Mark Miller Will Bring a Taste of the Southwest to Nation’s Capital

Southwestern cuisine specialist Mark Miller--who first gained fame in Berkeley as chef and co-owner of the Fourth Street Bar & Grill and the Santa Fe Bar & Grill, then moved to Santa Fe to open the acclaimed Coyote Cafe in 1987--is heading still farther east. Though the Coyote will remain his base of operations, he is currently at work on two new restaurants, a bar, and a food shop in Washington’s historic Westory Building, now being restored. It should all be open in about a year.

The more elaborate of the restaurants, he says, will be a 100-seater called the Territorial Grill. “The Westory is a beautiful old Beaux-Arts building faced with white marble and granite,” says Miller, “and I like the idea of giving it an elegant, turn-of-the-century, territorial-style dining room. The idea comes from the Easterners and even Englishmen who had big ranchos in Mexico and the western territories in the 19th Century. They weren’t cowboys, they were gentleman ranchers, and they lived well. We’ll serve lots of game and little birds, and cook things on a wood-fired rotisserie.”

The other restaurant will seat about 150. “It will be done in sort of a cowboy-diner style,” he says. “Very Southwestern, with dyed hides, little waterfalls and trout ponds, and flagstone on the walls.” There will be food at the bar, too--for instance, three different kinds of chili every day.

Miller stresses that the food will be different than the Coyote. There will be a retail outlet next to the new Washington restaurants, however, that will feature Coyote-label Southwestern food products, among other items.

THE GREENING OF THE RESTAURANT TRADE: Are restaurants environmental bad guys--destroyers of the very environment they apparently enhance and feed? Maybe. According to “green” activists, there’s a lot wrong with our brasseries, trattorias and taco stands: pesticide-laden foodstuffs, non-biodegradable packaging, excessive consumption of water and electricity, noxious emissions from cooling units and mesquite grills . . . the list goes on. But there are new laws pending around the country aimed at forcing restaurants to clean up their acts.

According to a state-by-state survey published recently in the trade weekly Nation’s Restaurant News, here are some of the measures currently under consideration or recently implemented:

California: The “Big Green” initiative on the November ballot would ban some 70 pesticides--which agricultural interests claim would increase food costs; Los Angeles air-quality officials are expected to push for a ban or severe limitations on new drive-through restaurants by 1993.

Colorado: Denver has banned manufacture and sale of packaging materials made with chlorofluorocarbons--though a recently passed state law seems to forbid such local measures, and the Denver ban faces legal challenges.

Maine: All bottles except those containing dairy products now require a deposit (and yield a refund when returned).

Massachusetts: A bill before the state legislature would require restaurant owners to recycle 35% of all packaging by 1996.

New Jersey: The state legislature is considering a bill that would ban sale or distribution of any goods packaged in petroleum-based non-biodegradable materials.

Rhode Island: All restaurateurs are now required to purchase litter-control permits.

Vermont: A clean-air bill that would limit emissions from propane stoves and charcoal grills is pending.

Washington, D.C.: A new law, taking effect in October, requires restaurateurs to recycle all glass and metal containers.

THE SOFTENING OF THE CRAB: In honor of soft-shell crab season, Ocean Avenue Seafood is holding a monthlong celebration called Softy’s Summer Festival. This means you’ll be able to eat the crab in some, well, unusual new dishes created by the chefs. Ever had a Cajun-blackened soft shell? How about deep-fried soft shell with tequila-orange sauce? The special menu ends July 31.

FIRE FUND-RAISER: The Rusty Pelican in Glendale is donating space Wednesday night to host a fund-raiser for victims of the recent Glendale fire. There will be food, wine and entertainment from 5 to 8 p.m. Proceeds will be distributed by the Glendale/Crescenta Valley chapter of the American Red Cross. Admission to the event, co-hosted by the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, is $40 per person.

BREWSKI NEWS: Chez Melange in Torrance is hosting a Beer Night on Tuesday, July 24. Beer master Mark Scott of the new Eureka brewery in West L.A. is the guest of honor. Other beer mavens in attendance will be Eureka’s Jerry Goldstein and representatives of the makers of Samuel Adams, Anchor Steam, Red Tail Ale and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. A five-course dinner, created to complement the micro-brewery beers, will be served. Cost is $45 per person.