure Crab Cove does not have the menu or appearance of so many neighbourhood stir-fry joints (note the Martini bar, booth seating and minimalist-meets-Buddha interior), there is little arguing that it is the Asian-inspired dishes and seasonings that are most attractive.
The list of appetizers is long and appealing, making choice an issue. Those that desire a taste of crustacean as a prelude to the must-try whole crab may favour the crab cakes ($12). The lightly fried mounds of crab mixed with Vietnamese spices are the perfect example of the sweet, sour, salty, spicy mix of tastes for which this Southeast Asian nation is famed. A Japanese-inspired wasabi aioli is a well-matched dipping sauce.
A Vietnamese salad of calamari and green papaya topped with lemon vinaigrette dressing ($10) is at once refreshing and piquant. Though never a huge fan of fruit in salads, in this instance the green papaya is firm and not overly sweet and so complements the dish without overpowering the subtly spiced calamari.
And who could resist the rice paper roll ($7)? Served in the traditional manner sans frying, it is a textural sensation of succulent prawns, sweet mango, crisp vegetables and savoury herbs. In SoCal it is a dish all too-often served fried, but one whose flavours benefit most from this traditional, raw presentation.
Though there is only one soup on the menu, the house speciality of sweet corn and Dungeness crab ($7) shows just how easy it can be to dress soup up with quality ingredients. The perfect starter, the dish is a delicious contradiction, at once rich and delicate as only seafood can be. It is more than a match for the ubiquitous lobster bisque.
Entrees are varied but it is the seafood that stands out. Colossal prawns ($29), served over Crab Cove’s garlic noodles, presents a pretty picture thanks to a butterflying and cooking technique established by Phan and precisely implemented by his kitchen team. And be assured they taste as good as they look: the sweet flesh cooked until firm is redolent with subtle Vietnamese spice. But it is the noodles that steal the spotlight – soft, buttery texture alive with the pungent aroma of garlic.
Steamed Chilean sea bass was another hit ($25), the fish grilled then steamed and marinated in a ginger soy sauce. The double-cooking treatment results in a fish infused with the aroma of oils from the grill and then steamed to a velvety texture. The combo of soy and ginger – though far from inventive – works well.
Unfortunately, it was hard not to feel a little let down by the menu’s meat inclusions. The rack of lamb was fine, if uneventful ($27). So too the flambéed filet mignon of the Bo Luc Lac steak ($26). After the wealth of flavour that had passed before, both dishes seemed to fall a little flat. Where seafood entrees were invested with a wealth of Southeast Asian flavours and interesting ingredients, accompaniments of grilled baby vegetables and red potatoes with both the lamb and the steak seemed lacking in imagination. They seem a slightly forced inclusion to an otherwise strong menu. Perhaps these represent the ‘Euro’ portion of the restaurant’s self-described Euro-Asian approach.
Of course the marvellous thing with a seafood meal is that one feels virtuous enough to continue through the menu and onto desserts. A flambéed Vietnamese baby banana ($8) doused in rum and raisins and accompanied by a scoop of Haagen-Dazs is a more sophisticated take on banana fritters served in Asian restaurants the world over. It was good, but the molten chocolate cake was better ($10). Fresh from the oven, the cake’s chocolate lava centre was at once rich and smooth; it’s sweetness a welcome contrast to the menu’s savoury offerings.
For Phan, a passionate foodie, Crab Cove represents the realisation of a lifelong dream: to open and run a restaurant that showcases his culinary zeal. And by adding a sophisticated twist to his authentic Vietnamese recipes – combined with a stunning interior and very professional kitchen – Phan has succeeded in turning an amateur’s dream in to a successful reality.
CRAB COVE: 8 Monarch Bay Plaza, Monarch Beach, 949.240.4401 HOURS: Lunch daily, 11:30am-2:30pm; dinner nightly from 5pm WHO’S THERE: Montage guests, grateful south-of-Laguna locals tired of the drive north, ladies-who-lunch, lovers of all things crustacean WHAT TO WEAR: Daytime diners prefer chic casual (think jeans and sophisticated knits). As the sun goes down the fashion rises a notch – men are neat and elegant in buttoned-down shirts and leather jackets while women choose high heels and just a little show of bling ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURS: The much-lauded Mirabeau Bistro is a few doors down, proving you can be judged by the company you keep ABOUT THE KOI POND: The glassed-in pond that runs the length of the restaurant and is lit from within will hold your weight, they promise ABOUT THE MARTINIS: Arrive early for a bar seat and sip the house Martini: a Silk Stocking topped with Champagne WHAT IT COSTS: Lunch entrees $12-$21, salad entrees $14-$16; Dinner appetizers $7-$12; salads $7-$10; entrees $17-$31; desserts $7-$10
RATING: ***