Southern California Cooking from the Cottage (13 page)
Underwater reefs and offshore canyons create the surf breaks, and they are deceptively flat-looking from the shore. But according to
The Surfer's Journal
, “The peak is thick and can unload more water than most any other wave in Southern California.” Even swimming here can be tricky. An official description from the City of San Diego warns, “Much of the beach at Windansea experiences shore-break, a condition on steep beaches which results in hard breaking surf right at the shoreline. Swimmers should enter and exit the water carefully to prevent spinal injuries.”
An epicenter of surfing life, Windansea wasâand continues to beâ home of the world-renowned Windansea Surf Club, a group of watermen who first got together in the early 1950s and became the pantheon of American wave-riders. Little John Richards, one of the earliest members, is quoted in
La Jolla: A Celebration of Its Past
as saying “Almost every other surfing club around the world has copied Windansea. The Windansea guys started it all.” He noted that an organized surfer club is a kind of oxymoron, since surfers tend to be free spirits and not joiners of anything. But everyone who surfed in mid-century Southern California wanted to be part of it. Among its founding members were Buzzy and Joey Cabel, who started the Chart House Restaurant. The Chart House is where John Wolfe was able to succeed in the food service business by night . . . and surf all day.
It was a loose-knit group until 1963 when the Malibu Surf Club sent out an invitation to compete in their last surfers' challenge. (Their water was about to become a yacht basin.) Competitors had to be members of an organized surf club. And so La Jolla beach regular Chuck Hasley recruited a team of Windansea's top surfers to compete at Malibu, and they became an organized club. Their wild road trip up to Malibu that year has become an epic surfer tale of devil-may-care partying, described by Hasley as, “The most radical trip ever made with the most radical surfers ever born.” They won in Malibu, and for the next five years, Windansea dominated competition on the West Coast.
One of the earliest members of the club, long before it was organized, was legendary wave-rider Hobie Alter. Of surf life in the early 1950s, Alter recalled, “The first thing you heard was Windansea in La Jolla.” He described it as “a hard break . . . really the one break you knew of (for us) in Orange County.” As Alter learned to ride the big surf at Windansea, he was busy designing boards in his garage. In 1953 he opened a surf shop in Dana Point and soon developed the surfboard foam blank (a super-lightweight inner core for a surfboard) that revolutionized the sport.
The Windansea Club is still surfing's elite. Anyone who wants to become a member must be “of outstanding character and advanced surfing ability” and be sponsored by three existing members in good standing. Those who can't make the cutâwhen they say “advanced surfing ability,” they aren't kidding!âare invited to become Windansea Club Boosters. For a donation of $100 or more, you get a T-shirt and window decal plus an invitation to surf Windansea for one hour with only five other people in the water. About the Booster surfing event, club literature notes, “Many people consider this worth the contribution in itself.”
BBQ Chicken, Swiss & Onion Melt
B.L.A.T.
Brie, Avocado & Sun-Dried Tomato Melt
Crab Melt Sandwich
Cottage Patty Melt
Southern California Club
Fire-Grilled Swordfish Club
Eggplant Panini
Focaccia Chicken Sandwich
San Diego's “Best” Tuna Melt
Santa Fe Fire-Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Santa Barbara Tri-Tip Sandwich
Sesame-Seared Ahi Sandwich
Fish Tacos
Southwestern Chicken Sandwich
The “All-American” Burger
Waldorf Chicken Salad Croissant
Who Loves Ya'
BBQ CHICKEN, SWISS & ONION
MELT
I
f you have a hungry crew for lunch or dinner, here is a recipe that is sure to please. Once the chicken is cooked, this sandwich comes together fairly quickly. It's the BBQ sauce that sets it apart.
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced onion
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons butter, softened
8 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices sourdough bread
8 slices Swiss cheese
½ cup BBQ Sauce (page 122)
4 large lettuce leaves
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
Heat the grill to medium-high. In a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat melt the butter. Cook the onion until soft and translucent. Brush the chicken breasts on both sides with the olive oil and grill until the juices run clear and the center is no longer pink, turning only once. In a small bowl combine the softened butter and Parmesan cheese. Spread the mixture on one side of the bread slices. Grill or broil until the cheese is melted and slightly brown. Melt 2 slices of the Swiss cheese on the non-grilled side of 4 pieces of bread. On the other 4 pieces of bread, on the non-grilled side, spread 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce and ¼ cup of the grilled onions. Place the chicken on the onions and brush the chicken with more BBQ sauce. Top the chicken with lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Place the Swiss-cheese-covered bread on top to serve.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
B.L.A.T.
T
he A in this BLT is, of course, avocado. It's an easy recipe, but I believe that simple comfort foods are the best.
