Venice’s Canal Club Parties With a Menu of World Cuisine

The owners of James’ Beach have opened Canal Club in the former Rebecca’s at the corner of Pacific Avenue and North Venice Boulevard. The biggest change to this eccentric Venice space is they’ve stripped away the art and decorative camouflage, even designer and architect Frank Gehry’s enormous hanging crocodile, which has found a new home at Bergamot Station. (Rebecca’s, incidentally, has moved to the corner of Broadway and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.)

The concept is beach food--”simple fare from beaches we love.” Many are the restaurateurs who have tried to pull off this seductive idea, but it’s tough. Few cooks are well versed enough in world cuisines to cook Cuban, Mexican, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Thai and French all on one menu. But that’s more or less what’s being attempted here. To help out, owners James Evans and Daniel Samakow got Michael Roberts (remember Trumps in West Hollywood?) to advise them.

The new “international beach bistro” has something for everyone. In the middle is a “raw and roe bar,” dispensing oysters on the half shell and sushi. And at capacious booths along the walls, you can nosh on everything from Spanish serrano ham with Marsala-soaked prunes and gussied-up Cuban roast pork sandwiches to lobster miso soup and little salads. There’s a nice seafood ceviche lively with chiles and cilantro. Unfortunately, the chips served with it are straight out of the bag. Dainty skewers of seared duck liver, Chinese sausage and figs make a tasty bite, though. And a salad of beets, orange segments and hazelnuts is pleasant enough.

Main courses are hearty, somewhat messy plates that run the gamut from rack of baby lamb and grilled Porterhouse steak with bagna cauda and half a roasted chicken, grilled veggies and bouillabaisse. The kitchen is willing, but doesn’t seem quite able yet. Shrimp scampi Veracruzana is a confused heap of ingredients, ropa vieja more a tough, chewy stew than long-simmered beef that falls apart into shreds. Fried plantain is just what it should be, but the black beans could use some seasoning. The best thing we try is the roast duck scented with star anise.

But if you’re looking for a party atmosphere by the beach, this could be it. Canal Club is, as they say in the book blurb business, a restaurant “in the tradition” of Rebecca’s. Same crowd, more or less.

BE THERE

Canal Club, 2025 Pacific Ave., Venice; (310) 823-3878. Open for dinner Monday-Saturday; it will add Sundays next month. Little dishes and salads $4 to $11; main courses $13 to $29. Valet parking.