A New Game Plan

At Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas, I cut into a medallion of elk: It’s butter-tender, yet lean, with an elusive, delicate flavor that matches the Burgundy I’m drinking nuance for nuance. With no heavy sauce to mask its flavor, it’s set off by a raft of roasted salsify wrapped in apple-smoked bacon. Lost in the conversation, the food and the wine, I look up and catch the eye of a regal elk surveying the scene from high on the wall. It’s disconcerting, this gallery of stuffed beasts--moose, elk, caribou, deer, even a shaggy bison. I’m not unaware of the irony.

Saddle Peak Lodge began life as a one-room cabin high in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was later a general store, then in the ‘20s became a roadhouse frequented by movie cowboys filming on nearby studio ranches. It eventually evolved into a rustic stone and timber hunting lodge specializing in game. Just five miles from Pepperdine University in Malibu, the historic lodge may not be as remote as it once was, but a drive up the winding canyon road still feels like a trek. Suddenly, at the end of a lonely, dark road is a turn, and there, lights blazing, is the parking lot jammed with vehicles. Stretch limos hum, waiting for their passengers to emerge from a leisurely dinner, and the air carries the scent of wood smoke and pine.

Chefs have come and gone at Saddle Peak through the years without making much impact on the rather staid, old-fashioned game menu. Most, including Josie LeBalch, who did two stints as chef here before opening Josie’s, were allowed their nightly specials, but not much else. Now management has finally seen the light. Owner Ann Ehringer and managing partner Gerhard Tratter brought in Warren Schwartz as chef. The former Patina sous chef has been allowed to write his own menu. The result is that the food has never tasted or looked better. And under Tratter, Patina’s former director of operations, the service is now crisp and professional for the first time, making dining at Saddle Peak a pleasure.

The game theme once seemed almost a gimmick, like the decor, but I’ve come to love the atmosphere. Is there a more welcoming bar than Saddle Peak’s, with its fireplace always blazing, even in summer, and a bowl of red apples set out for munching? Fishing poles lean against the wall, and well-thumbed books are disposed haphazardly on shelves above the windows. And the trophies of bygone hunting expeditions, the magnificent moose, elk and deer that at first seemed startling, are now like friendly mascots.

Some menu descriptions make dishes sound more belabored than they are. Buffalo tartare with whole-grain mustard and “unusual” condiments, for example, seems dubious. But it’s unusually interesting. A small cake of hand-chopped buffalo meat, leaner and somehow lighter than beef, is flanked by mustardy aioli and discrete piles of capers, chopped egg, red onion and so on for mixing with a raw quail’s egg. Oddly, though, it comes without toast. A subtle butternut squash soup is embellished, Austrian-style, with a lashing of iridescent pumpkin seed oil and toasted pumpkin seeds. Sauteed wild mushrooms in a beautifully dusky sauce anchor a fluffy triangle of puff pastry, providing a wonderful first course for a Chardonnay.

Schwartz’s sauces are light and on the mark, tailored to each dish. One night we nab the last order of the special--wild partridge in a marvelously subtle sauce emulsified with foie gras, which plays beautifully against the wild partridge meat. Like all game, it’s lean and has a tendency to be dry, but I liked its slight funkiness.

With elk or a gorgeous piece of venison, Schwartz has the confidence to let the game speak for itself, with the sauce on the side. A creamy wild mushroom sauce enhances the elk. And the rack of venison, presented as two long-boned chops, cooked blood rare, gets a silky red wine reduction.

Schwartz is into unusual vegetables, too. Venison comes with brussels sprouts and mashed parsnips, with a few slices of Fuyu persimmon for contrast, and the elk with Jerusalem artichokes.

Inevitably, some diners aren’t as enamored of game as others. The chef has solved that nicely with a respectable Liberty duck breast or, even more mainstream, a grilled Black Angus steak. The filet is paired with caramelized Maui onions and a terrific potato galette. However, the night I tried it, the steak is so tender, or tenderized, that it was somewhat mushy. Saddle Peak always offers a couple of fish dishes, too.

Less successful are the homemade ravioli stuffed with butternut squash in brown sage butter: The plate of pasta is simply too rich and greasy. And a farm-raised pheasant breast is dry and so muted that it registers at the bottom of the flavor scale.

Each season Schwartz designs a tasting menu. Winter’s begins with two plump sea scallops, seared just on one side. The rabbit is too dry, but buffalo “on the range” cooked rare is a compelling argument for the frontier meat. Beautifully lean, with a clean flavor, it could be the coming thing now that media magnate Ted Turner, who has the largest herd of bison in America, is opening a restaurant chain featuring 25 versions of the bison burger.

Saddle Peak has updated the pastry selection as well. That tasting menu ended with a lovely individual Meyer lemon tart topped with a cloud of softly whipped, unsweetened cream strewn with lemon peel. There’s a creamy and cold lavender creme brulee, and sometimes a warm strawberry tart with black pepper and a balsamic reduction. Not so strange at all, Italians like to eat strawberries with a few drops of aged aceto balsamico.

It’s heartening to see a classic L.A. restaurant renewed. This is one well worth the detour. Just remember the way home.

Saddle Peak Lodge

419 Cold Canyon Road

Calabasas

(818) 222-3888

Cuisine: Game

Rating: **1/2

AMBIENCE: Romantic stone hunting lodge with game trophies, massive fireplace, hurricane lanterns and wicker armchairs.

SERVICE: Crisp and professional.

BEST DISHES: Buffalo tartare, butternut squash soup, wild mushrooms in puff pastry, venison rack, roasted elk tenderloin, lemon tart. Appetizers, $11 to $28. Main courses, $24 to $36. Four-course tasting menu, $59; with wines, $79 per person. Corkage, $15.

WINE PICKS: 1999 J. Rochioli Estate Pinot Noir, Sonoma County; 1999 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Reserve, Central Coast.

FACTS: Dinner Wednesday through Sunday. Sunday brunch. Valet parking.