Creativity, with a shiver

Robert GADSBY arranges prawns on a minty papaya salad, with a Thai peanut sauce on the side.

Michael Cimarusti serves Dungeness crab with grapefruit sections, diced mango and a grapefruit juice reduction with cumin.

David Myers has layered sea urchin, jellied bouillabaisse and raw prawns marinated in mustard oil and fennel pollen -- in a shot glass.

What’s up here? Who are these guys, and what are they doing? They’re the chefs of Noe, Water Grill and Sona, respectively, and they’re making seafood cocktails.

OK, so these dishes don’t come in the ketchupy, horseradish-spiked cocktail sauce Americans know and love. Still, they’re cold seafood in a sauce, and that makes them cocktails in our book -- exotic, artfully presented cocktails.

The seafood cocktail has been part of our way of eating for more than a century now, and something about this iconic appetizer just sets chefs’ creative juices flowing. Chefs around L.A. are taking the cocktail idea in all sorts of directions and coming up with dramatic, memorable first courses.

“We like to blow people away right off the bat,” says David Myers of Sona in West Hollywood. He starts diners out with an array of little amuse bouches, often amounting to deconstructed seafood cocktails.

One of them is “oyster cream,” he says, “pureed oyster thickened with gelatin, like a pudding or a rich, beautiful cream, flavored with lemon grass and coriander. We serve that with a puree of Cavaillon melon and a hazelnut crisp, so you have various layers: sweetness, brininess and luxurious mouth-feel.”

“Shrimp cocktails always remind me of an early experience of going to a restaurant,” recalls Robert Gadsby of Noe Restaurant in the Omni Hotel Los Angeles. “The lady friend I was with said, ‘I’ll order the shrimp cocktail,’ and I said, ‘I’ll have the cured salmon,’ which I’d never had. When the salmon came, I complained that it wasn’t cooked.

“It was kind of embarrassing. When I think of shrimp cocktail, I remember that experience -- so I always jazz it up.” Maybe this is why he features a different seafood cocktail every six weeks.

Certainly, the idea of cold seafood in sauce offers the cook a pretty big blank page to work on. But the traditional American cocktail sauce is still the springboard for many chefs’ creations. With its root of ketchup mixed with other condiments, cocktail sauce is a cousin to other ultra-American sauces like barbecue sauce and even the ketchup-based “French” dressing that is still many a cook’s cherished secret. (Countless Americans concoct their own barbecue sauces, just as restaurant chefs are pushing the limits on seafood cocktails.)

Maybe it’s the ketchup. Maybe something about ketchup inspires the American soul, even if chefs evolve in a ketchupless direction.

At the Water Grill, Michael Cimarusti doesn’t offer a straight seafood cocktail on his menu; that would be a cliche. But he does make a conventional sort of cocktail sauce that’s available on the side with seafood. It’s a particularly pungent one, because he makes up a batch and then adds a bit of fresh horseradish every day -- he compares this to the sugar dosage that is added to Champagne before it’s bottled.

As for that crab-grapefruit-mango dish, Cimarusti says it’s one that worked its way up through the ranks. “It came out of our tasting menus, which change pretty much daily, and found its way onto the regular menu. Originally, I did it on a skewer: mango, grapefruit section, crab. With a tasting menu, I like to get out of the same old knife-fork-spoon presentation, to break the boredom of eating eight or nine things all the same way.

“It all just seemed to work together -- nice grapefruit, beautiful crab. The last element was the cumin. It had needed one more thing.”

She’s mad for mayo

For Allyson Thurber, chef at the Lobster in Santa Monica, it’s mayonnaise rather than ketchup that inspires. Her cocktail of choice is lobster (of course) in a martini glass with a luscious tarragon aioli. “I am a true mayonnaise-oholic,” she says, “and I grew up eating fresh Dungeness crab with lemon, mayo and tarragon. There’s nothing better, in my book.

