Wheeler Chef Springs Into Catering Business

Gael Lecolley, executive chef at the Wheeler Hot Springs restaurant in Ojai, is branching out on his own this week. While continuing his restaurant duties, Lecolley is launching his own Fantasia Catering service.

“I’ve done a lot of catering before. I think we need a good caterer in Ventura County and I just figured I’d be the one,” Lecolley said. “It’s going to be pretty gourmet. French food, California-style food, using a lot of local and organic products.”

Lecolley said he will cater to private parties, winemaker dinners, corporate luncheons and special events throughout Ventura County and in Santa Barbara County. He plans to be able to handle gatherings from six to 200 people.

Fantasia Catering will offer pre-planned or customized menus, Lecolley said. “I’ve selected the items I like the most from all the menus I’ve done for so many years,” he said. “But I’ll be very flexible. I will get ideas from people about what they like, and create a menu around that.”

For more information, call 659-0499

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Robert Garcia, executive chef at Capistrano’s restaurant in Oxnard, combines a traditional cooking style with modern food presentation. That, he said, is what earned him the 1995-1996 Dinner of the Year award at the recent Channel Islands Chefs Assn.’s President’s Ball.

It is the second year in a row that Garcia has won the honor. Each year, participating chefs take turns preparing dinners for association members. The best dinner of the year is selected from among those presentations.

“I just try to do things in the old-school way, classical cooking presented in a contemporary style,” Garcia said. “I go for a simple but elegant presentation. I see too many plates today that are gaudy, and they end up crowded and cluttered. We go for simple, clean lines, and geometrically balanced plates.”

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Wine, cognac and Scotch will be the beverages of choice April 18, when Giovanni’s Restaurant in Camarillo hosts a gourmet dinner and tasting.

The menu will open with a crostini of smoked salmon, followed by an involtini of eggplant (sliced eggplant grilled with herbs, stuffed with prosciutto and ricotta cheese and topped with a tomato sauce).

Next will be a mezzaluna (ravioli in the shape of a half-moon) stuffed with ricotta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and served with a Gorgonzola cheese sauce. The entree will be veal loin and rack of lamb. Tartufo and coffee will wrap up the meal. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $65 per person. Reservations are required. Call 484-4376. Giovanni’s is located at 5227 Mission Oaks Blvd.

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Speaking of Giovanni’s Restaurant, owner Giovanni Tromba is reworking the menu there to include new lamb and pasta dishes and rock shrimp appetizers. Tromba also is making menu changes at his Pastabilities Restaurant in Ventura, adding risotto, fish and veal dishes.

“At both restaurants, we’ll be working with a lot of herbs, a lot of ginger, a lot of mustards.” The new menus should be complete by the end of April, he said.

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Members of the Ojai Wesleyan Church will be cooking up Ozark apple-blueberry coffeecake, garlic-roasted red potatoes, frittatas, Bavarian waffles, bran muffins and banana bread for a series of brunch/garden tours at Ojai’s BoulderHaven Gardens, beginning Saturday.

Brunch/tours will begin at 9 and 11:30 a.m. The program will be presented again April 20 and 27, May 11, 18 and 25, and June 1 and 8.

BoulderHaven Gardens is a one-acre private garden of native, perennial and drought-tolerant plants. Cost is $10 for the early brunch, $15 for the second brunch. Proceeds will benefit Shake the Nations, an organization that sends youths to work at churches abroad. Call organizer Anne Boydston for reservations at 646-0740.