Friday, 02 July 2010

• A.R Valentien

  I currently work at A.R Valentien, the signature restaurant at The Lodge Torrey Pines. This past week I've been working 10+ hours because it is my last week working for Accuquest Hearing. My manager at ARV also scheduled me to start training for my new gig. It's been tiring and quite frustrating to say the least, but I wanted to share some really interesting facts that I have learned about business and.... My new job :)

  

  The Lodge at Torrey Pines was built in 2002 with it's anniversary being April 4, 2002. It is built around a natural reserve because Torrey Pines are indigenous to only two places in the world: Santa Rosa Islands and La Jolla! The hotel's architecture is considered the craftsmen style modeled after the Blacker and Gamble Houses in Pasadena. There are a couple walls in the courtyard area of the hotel that are made from clinker bricks. Clicker bricks were the unused bricks that were buried years ago. Mr.Evans decided to dig up those bricks and mix them with an array of stones to design a couple walls with interlacing of clinker bricks and rocks. 

  
  A.R Valentien was an American artist from Ohio who was commissioned by the Scripps family to paint these beautiful pictures of California wild flowers. Much of his inspiration was found in his own backyard. There is one photograph in the book case across from the Hostess stand depicting A.R and his wife on Georgia Street (I'm assuming that would be currently considered the North Park area). His wife also was a painter and has done many portraits of California landscapes. These painting can be found in the A.R Valentien restaurant, hence the name sake :)

  The food... Well, it's phenomenal. Everytime I pass by a table I can smell the aroma of flavors and it makes me SO HUNGRY!!!! The cuisine is considered seasonal, market driven California cuisine. The dinner menu changes daily. Here are a few examples of what you can find here:

  Crispy Skin Petaluma Chicken (Petaluma being the farm where the chicken is raised) w/ fried Ricotta and Summer Squash gnocch, wax beans, Wild King Salmon w/ Morel mushrooms, roasted carrots, melted leeks, and red wine sauce. My fav that I am dying to try: Alaskan Halibut w/ wilted lettuce, fennel (YUM!), olive oil poached cherry tomatoes, and creme fraiche. AHHHHHHHHHHhhh!!!!!!!! Never before have I felt the urge to eat someplace like I have now (with the exception of Mr.A's and the uber popular street cart vendors in LA)

   

  My next adventure will take you to Santa Barbara.... Food, wine tasting, site seeing... It was a great weekend :)

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