8 slices whole wheat bread
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
8 slices bacon, cooked crisp
2 tomatoes, sliced
1½ avocados, sliced
Lettuce
Toast the bread slices. Spread the bread slices with the mayonnaise. Top with the bacon, tomatoes, avocado, and lettuce. Top with the remaining bread slices and enjoy.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
BRIE, AVOCADO & SUN-DRIED
TOMATO MELT
W
e serve this sandwich as an appetizer at dinner and as a main course at lunch, too. To us, it is emblematic of Southern California cooking: light, simple, tasty, and enriched with avocado.
8 slices sourdough bread
8 slices Brie cheese
1 avocado, sliced
4 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
½ cup Santa Fe Sauce (page 126)
Grill each slice of bread on one side only. Place the Brie on the non-grilled side of 4 slices of bread. Broil until the cheese melts. Top with the avocado slices and sun-dried tomatoes. Spread the Santa Fe Sauce on the non-grilled side of the remaining 4 slices of bread. Place on top of the sun-dried tomatoes and cut the sandwich diagonally.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
CRAB MELT SANDWICH
C
ustomers go crazy for the Cottage's Crab Melt Sandwich. It is another fine example of Southern California cooking, especially if you can find really fresh rock crabmeat. If you are using canned crab, rinse it well and drain all the excess water.
1 pound rock crabmeat
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
8 slices sourdough bread
4 slices Cheddar cheese
1 avocado, sliced
½ cup red onion rings
4 large lettuce leaves
2 large tomatoes, sliced
In a medium mixing bowl combine the crab, red pepper, and mayonnaise. In a small mixing bowl blend the butter and Parmesan cheese. Spread the mixture on one side of each slice of bread. Place the slices under the broiler until the cheese begins to bubble and the bread is slightly toasted. Set aside 4 slices.
On each of the remaining 4 slices, scoop some of the crabmeat mixture on top of the non-grilled side. Add a slice of cheese to the 4 slices of bread and broil until the cheese has melted. Top with the avocado slices, onion rings, lettuce, and tomato. Top with the reserved pieces of bread. Cut in half and enjoy.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
COTTAGE PATTY MELT
W
ho doesn't like a Patty Melt?! We give a twist to the classic recipe by grilling the bread with Parmesan cheese.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grilled onion
2 pounds ground sirloin
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices thickly cut sourdough bread
4 tablespoons Thousand Island Dressing (page 117)
8 slices Cheddar cheese
Heat the grill to medium-high. In a small sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook slowly until browned. Shape the sirloin into patties and grill to desired degree of doneness. While the burgers are cooking, in a small bowl combine the butter and Parmesan cheese. Spread the butter mixture on one side of each piece of bread. Grill or broil the buttered side for 1 minute or until toasted. Spread Thousand Island dressing on the non-toasted side of 4 slices of bread. On the remaining 4 slices, place 2 slices of cheese on the non-toasted side and broil until the cheese melts. Place the burger patty on top of the cheese. Top with the grilled onion and the remaining bread slices, toasted side up. Serve with additional Thousand Island Dressing.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
THE BUNGALOW
L
a Jolla today is known for some of the priciest real estate and most elegant homes in America. A hundred years ago, it was nothing but $250 cottages, none more than 1,000 square feet. Fresh water was scarce in old La Jolla, and only one of these original abodes had the luxury of a bathtub. It was the home of musician Anna Held, and local lore says that Ms. Held was so unwilling to relinquish her beautiful view while bathing that she cut a large hole in her bathroom wall so she could gaze out and admire the surf during her ablutions.
The humble bungalow-style home was an architectural revolution in early twentieth century America, and it was especially prevalent in California, where land was cheap and plentiful. The bungalow represented the same ideals once epitomized by the Golden State itself: opportunity, a fresh start, and a good life that was simple and elegant and accessible to all with a will to live it. Technically defined as a one-story or one-and-a-half story home with no staircase, it is a style described by
American Bungalow
magazine as a “fulfillment of the American dream” for those of modest means. “The bungalow was practical, and it symbolized for many the best of the good life. On its own plot of land, with a garden, however small, and a car parked out front, a bungalow provided privacy and independence. To their builders and owners, bungalows meant living close to nature, but also with true style.”
That is how the small restaurant now called the Cottage began. Known as the Columbine Cottage (many of La Jolla's first homes were given names), its exact beginnings are unclear, but it is believed to have been built on Prospect Street and moved to its current location on Fay in 1914. It was common in the early days for houses to be moved to new lots, so much so that one bit of local folklore tells about four ladies playing bridge inside the Parker House while it was being moved, going to the window periodically and waving to those they passed! The first residents of the Columbine on Fay were the Howard Family, who took possession when their old house was moved around to Kline Street. The Howards were prominent early residents of La Jolla; he was a general practitioner and the town's second doctor; she was President of the La Jolla Woman's Club and the force behind ornamental plantings along the coastline. The Cottage remained the Howard family home into the 1940s, and a private residence through the 1950s. “Every now and then, one of the kids who lived here will return,” John Wolfe says. “He will walk around the restaurant and tell me, âThis is where the kitchen was . . . and here was my bedroom.'”
