Pure Sterling
You might want to bring your own silverware to Chamomile Cafe and Bakery, but don’t let that deter you. Even though it may be a schlep driving out to Agua Dulce.
Despite the plastic dinnerware, chef-owner Deeahna Arrieta’s cooking is pure sterling. She’s a gifted baker from New York who spent several years in Puebla, Mexico. This is her first commercial venture, and a meal here is like dining with (talented) friends.
As for Agua Dulce, if you’re unfamiliar with this little back-country town, prepare to be swept up in its charms. It’s a rustic Antelope Valley locale off the Antelope Freeway--best known as home to Vasquez Rocks, a favorite Hollywood remote location that’s been used for films from “Dante’s Peak” to “The Flintstones Movie.”
Arrieta makes everything from scratch: homey soups, sensational bagels, hand-rolled knishes, terrific sourdough and rye breads and other baked goods. And she does it all in a thimble-sized kitchen with only one helper.
Her breakfasts are wonderful. Arrieta serves locally smoked salmon on crusty poppy seed bagels, still warm; they’re a quantum leap above the doughy buns that pass for bagels in the Southland. I love her hot, yeasty pecan sticky buns, and also her magically flaky almond croissants. The best of her omelets is made with excellent Aidell’s chicken and turkey sausage. The orange juice is squeezed to order, and the coffee is hot and fresh.
The lunch and dinner menus are identical. Start with a bowl of thick, flavorful, nearly perfect corn chowder topped with a handful of crunchy rye bread croutons. The chicken matzo ball soup has plenty of carrots and shredded chicken, but I found the matzo ball a trifle too dense.
The knishes, however, are a smash. “It’s a hassle to roll out the dough by hand,” confided the chef, as she brought a basket of hot knishes (with both meat and potato fillings) to our table. Lady, it’s worth it.
The main dishes aren’t complicated, but they work well. The house pasta sauce is a light pesto, made from basil grown in Arrieta’s own garden, with a light sprinkling of sun-dried tomatoes. There’s a nice salad of greens, cucumbers and home-grown tomatoes, which you can have plain or topped with pieces of breaded chicken. (Try it with the creamy house dressing, made with lots of Parmesan and cracked pepper.)
Arrieta also bakes a fluffy quiche--a frothy egg-and-onion filling inside a flaky crust made with both shortening and butter. Whatever you order here, you’ll get a small loaf of homemade bread as a side dish and an entire stick of butter to spread on it.
After the main meal, you’ll find around a dozen kinds of cakes and cookies at the pastry counter. The best cake is an ultra-rich carrot cake, made with what must be a good inch of buttery white frosting. The terrific chocolate-dipped biscotti are great with a shot of espresso. I’m also partial to a chocolate cookie Arrieta makes, because the batter uses equal amounts of flour and ground almonds. Mmmm.
What makes the food taste so good here? Is it the sweet water the town takes its name from? The chef’s talent? Well, we know it’s not those plastic spoons.
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BE THERE
Chamomile Cafe, 33359 Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Agua Dulce. Open 6:15 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 6:15 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, 7:15 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, 7:15 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. No alcohol. Parking lot. Cash and personal checks. Suggested dishes: bagel with lox and cream cheese, $5.50; knishes, $3.75; corn chowder, $4.75; grilled chicken salad, $7.95.