RESTAURANT REVIEW: Aestus

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Contributing Writer

When it comes to fine dining, we presently live in a postmodern world. After all, according to the hit 1987 sequel “Back to the Future II,” the future officially arrived last week (Oct. 21, 2015)…and now we’ve surpassed it!

06So in today’s post-future culinary scene, things can become needlessly complicated and confusing, especially in Los Angeles, home to myriad ethnicities and some 91 languages and dialects—more than any other city in the world.

At some restaurants, mash-ups slap together ethnic foods that shouldn’t be melded. Menus become too cutesy and overdone. Cocktails are named after famous explorers. “Mixologists” (not bartenders) wear facial hair like famous explorers. You get the picture…

None of this nonsense goes on at Aestus, a relatively new restaurant just down the hill in downtown Santa Monica.

Founded by Kevin O’Connor with several silent partners (two of whom live in Pacific Palisades, O’Connor told the Palisadian-Post), Aestus basically serves fine French cuisine with Asian accents, but in no way is it fussy or convoluted.

Opened in January, this farm-to-table experience is O’Connor’s first eatery endeavor; a constantly evolving organism, with each month bringing new seasonal menu amendments.

The restaurant borrows its name from the Latin word associated with anything that ebbs and flows, in this case, the sea tide.

“We thought of it because of our proximity to the ocean,” O’Connor said.

We started out with the Charcuterie Board ($22)—alive with country pâté, smoked duck bruschetta, boudin blanc sausage and house-made pancetta (Italian bacon composed of pork belly meat). With a dollop of the accompanying whole grain mustard, this proved to be a formidable starter.

Entering the salad course, the Golden Quinoa Bowl ($13), with its beets, persimmons and almonds, and the Octopus Salad ($18), which involves rings of tentacles served on a bed of chickpea stew with peppers and celery, are both colorful and satisfying. The latter dish took the crown.

Continuing with the cephalopod theme and proving most complementary, out came the Squid Ink Capellini ($25), a beautiful medley of red crab, blackened angel-hair pasta pomodoro and basil.

Entrée-wise, the Grilled Red Sea Bream ($36), featuring a beautifully prepared steak of snapper-like fish from New Zealand, should please seafood lovers. The true contender is the Lamb Chops ($28), flavorful morsels—served in a savory pool of polenta radicchio and plums—that melt off the bone.

For another $9, it is imperative to order dessert here, especially when that dessert is the Pear Tart with house-made coffee ice cream. O’Connor hinted that other desserts will be subject to change in the coming weeks, but light and sweet and pleading to be accompanied with a nice cappuccino, this menu staple makes for the perfect finale.

Because this is a food review, we won’t get too deep into the extensive wine list at Aestus. Since O’Connor worked at Spago as a sommelier from 2001-09 and has since founded the Santa Rosa-produced wine Lioco, you can bet there is no shortage of options to uncork here.

However, we dare not omit the superb bar. Marissa Grasmick’s cocktails (Grasmick mentored with renowned bartender Brent Falco at Cole’s Red Car Bar) are a revelation, particularly the pitch-perfect Paris, Tennessee ($15) that our bartender Plex Lowery made for us (we had to order seconds of this delicious rum-based libation—layered with cacao, orgeat and cream—into which Lowery ground particles of nutmeg).

A close rival is the Pink Lady ($14), a post-Prohibition twist on the White Lady that is as attractive to look at as it is delicious to sip. (It has been taken off of the official menu but you can still order it.) The super-sweet apple brandy-based Jack Rose ($12) and the drier Mezcal Maid ($14)—made with mescal encumbered with cucumber, demerara (unrefined sugar), mint and lime—also satisfy.

Another reason to hit their week-long happy hour: the bar is not only top-notch, it’s classy and adorned with bottles that, according to Lowery—a seasoned bartender who has worked downtown at Cole’s and Tony’s Saloon for the 213 Hospitality group and Las Chicas in Tokyo, Japan—80 percent of which one can’t find at other area restaurants.

As Lowery explained it, the program, which includes and supports local and smaller distillers, is not intended to be snobbish. There is a through-line at work at Aestus to avoid the mistakes of hipster joints and keep things straightforward and unfettered.

Add to this the setting itself: restaurant and bar housed within an elegant, candlelit setting (at night), which works as both dating destination or a comforting environment to meet up with friends.

Simultaneously simple and ambitious, Aestus does not make the internecine mistakes of some L.A. restaurants in which both customers and the establishment become casualties of pretentious and unsatisfying epicurean experiments.

In this very cosmopolitan and competitive restaurant town in which big-name eateries come and go in the blink of a speeding DeLorean, O’Connor and Aestus have no time to mess around.

And if Hollywood ever makes a fourth “Back to the Future” film, rest assured that when Doc and Marty rig up their flux capacitor and fast-forward to the year 2095, Aestus should still be in business.