Guatemala on the Menu

The name of the restaurant--Ash Street Gardens--offers no hint of what’s on its menu.

But the downtown Ventura restaurant serves deep-rooted, home-style cooking--in the best Guatemalan traditions.

“I never went to cooking school,” said Evie Winokur, who owns and operates the restaurant with her husband, Todd. (Todd Winokur is also proprietor of Cafe Voltaire in Ventura, discussed below.)

“I grew up with my grandmother, and she taught me how to make all these foods since I was 9 years old,” said Winokur, a native of Guatemala.

Winokur began serving lunch daily at Ash Street Gardens, housed in a cozy century-old abode, about a month ago, and last week started regular dinner service.

A smallish menu--there are five main entrees--is offered at both lunch and dinner. Winokur prepares dishes that will seem familiar to many patrons, including chiles rellenos, tamales and empanadas. But any comparison of these Guatemalan staples to their Mexican or Argentine counterparts begins and ends with the names.

For instance, a traditional Guatemalan-style tamale is wrapped not with corn husk but banana leaves, which impart their own mild sweetness to the fluffy masa. Evie’s Famous Rellenos are not laden with cheese, but are stuffed with ground beef, potatoes, carrots and jalapenos. Her empanadas are different from those prepared at nearby Cafe Bariloche, the home of Argentine-style empanadas. Winokur’s family recipe features a cornmeal shell--not a wheat-flour pastry--and the empanadas are fried in olive oil, not baked. Winokur prepares two kinds of empanadas: pumpkin with corn and chicken, and ground beef with potato.

Also on the menu is ejotes envueltos: fresh green beans doused with an egg batter, then lightly fried and topped with salsa.

Winokur’s stew variations include a pipian recipe, which calls for a hearty base made in part from blended pumpkin and sesame seeds--both common in Guatemalan food--and assorted herbs and spices. Some of the “secret spices” used at Ash Street Gardens, Winokur said, are mailed to her by family members in Taxisco.

In keeping with traditional Guatemalan preparations, Winokur said, her dishes are mildly spiced. She makes her own salsa that patrons can apply to heat things up according to taste.

Daily dinner specials are also being instituted, notably salmon al estilo de Chiapas. Here, two salmon filets are stuffed with jalapeno, mint leaves and “secret spices,” then wrapped with banana leaves and baked. All orders on the menu are served with chilled black beans and rice.

So is Winokur concerned about how locals will take to her home cooking?

“I was scared at first,” she said. “I was afraid nobody will know about Guatemalan food. It’s new to a lot of people. But I also have people come in and tell me how happy they are because they have traveled to Guatemala and never had the chance to eat the food again.”

Home cooking aside, patrons should feel at home in the hardwood-floored dining room, which is warmed on cool evenings by a large fireplace and is lined with lots of plants and greenery. A wood deck courtyard, which looks out to the property’s well-tended backyard, seats about 25.

Ash Street Gardens is at 12 N. Ash St., at the corner of Ash and Main streets, in Ventura. Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Delivery orders in the downtown area are available from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; $8 minimum. Call 648-6139.

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For 5 1/2 years, Cafe Voltaire in downtown Ventura has been home to Eggplant Mama Mia and an array of hefty-portioned sandwich concoctions, and also has been a hot spot to catch area rock, blues and folk musicians.

That is expected to change this summer.

According to owner Todd Winokur, Cafe Voltaire is destined to relocate from The Livery to the new Palm Court renovation project. The site--otherwise known as the 127-year-old Spear Building and Hall--is a combined 13,000-square-foot area anchored by the boarded-up Rendezvous Room at Main and Palm streets.

Developer Jim Mesa and business partner George Carroll own the property, and architectural plans are being drafted to renovate the brick structures to create a mission-style facade along with a large courtyard and trellises. The redesign calls for retail shops, office space, Cafe Voltaire and possibly another restaurant.

Mesa said he and Winokur have already consented on a lease agreement, and plans are being drawn for the new Cafe Voltaire.

Mesa said he is speaking with three suitors, interested in bringing in an independent New York-style deli, a “high-end” restaurant or a martini bar that would offer light foods.

Taqueria Vallarta, located on Main Street at the end of the property, will remain and its exterior will be refurbished, Mesa said.

Winokur compared his concept of a new Cafe Voltaire to that of the House of Blues in Universal City, a nightclub-restaurant.

“Everything about this place is going to be focused on the music,” Winokur said. “It is being built with that in mind. This is going to be thought out from the very start about acoustics and sound and the show.”

Cafe Voltaire will also become a full-service restaurant with the move, scheduled for July or August. Plans call for a full kitchen, and Winokur said he is negotiating to hire a chef.

“We’re going to be specializing in seafood and international home-style cooking,” he said.

Fans of the current Cafe Voltaire menu need not fret.

“We will continue to offer almost all of the food currently on the menu,” Winokur said. “Some might end up being lunch items. But we don’t want to take people’s favorite items away.”

For Winokur, the pending move will be a big step requiring him to seek financing partners, including Mesa.

“When you look at what you’ve got and what you want to have,” Winokur said, “it would be a long road doing it alone.”

Rodney Bosch writes about the restaurant scene in Ventura County and outlying points. He can be reached at 653-7572, fax 653-7576 or by e-mail at: rodney.bosch@latimes.com.