Tim McGrath, 32, executive chef at the...

Tim McGrath, 32, executive chef at the Columbia Bar and Grill at the corner where CBS and the Sunset Gower Studios meet, erupts with unstaged laughter, remembering the time food-industry employment agent Miriam Factor said to him, “Have I got a job for you.”

McGrath, who looks like a giant Irish dough boy with smooth red cheeks, cornflower-blue eyes and curly blond mop, says that he didn’t know then what he was getting into when he was hired on the spot by Columbia Bar and Grill backers Harvey Pool, actor Wayne Rogers, Tony Thomas (son of Danny Thomas), Susan Harris (TV’s “Golden Girls” writer-producer) and Paul Witt.

“They wanted a restaurant serving good American food near the studios accessible to themselves and people in the business because there wasn’t a good place to eat in the area,” he says.

Actually, they lucked out.

McGrath, who could be characterized as an all-American chef, has been working toward straightford, clean, clear, uncomplicated American food for the past 16 years.

The son of a mother of French-Italian ancestry, who was a great cook, and an Irish-German father, McGrath loved to cook for his sisters and brothers while growing up in Detroit. After vocational-school cooking courses, he worked in Carl’s Chop House, where his first exposure to quality meats and a large restaurant--the largest so far-- served him well at subsequent stints at French, Italian and American kitchens in New York.

There was no question about a career in cooking. He had met Michael Roberts of Trumps back in 1977 while both were employed at 1/5 Avenue in New York. “I flipped out when I saw Michael’s name and restaurant mentioned in an issue of Travel and Leisure. I found an untitled post card with the name Trumps on it and sent it off on a fluke, hoping it would reach Michael. It did. I then went to California on a work-vacation and stayed,” he says.

He left Trumps when he was offered the executive chef’s job at Fiasco, in the Marina, whose rating (by the California Restaurant Assn.)he takes credit for raising from zero to two stars. His cooking moves closer and closer to the simple gesture, the unadulturated taste that personifies American cuisine.

The fact that he is moving toward more healthful, light food is also in keeping with the American ideal. “My own personal eating habits have changed. I’m working toward less cream and salt, and cleaner, lighter food--but not dietetic or spa food,” he says.

A simply steamed fish is served with fresh vegetables and a salsa cruda made with fresh yellow tomatoes, basil, olives and Maui onions. Salads are always traditionally California-fresh and light, with herbs, greens, edible flowers and simple dressings.

His most popular dishes, however, are strictly regional American fare slightly dressed up: such as crab cakes, chili, meat loaf and all-American desserts such as peach crisp, killer brownies made with macadamia nut fudge, a summery-light bread pudding with mango puree.

Even the more exotic concoctions, such as a dish known as “beggars’ purses” (smoked salmon filled with Louisiana crab and garnished with Sevruga caviar) have an American base.

The grilled duck on wild-rice griddle cakes, shown on these pages, is a case in point.

“The thing we strive for is to bring an Americanized preparation and ingredients to these dishes. Wild rice is indigenous American food. The duck is locally raised. The dish is made up of steps which are easier to handle in a restaurant kitchen than at home, but if you take the steps one by one, you’ll be able to create the dish with relative ease. It will help if you prepare the wild rice cakes, demi-glaze and the sauce in advance, leaving only the grilling of the duck for the last moment.”

The dish is a complete meal in one, and calls only for a crisp California salad made with edible flowers (nasturtiums are in season now), tender baby greens such as arugula, radicchio, Belgian endive and basil, laced with a virgin olive oil and balsamic-vinegar dressing.

What to drink? “A lightly chilled Beaujoulais Villages would be great, but if you want something from California, I’d try an Edna Valley Chardonnay.”

GRILLED BONELESS DUCK BREASTS WITH WILD-RICE GRIDDLE CAKES AND MANGO SAUCE

1/2 cup olive oil

1 small orange, sliced

3 cloves garlic, mashed

1 tablespoon each coarsely chopped thyme, sage, tarragon and rosemary

Salt

6 pairs boneless duck breasts

Wild Rice Griddle Cakes

2 large mangoes

Mango Sauce

Watercress sprigs

Combine olive oil, orange, garlic, thyme, sage, tarragon and rosemary and salt to taste in shallow pan. Add duck breasts and turn to coat well. Cover and marinate in refrigerator several hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Prepare Wild Rice Griddle Cakes batter and set aside in refrigerator. (Can be done ahead.)

Prepare Mango Sauce.

When ready to cook, prepare coals until white ash forms on coals. Wipe off excess herbs and marinade from duck. Place duck breasts, meat side down on grill. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, turn skin side down and cook 5 minutes or until duck is done. If roasting, bake at 400 degrees 10 to 15 minutes or until tender.

Peel and cut mango into 18 elongated slices, reserving any juices. Trim excess fruit from pit and reserve trimmings for sauce. For each plate, place 3 Wild Rice Griddle Cakes on outer rim. Ladle sauce on bottom well of plate. Slice duck breasts on bias and fan out slices on opposite side of plate. Garnish with mango slices and a few sprigs of watercress. Makes 6 servings.

Wild Rice Griddle Cakes

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 small onion, minced

cup wild rice, rinsed in cold water and drained

2 bay leaves

3/4 cup water

Crepe Batter

2 tablespoons clarified butter, about

Melt butter and add onion. Saute until transluscent. Add rice and stir to coat well. Add bay leaves and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 35 to 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain and spread on baking sheet to cool. Remove bay leaves. Chop wild rice coarsely. When ready to bake griddle cakes, combine wild rice with crepe batter. Place a small amount of clarified butter in crepe pan and heat. Ladle batter into pan and spread out to a 2- to 3-inch diameter. Brown over medium heat until golden brown underneath. Turn and brown other side, 2 to 3 minutes. Keep warm. Makes 18 to 20 crepes.

Note: To clarify butter, heat until milky residue on surface evaporates, or skim off milky residue.

Crepe Batter

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons butter

Stir flour and salt together in bowl of electric mixer. Beat milk, eggs and butter until well blended. Add liquid to flour all at once and beat until smooth.

Mango Sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

Reserved mango juice and pulp

cup red-wine vinegar

Short-Cut Demi-Glaze (brown sauce)

Salt, white pepper

Melt sugar in 1-quart saucepan until it begins to carmelize. Add reserved mango juice and pulp. Add vinegar and cook 2 minutes. Add demi-glaze and boil. Reduce heat and simmer 8 to 10 minutes until reduced. Pour into food processor or blender container and process until a puree is formed. Return to pan and keep warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Short-Cut Demi-Glaze

cup butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups beef broth

2 teaspoons beef base concentrate

Melt butter in skillet and stir in flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, until flour is browned. Blend in broth gradually, stirring constantly. Return to heat and add beef concentrate dissolved with cup water. Cook over low heat 10 minutes, until reduced to 1 cup. Makes 1 cup.