 In 1984, John Rivera Sedlar opened his first restaurant, St. Estèphe, in Manhattan Beach. Here is what we wrote about it at the time: "One must be a formidable artist to create an equal marriage without allowing one to erase each other." We were talking about his "surprising attempt at a Nouvelle Cuisine of the Southwest." Being from Santa Fe, and after falling in love with French cuisine during his years at L'Ermitage in Los Angeles, he had decided to mix the two: a true challenge considering how these two cuisines are so dramatically opposed. We continued with: "But John Sedlar has a great deal to learn." After two more restaurants in Santa Monica, Bikini and Abiquiu, fourteen years of travel throughout the world, private catering, and the creation of a museum devoted to Latin food history, we are happy to report that Sedlar has learned a lot, maybe more than we could have even imagined. Rivera, located across from the L.A. Live complex, has a modern décor, in accordance with the chef's creativity. Enter and find on the right a glass-walled cave containing wines from the Americas and Spain, many produced biodynamically; and on the left is a bar with leather lounge chairs shaped around the restaurant's logo. The main dining room boasts gorgeous Brazilian marble floors, and a 40-foot-long video wall with ever-changing images. A communal table and the dining bar will let you follow the action in the kitchen. The menus are ideal for exploring the culinary diaspora of Latin cooking, re-imagined through Sedlar's own distinctive lens. The CONEXIONES (connections) menu, offered throughout the restaurant, is divided into Varios (small plates), Individuales (large plates) and Pinturas (sides), with a Tasting Menu option. Each of the individual dining rooms offer a specific regional menu: Samba explores South America; Playa, Mexico and the Southwest; and Sangre, with its white tablecloths and serene ambience, Spain and Portugal---it is also where "members" can sip their private Tequila Reserve, retrieved from a locked wall of bottles, that designer Eddie Sotto likes to describe as “drinkable architecture.” Start with the delicate corn tortillas, embossed with a flower, to dip in a superior guacamole; post-Columbian gazpacho; or the jamón Ibérico with house-made bread. Next, get ready to use your eyes and nose before your knife and fork. Sedlar has always excelled at presentation; here he creates graphics made of house-mixed spices, this time carrying political messages. The tricky part is to not allow the spices to overpower the sauces already accompanying the dishes, but to complement them. The perfectly cooked, seared black cod and Serrano ham crisp, the lamb chops with capers and the quail with black beans may be dipped into the seasonings---or not. Your choice. We have to say, this is another success. A telephone number provided on the menu may be used to hear Sedlar explain any given dish. You will surely appreciate the Postres (desserts), as vibrant and elegant as the savory part. Sedlar has reinterpreted the classic baba au rhum, really worth a try; and chocolate lovers have to order the torta xocolata.
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