Small plates of Sage food

Rich Mead is the chef and owner of the 6-year-old Sage Restaurant in

Newport Beach. He’s in the midst of opening a second location, Sage

on the Coast, at Crystal Cove Promenade also in Newport Beach, which

is expected to debut in July.

The new restaurant will differ from the original Sage that serves

creative American cuisine. Mead is developing a menu driven by the

“small plate thing,” where most dishes center on single ingredients.

The build-your-own menu concept has succeeded at other restaurants:

Craft in New York, A.O.C. in Los Angeles and the Red Pearl Kitchen in

Huntington Beach share variations of that theme.

“The idea is to create a menu where customers can order two to

three dishes that focus on simple, incredible ingredients,” Mead

said.

Sage on the Coast will also have extensive wines by the glass.

Sage was Mead’s first restaurant, though he’s opened a half-dozen

restaurants including two that continue to thrive: 17th Street Cafe on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, and Stanley’s on Ventura Boulevard

in Sherman Oaks. Sage is hidden in nondescript Eastbluff Shopping

Center, yet loyal customers and Zagat’s Survey agree that it’s “one

of the best small restaurants in O.C.”

Sage is a warm and charming restaurant with 30 tables and a back

patio filled with fresh herbs, sage, lavender and rosemary and a

Meyer lemon tree. Mead cooks with ingredients from the patio’s

garden. His partner, Rosemarie Urbananski, deserves credit for the

restaurant’s ambience and appealing decor. Each season, she adds new

touches that enhance the restaurant’s appeal. She even helped Mead

hand paint the chairs sage-green during the initial struggling years.

Mead’s energies focus on creating delicious lunches and dinners,

seven days a week.

“It’s an all consuming job,” Mead said. Once an avid skier (he

cooked and lived in Mammoth for years) Mead doesn’t have any time for

sports now. “In six years I’ve only taken three to four days off.”

Yet, for the first time in Sage’s history, Mead has brought in an

experienced chef, Kris Kirk, to help out in the kitchen. Kirk is a

graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and a

former chef at Aqua, the formal restaurant at the St. Regis Monarch

Beach Resort in Dana Point.

“Kirk has made me excited about learning again,” Mead said. “I can

develop ideas, read and have energy again.” The two throw ideas at

each other for the new restaurant’s concept.

Mead’s listed among the Great Chefs of Southern California. He

says he never attended culinary school and hasn’t had any formal

cooking training. Everything he knows about foods, he’s learned on

the job. Cooking has been his biggest passion for 30 years.

His interest in food came from his mother, who’s Chinese, and from

the necessity to find work. Mead grew up in Washington, D.C., and has

worked in restaurants since junior high school. His first important

cooking lesson came early.

As a teenager, he was in charge of manning 16 toasters with malfunctioning timers at a bustling Marriott Hotel coffee shop. The

kitchen staff members adored and doted on their young toast

apprentice, but he couldn’t keep the hurried pace. He burnt

customers’ bread, then all pleasantries turned sour, with the

waitresses calling him unprintable names.

Now, after a lifetime of cooking experience, Mead’s most important

advice surpasses rhythmics and organization. He offers no clever,

time-tested kitchen secrets and has no allegiance to products. He

only uses two knives and can’t even recall their brands.

“It just doesn’t matter,” Mead said. “Although I do like pizza

ovens, so I have one.”

His best weapon against disappointing food is basic: He cooks with

premium ingredients. He spends endless hours each week seeking out

the best foods he can find for Sage.

Each Wednesday morning, rain or shine, Mead meets with farmers to

select the freshest, most unusual produce at Santa Monica’s Farmers’

Market. On Saturday mornings he shops at Irvine’s Certified Farmers’

Market, next to UC Irvine. Mead says he’s a big proponent of

sustainable farming; he supports local farmers who practice the

environmentally sensitive program. Their growing practices include

conserving soil and water, reducing chemical use and restoring

natural habitats.

Once Mead returns to Newport with his collection of produce, then

he works on dish ideas. In addition to the regular lunch and dinner

menus, Mead offers a “Features” menu each week that incorporates

in-season items. He recently found pea tendrils, baby brussels

sprouts, wild arugula and “the most incredible raisins you’ve ever

tasted.”

He’s thrilled about the trio of colored beets he’s gathering,

along with peacock kale and winter chanterelles. He says the organic

carrots he buys are incredible, unbelievably sweet. Mead pays premium

prices for meats and seafood, but it’s worth it too him.

“I think my customers appreciate what I’m doing,” he said. Mead

purchases fresh seafood through Santa Monica Seafood, or has fresh

fish flown from Hawaii by FedEx. Prime rib-eye beef comes from

Newport Meat Co.

To construct his menu, he consults his endless supply of

cookbooks. Current favorites are Tom Colicchio’s “Craft of Cooking,”

Nancy Silverton’s “Sandwich Book”; “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and

always Julia Child’s books. He doesn’t have enough leisure time to

spend reading magazines, but he does subscribe to Gourmet, Food &

Wine, and the Wine Spectator. Mead also exchanges ideas with chef

friends and gets inspiration from them. His hectic schedule doesn’t

include dining out frequently, but his favorite local restaurants

include Abe in Newport Beach for sushi, Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand

Californian Hotel in Anaheim, and out of town he praises Campanile in

Los Angeles, Union Square Cafe in New York and chef Susan Spicer at

Bayona Restaurant in New Orleans.

On the seasonal menu, typical starter items include

Prosciutto-wrapped burrata with asparagus, roast peppers, cherry

tomatoes, arugula, roast tomato vinaigrette, basil oil and shaved

parmesan ($12); roasted, stuffed artichokes with pea tendrils, winter

chanterelles, macaroni and goat cheese ($10); or pulled barbecue pork

and corn crepes with Asiago cheese, sweet and tangy barbecue sauce

and creme fraiche ($10).

The entree selections can include roast duck breast with roast

baby fennel and Brussels sprouts, spring onion and carrot, raisins,

roast new potatoes and blood orange sauce ($23) or Panko-crusted

Opakapaka with Asian vegetables, saimen noodles, soy wasabi broth

($25).

The regular menu features an eclectic blend of tastes: grilled

Japanese eggplant salad ($10); pepper-seared Ahi with crispy potato

cakes, mashed potatoes, baby greens and Balsamic glaze ($10); crab

cakes with Creole sauce ($10); an array of gourmet pizzas ($9 to

$14); and classics: herb-roasted chicken ($18); grilled pork

tenderloin with Applejack brandy sauce, braised sweet and sour

cabbage, and parmesan potato cakes ($18); and Sage Cioppino ($23).

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at

greerwylder@yahoo.com; at 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; or by

fax at (949) 646-4170.