A cozy Eastside wine bar with Pacific soul
“HAPPY people!” said one of my friends as she looked around the relaxed, urban-chic dining room of Phlight restaurant. “Look at all the happy people here!”
And she was right. This attractive, friendly restaurant and wine bar in the historic Uptown neighborhood of Whittier is quite a few people’s idea of heaven. Its owners, the husband-wife team of Jay and Nikomi Arroyo, have created an easygoing cafe that brings together some of the most appealing characteristics of trendy city-side spots with none of the hipper-than-thou hassles that keep so many of us away from high-profile places.
For one thing, as befits a wine bar, there’s a pleasantly lively scene fairly early in the evening with no pressure to order a full meal, so it’s a great place to rendezvous. And on jazz nights, the music starts by 6:30.
But I’m guessing that drop-ins who think they’re heading off to a movie tend instead to linger once they discover that the extensive menu of small plates from chef Daniel Salcido not only offers well-made, tapas-style dishes but also a handful of intriguingly unfamiliar Chamorro dishes. The latter are drawn from the cuisine of the Chamorros, the native people of Guam whose roots are in the Malay peninsula and whose food demonstrates a multitude of Pacific Rim influences.
The restaurant’s name combines those of the nearby cross streets Philadelphia and Bright, and plays on the idea of wine flights -- neatly communicating a commitment to the neighborhood as well as the wine-bar concept. Wine service is breezy and unpretentious and the wine list, while more accessible than adventurous, offers selections of more than 20 wines by the glass and another dozen by the bottle.
By-the-glass prices are a notch or two below those in West Hollywood or West L.A. bistros, and there’s a generous supply of bottles in the under-$50 range. And the list includes more than a dozen interesting microbrew or imported beers, which are also great accompaniments to the food here. On Mondays, bottles are half price; the corkage fee is waived on Tuesdays.
You’re greeted with a menu, wine list and a small bowl of cinnamon-roasted almonds and olives seasoned with chili flakes, oregano and thyme that sets you up beautifully for the rustic, often hearty dishes to come. Your server will tell you that unless you ask for dishes to come to the table in certain sequence, they’ll arrive as they’re ready, in no particular order. I like to order a slew of things and then be surprised later on when something shows up that I’ve forgotten about. But it’s also fun to order in flights, a couple of dishes at a time.
Four’s the ideal party here, because portions are generous and there’s such a variety that it seems a shame to just order the three or four a couple might share. The Chamorro dishes are among the most delightful with their tropical ingredients, Spanish influences (dating, as in the Philippines, from the colonial era) and Asian touches.
Chicken kelaguen is a traditional dish, for example, but in this setting, absolutely contemporary. Served here as a cold salad (in Guam it’s often served on a local flatbread), it combines marinated grilled chicken, chopped and mixed with lemon (which finishes the “cooking” as does the citrus in ceviche), green onions and coconut, then spiced for a smoky-pepper kick. It’s light and satisfying, delicious with the nuggets of tender caramelized plantain served alongside.
Phlight’s shrimp fritters with spicy mango achiote sauce is a refined version of a Chamorro dish, and the popular grilled flat iron steak comes with Guam’s distinctive red rice, which gets its color and pleasant touch of bitterness from achiote. The finadene sauce served with the steak combines soy and a traditional spicy-pepper paste.
Though they’re not unique to Guam, grilled octopus and other seafood dishes as well as some of the meat dishes, such as ginger-braised short ribs and caramelized coconut are, while sophisticated versions, reminiscent of Pacific island favorites. They’ll make some diners think of Hawaii and others of the Philippines. And Salcido borrows from the cuisines of any number of former Spanish colonies to create the dozens of other dishes on the menu. There are albondigas (meatballs), a ceviche, guava-glazed chicken and adobo chicken wings.
A number of potato dishes riff on homestyle favorites. Tiny purple slices of potatoes, deep fried and served with a drizzle of nutty pumpkin seed aioli, are more complex in flavor than seems possible. Shoestring fries made with red garnet yams are appealing -- perfectly tender inside, crisp and salty outside, with an assertive, root-vegetable flavor.
Manchego and sweet peppers is a composed plate of good aged cheese with triangles of soft peppers and a scoop of something that’s like tapenade-meets-tabbouleh -- at any rate, very tasty with a pickle-y note provided by chopped capers. Fat, juicy asparagus spears wrapped in delicate strips of Serrano ham have just a hint of char.
There’s always a standout
HAVING once tried the baked Iberian crepes, for example, I must always get them. The small crepes are lightly glazed with manchego, Garrotxa and Idiazabal cheeses, layered with shiitake mushrooms and a tiny dice of white squash then twisted into little hobo bundles and baked until the edges are slightly brown and crisp. Amazing.
After a few hours nibbling, turn your attention to dessert and dessert wines, if you can. The flan is terrific here. There’s a Chamorro-style sponge cake (letiya) topped with a discreet layer of not-too-sweet coconut custard instead of frosting. And the Mexican chocolate souffle is everything that’s seductive about Mexican chocolate and then some.
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Phlight
Location: 6724 Bright Ave., Whittier; (562) 789-0578; www.phlightrestaurant.com.
Price: Small plates, $5 to $24.
Best dishes: Sweet potato fries, chicken kelaguen, flat iron steak with red rice, and finadene sauce, baked Iberian crepes, Mexican chocolate souffle.
Details: Open for dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Street parking. Corkage fee, $15. Beer and wine. All major credit cards.
Special features: Jazz Sundays and Wednesdays, from 6:30 p.m.