Tamer choices, gracious charm

After a soothing ride up the canyon with the sunroof wide open to the evening sky, four of us are seated outside on the upper terrace at Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas. It’s heaven looking up at the trees, reveling in the soft breeze and the sound of a stream tumbling over rocks. Never mind that this last is a man-made water feature or that across the road, a complex of grandiose houses is going up; we’re in the midst of nature -- nature with valet parking.

The rustic stone and timber lodge, built in 1920 and enlarged in 1983, has the same look it did in the ‘30s and ‘40s when Hollywood swells pointed their shiny new cars up Malibu Canyon Road for a romantic dinner with their latest conquest. The decor of rawhide-wrapped pillars, massive old lanterns and paintings of fleshy nymphs with doves hovering in front of their racier parts was kitschy then. It’s kitschy now. But those big bent willow armchairs are awfully comfortable, and the candlelight seems to flatter everybody. The mood is jovial, as if we’re all guests at some fantastical lodge in the mountains where the bookcases overflow with novels you might have liked to read 50 years ago.

When Hemingway was in vogue, those elk and caribou heads mounted on the walls would have had some real cachet and you could probably have worn riding boots and jodhpurs without looking too terribly twee. But now, instead of Katherine Hepburn look-alikes, the crowd is a wild mix of over- and under-dressed tourists, couples on a first, nervous date, grandmothers towing teenagers in flip flops and filmy gypsy skirts, and the occasional bon vivant in search of big bold California Cabernets and some red meat.

A mainstream move

To play up its hunting lodge origins, Saddle Peak Lodge has long had a focus on game. But chefs come and go. Josie LeBalch, now of Josie’s in Santa Monica, was the most committed to game, and made a big effort to get in a wide variety from different sources. She loved cooking it, and still does, because it presents such a wide palette of flavors and textures. Warren Schwartz who followed her as chef, did some wild things with game too.

But recently, under chef Mark Murillo, the menu has moved away from such a strict game focus to feature more mainstream California cooking. The food is less fancy now, with less ornamentation and fewer elaborate sauces. Murillo’s cooking is solid and consistent, both qualities that are crucial for a restaurant as busy and as beloved as Saddle Peak Lodge.

The current dinner menu, with its take on California comfort food, may actually be in tune with popular taste than the previous French-influenced cuisine. The game that is offered -- such as quail, buffalo, venison, elk and pheasant -- is mostly farm-raised and less exotic than it once seemed now that these same items appear on menus all over town.

Gone are the intricate sauces, the puff pastry and playful garnishes in favor of more straightforward cooking. The trade-off is that the kitchen can deliver the new menu consistently.

One of the best appetizers is a buffalo roulade, tender buffalo meat rolled up with an arugula puree fired up with horseradish cream. Sliced and served with fried capers and a shower of finely chopped white onion, it’s a keeper. Grilled quail squares off with a lovely soft polenta embellished with mascarpone and garnished with earthy collard greens that marry nicely with the quail and polenta. Soft-shell crab from Maryland is juicy and perfectly sauteed. I’m glad the kitchen had the good sense to serve the homemade barbecue sauce on the side, though; it’s simply too strong and too sweet for the delicate crab. Soups such as a spring vegetable soup with crispy prosciutto are well-made and delicious.

Although the game options are limited, they still define the restaurant. Buffalo, if you’ve never had it, can be a wonderful alternative to beef. It’s leaner, and so a bit lighter, but still has a mild, interesting flavor, given that it’s farmed. Here, it’s “cooked on the range,” that is, over a wood fire to give it an alluring, smoky edge, and served with twice-baked potato, creamed spinach and, oddly, a bearnaise sauce. I think it’s best simply eaten plain.

There’s also a rack of venison, which again is very mild in flavor, nothing like its wilder brethren, but perfectly cooked with a deep, rosy center and served with a chewy risotto cake, sauteed red Swiss chard, and for a nice touch, a poached Seckel pear. The double-cut pork chop is dauntingly large, but so tender and juicy it disappears quickly, especially after the other diners at the table get wind of how delicious it is. And I love the fact that it’s served with mac ‘n cheese, a rich grown-up version made with good cheddar. Accompanied by some braised escarole, it’s a thoroughly satisfying plate.

The sides set chef Murillo’s fish dishes apart. Lots of restaurants serve wild salmon or halibut, but not wild Scottish salmon with a sweet potato, corn and basil succotash and parsley coulis. Nor do you see potato-crusted halibut set next to black-eyed peas stewed with onions, carrots and celery, and a little enticingly smoky Nueske bacon, as you do here.

When I mull over the wine list, I realize that the once-famous collection of California wines is caught in a time warp. Wine buffs used to search out Saddle Peak for distinguished California Cabernets in multiple vintages, but these days the list doesn’t seem as rich in older bottles as it once was. It’s also behind the times in terms of embracing the best of the up-and-coming winemakers and/or labels. Instead it’s an uninspired compendium of California wines, with the labels someone with only a passing acquaintance with the subject would recognize, but without a whiff of personality.