“Can it really get any better than that? Well, a horseradish-spiced Louis dressing can’t hurt ... it does have a mayo base.”

The seafood cocktail has been an American favorite for 110 years. Many people don’t know it’s a California original.

Apparently, it was first concocted in San Francisco around 1889, when a drunken sailor ordered a bowl of oysters at John Moraghan’s oyster stand in what’s now the city’s financial district. The story goes that he was in too much of a hurry to eat the oysters on the shell, so he asked Moraghan to shuck them for him. Then this nameless sailor created the “cocktail” sauce by grabbing all the condiments on the counter -- vinegar, ketchup, hot sauce, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce -- and pouring them into the bowl together, like a bartender mixing a cocktail.

It was basically just a new way of putting together ingredients that were already at hand. The idea found a ready welcome in Latin America, which was already accustomed to the idea of cold seafood in a tart, spicy sauce because of its long taste for ceviche (raw seafood “cooked” in lime juice) and seafood escabeche (cooked seafood in vinegar). When you see the word “mariscos” painted on a restaurant, you know it will have a menu of cocteles made from squid, shrimp, octopus, crab or oysters. In the Caribbean, they make conch cocktails (coctel de concha or de caracol).

The usual American cocktail sauce is based on thick tomato sauce and/or ketchup dosed with lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and horseradish. Latin American cocteles tend to be similar (most call for “salsa inglesa,” which is Worcestershire sauce), though some contain mayonnaise and/or mustard. The coctel Campechana at La Barca Jalisco in South Gate shows the classic Mexican take on the seafood cocktail: a profusion of seafood -- squid, octopus, abalone and shrimp -- mingled with tomatoes, avocados and a light tomato sauce, slightly sweet and slightly pungent with chiles.

At Cafe Atlantic, Xiomara Ardolina serves a coctel de camaron en salsa criolla. “Nearly every Cuban restaurant has a seafood cocktail,” she says.

Her version is atypical since it contains jalapenos, and Cuban food generally avoids chiles. “Originally, I used habanero chiles with it,” she says, “but they were too hot and not flavorful enough. You know, the habanero is from Havana, but we don’t eat it. We plant it around our houses as a vine to keep out intruders.” The jalapeno is quite hot enough, particularly with a dose of freshly ground horseradish.

So it’s not traditional. None of these recipes is traditional. We say they’re all cocktails, and we say, bottoms up.

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Santa Barbara spot prawn martini with Thai spices

Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Note: From Robert Gadsby of Noe Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Substitute regular shrimp if Santa Barbara spot prawns are unavailable. Look for the ingredients at Asian markets.

Peanut pesto dipping sauce

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

1/2 cup coconut milk

3 tablespoons palm sugar

or brown sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Place the curry paste, coconut milk, sugar, lime juice and fish sauce in a saucepan and heat over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes. Add the peanut butter and stir frequently. Add the boiling water and salt and simmer until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, adding more water if needed. May be made 1 day ahead. Makes 1 1/4 cups dipping sauce.

Thai salad with mint-garlic dressing

1 teaspoon Thai yellow curry paste

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4cup nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4cup seeded diced tomatoes

1/4cup sliced red onion

1/2cup sliced red bell pepper

1/2cup chopped cilantro

1/4cup chopped mint

1/4 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots

1/2cup thinly sliced snow peas

1/4 cup sliced jalapeno, seeded

1/4 cup sliced cabbage

1/4cup thinly sliced green

papaya (optional)

1. Place the curry paste, 1 teaspoon garlic, lime juice, nam pla and sugar in a blender and process 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside. Makes about two-thirds cup dressing.

2. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, the remaining one-fourth cup garlic, cilantro, mint, bean sprouts, carrots, snow peas, jalapeno, cabbage and papaya. Toss with the dressing.

Assembly

48 medium shrimp

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Salad with dressing

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

4 cilantro sprigs

4 cherry tomatoes, halved

4 lime wedges

Peanut pesto dipping sauce

1. Soak 16 (8-inch) bamboo skewers in water for 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place the peeled shrimp in a bowl and season with the curry powder, garlic, salt and pepper.