I didn’t get a chance to try it, but on Wednesdays, in keeping with the trend for special menus on slow weekday nights, you can indulge in Saddle Peak Lodge game chili, either as an appetizer, a main course or as part of a three-course dinner that includes an iceberg wedge and raspberry cheesecake, though $39 for that particular meal seems a bit steep. Drinking a West Coast craft beer with your chili should keep the tab down.

As for desserts, you’d think it might be wise to follow buffalo with something, well, light. But not at Saddle Peak. Desserts are unabashedly pitched to a childhood sweet tooth. How about a buttery-crusted pecan pie topped with soft vanilla whipped cream or an ice cream sundae strewn with nuts and dribbled with fudge and/or caramel sauce poured from a wee pitcher?

Murillo has also revamped the brunch menu. Instead of the former three-course prix fixe menu, it’s now a la carte, a mix of breakfast and lunch dishes, tilted slightly more toward lunch items. It makes driving out to Saddle Peak more of a casual event and therefore more tempting to repeat.

A canyon brunch

On a Sunday morning, the patio is a sea of white umbrellas. I count at least three birthday parties, a table with a mother and her grown daughters visiting and taking pictures of each other and a couple of sleepy-eyed lovers rubbing toes and speaking desultorily. The gentlemanly waiters look as if they’ve been here for years. The garden, though, is looking a bit unkempt and the plantings are boring compared with what somebody with an eye could do with native plants in this magical setting.

Saddle Peak’s eggs Benedict throws away the English muffin for a croissant, oddly enough, turning the poached egg dish into a sort of croissant sandwich. On its own terms, it’s appealing enough, the eggs perfectly poached, napped in a decent hollandaise and sandwiched with a swatch of spinach between the two halves of a browned croissant. The kitchen has substituted the marvelously smoky Nueske apple wood-smoked bacon from Wisconsin for the traditional Canadian bacon that goes inside too, and they serve it with country potatoes.

Maryland crab cake passes muster with the Maryland native at our table because it’s almost pure crabmeat, very little filler, with that sweet taste of blue crab. Topped with frisee, it becomes a crab-cake salad.

A pulled Kurobuta pork sandwich is moist and flavorful, the shredded meat heaped on a crusty bun with sliced homemade pickles. The fact that it comes with beautiful homemade potato chips cut so fine they’re practically see-through makes this sandwich the star of the brunch, with the buffalo burger coming in a close second.

There’s also a terrific BLT made with that same Nueske bacon, Early Girl tomatoes, shaved red onions and avocado on toasted wheat. I’d be very happy to pounce on this after the drive up the canyon anytime. A trio of game sausages -- smoked ostrich with pistachio, wild boar “Italian style,” and elk with Madeira -- is a disappointment, though, because two of them are a bit rubbery.

Because our waiter had been smart enough to tell us the souffle pancakes are more dessert than breakfast item, we saved them for last. Mostly egg whites, they’re slight as a cloud, served with an excellent warm berry compote. If the softly whipped cream had been a tad less sweet and a little colder, these would be killer. As it is, they make a perfect dessert for the table to share.

A fresh peach Bellini sounds wonderful at this moment. The fizzy drink is made with 2001 Taittinger’s Carneros and purchased fresh peach puree rather than peaches juiced to order. It makes a difference. And why they’re using yellow peaches instead of the more fragrant white peaches which are in season at the moment, I don’t know. This over-sweet Bellini doesn’t call up visions of the famous ones served at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. But the cocktails are usually good, if you want to start brunch with a Bloody Mary or a Ramos gin fizz.

To execute cutting-edge contemporary cooking, you have to have a strong team in the kitchen. The powers that be at Saddle Peak Lodge seem to have realized how difficult -- and expensive -- it is to pull off, and have revised their ambitions according ly. I actually think the new menu suits the spirit of the place better, though it is disheartening to see the only real game restaurant in the area limit its “game” offerings to familiar, tame items. I used to drive up to Saddle Peak with a sense of discovery. Now I would go for a pleasant meal in rustic surroundings.

*

Saddle Peak Lodge

Rating: **

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas; (818) 222-3888; www.saddlepeaklodge.com.

Ambience: Rustic stone and timber hunting lodge turned restaurant with minuscule bar, kitschy but romantic lighting and atmosphere, and the requisite game trophies mounted overhead. Summers, you can eat outside on the patio or terrace, which are also used for Sunday brunch.

Service: Impersonal, but efficient.

Price: Appetizers, $12 to $21; main courses, $28 to $42; desserts, $7 to $19; tasting menu, $65 per person; brunch items, $12 to $18.

Best dishes: Buffalo roulade, grilled quail with mascarpone polenta, roasted elk tenderloin, buffalo “cooked on the range,” pecan pie, cinnamon baked apple; and from brunch menu, eggs Benedict, BLT, pulled Kurobuta pork sandwich.

Wine list: Predictable all-California list. Corkage, $20.

Best table: A table for two on the upstairs terrace.

Special features: Brunch on Sundays.

Details: Dinner, 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 6 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday (in winter from 5 p.m.). Brunch, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.