2. Grill or fry the shrimp. If frying, work in batches and cook in 1 tablespoon oil mixed with 2 to 3 tablespoons peanut pesto until pink and firm, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Place on skewers after cooking. If grilling, thread 3 shrimp onto each skewer and grill until pink and firm, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

3. To serve, divide the dressed salad among 4 large martini glasses. Arrange 3 skewers in a triangle on top of each glass; place the fourth skewer upright in the center of the glass. Garnish with chopped peanuts, cilantro sprigs and halved cherry tomatoes. Serve with lime wedges and the peanut pesto dipping sauce.

Each serving: 540 calories;

31 grams protein; 37 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams fiber;

33 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 128 mg. cholesterol; 2,613 mg. sodium.

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Cafe Atlantic’s shrimp cocktail

Total time: 45 minutes

Servings: 6

Note: From Xiomara Ardolina of Cafe Atlantic in Pasadena. The chef notes that the cocktail sauce can also be used to marinate the cooked shrimp overnight.

Cocktail sauce

2 cups tomato juice

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup prepared horseradish

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup minced jalapenos

(about 4 seeded)

1/2 cup chopped red onion

3tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Mix the tomato juice, ketchup, horseradish, cilantro, jalapenos, onion, lime juice, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be made several days ahead.)

Shrimp

2 pounds large shrimp (32 to 42 shrimp)

3 quarts water

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2 heads garlic, cut in half

horizontally

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails in place. Fill a large pot with the water and add the onion, garlic, lime juice, bay leaf and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Bring the water back to a boil and cook the shrimp just until pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain and chill.

Assembly

4 avocados

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups mixed baby greens

1. Cut the avocados into three-fourths-inch pieces. Place in a bowl and gently toss with the olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

2. To serve, spoon about one-third cup cocktail sauce into each of 6 large martini glasses. Place 3 or 4 lettuce leaves on top of the sauce, followed by 7 or 8 pieces of avocado. Put 6 shrimp around each glass with tails hanging over the edge.

Each serving: 238 calories;

21 grams protein; 12 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber;

13 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 179 mg. cholesterol; 608 mg. sodium.

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Dungeness crab with mango and red grapefruit

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Note: From chef Michael

Cimarusti of Water Grill

6 red grapefruit

Sugar to taste (optional)

2 large ripe mangos

1 (2- to 2 1/2-pound) cooked Dungeness crab

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup baby mizuna leaves

1. Squeeze 4 of the grapefruit and strain their juice, yielding about 4 cups. Put the grapefruit juice in a stainless steel saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until it is reduced to one-fourth cup and is the consistency of syrup, about 1 hour. Add sugar to taste if desired. Let the syrup cool.

2. Peel the remaining 2 grapefruit, divide them into segments and peel off the membrane. Peel the mangos and cut into half-inch pieces. Refrigerate the fruit until ready to use.

3. Pick the crabmeat from the legs as carefully as possible to preserve its size and shape; remove the body meat. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4. Place the cumin seeds in a small skillet and toast over medium heat until they become aromatic and begin to crackle and release a bit of smoke, about 90 seconds. Transfer immediately to a cool surface. When the seeds are cool, crush slightly with a mortar and pestle and stir in the olive oil.

5. To serve, place 3 grapefruit sections on each of 4 appetizer plates. Place 6 pieces of crab on top of and next to the grapefruit segments. Scatter 6 to 8 pieces of mango around the plate and lightly drizzle the grapefruit syrup on top. Then add a touch of the cumin oil on top of the syrup. Scatter mizuna leaves on the plate and drizzle with a bit more syrup if desired.

Each serving: 246 calories; 6 grams protein; 55 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 2 grams fat;

0 saturated fat; 12 mg. cholesterol; 69 mg. sodium.