No Bread on Chef Sugie’s New Breadbar Menu (06/08)

The sophisticated, relaxed Breadbar décor in its Century City location is appealing even from a distance.  Sleek and comfy outdoor banquettes and an array of small tables are an open invitation to have a seat with a snack or meal and watch the rest of the bustling shopping center world go by. 

It is a fit setting for the very polished Chef Noriyuki Sugie’s new small plate menu at the artisan Bakery, where he oversees the concept design, menus and daily market specials. 

Sugie follows the highly popular Chef Ludovic in a special Guest Chef Series. We were intrigued since a video on the internet shows an interview with the intense Japanese chef who explains how he was most inspired as a student of culinary styles by a French cookbook that had no words.   

And true enough, Noriyuki Sugie took the Breadbar challenge to create a menu outside the bakery in stride – and then some.  He not only created a special Spanish-Japanese fusion menu of small plates featuring local fisheries products and fresh farmer’s market produce, but directed the concept design and menus as well.  In fact, the chef created everything from the spices on the crackers.  He even brought his own sommelier, his own DJ and his own tableware, which he personally designed for a Japanese china company. "I like paying attention to the little things, I like designing everything," the wiry, young chef shrugged. 

It is this kind of earnest nonchalance that makes Chef Noriyuki Sugie seem able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  In his case make that “leap cities across oceans” in a single bound.  Thus while on the Breadbar project, he opened a Japanese style inn or “ryokan” in San Francisco.  His simple reasoning: “I love the restaurant vibe.”

 

The chef was born in Hitachi, Japan and frequently visits his home country.  Sugie attended culinary school in Osaka and trained in France.

 

“In the beginning, I was influenced strongly by my mother’s traditional Japanese cooking and visits with my family to fine dining establishments that offered Chinese, Japanese, French and Euro-Western cuisine,” he told us.  “Dining in Tokyo had a sense of occasion, getting dressed up, seeing and being seen.  And the food presentation was pure theater.”

To support his passion for the guitar, the 15 year-old teen-ager worked in a restaurant in Tokyo.   Musician Chef Sugie still maintains that creating a dish and creating a piece of music are similar in that one must reach a similar level of harmony.  In his words, “like any performance, you have to put on a good show.”  

Inspired by his initial work experiences in Japan, he began a quest to explore classic French techniques at several Michelin-starred restaurants in Bordeaux.  And so his world travels began.

From France he traveled to Chicago, as chef de partie at Charlie Trotter’s.  Moving half-way around the world again, he worked for renowned chef Tetsuya Wakuda in Sydney, Australia before opening his own Restaurant VII in Sydney.  The next swing back to the U.S. was as chef de cuisine for the highly respected Asiate at the Mandarin Oriental, New York, putting  his east-west experience to exquisite use in a French-Japanese menu.

 

Still, we didn’t think anything could take the place of our favorites at the bakery, such as the Tour de France Mountain Valley sandwich with ham and Emmenthal, on the Breadbar baguette.  This was especially true since every sandwich and salad arrives with its own unique pairing of bread, like the Ligurian Salad with the Golden West walnut bread, or the homemade soup served with the Rustic Millstone bread.

 

Chef Sugie’s expertise and experience complements the Breadbar staples.  Even if bread is not the focus, there are plenty of comforting and complementary ingredients to take its place.  His menu features a blend of sashimi and tapas ($9-$19) in small bites. Signature dishes like Blue Fin Tuna Tartar, with pickled fennel, dry caper and sushi rice puree are offered next to novel Black Cod Sliders, with leafy mizuna, pickles, wasabi tartar sauce and spicy chimichuri. Sugie has also created unique flatbreads with Breadbar’s signature Mediterranean foccicia dough accented with exotic spices and pungent oils. Wine and sake pairings are also featured.

Mouthwatering plates include yellowtail with grated lemon grass, hijiki and hibiscus ponzu, and  cherry leaf-cured Tai snapper with green papaya, pomelo salad and cherry blossom emulsion.

 

Also excellent are the mussels,  ricotta gnocci with brown butter and sage, the lobster soup with crispy chickpeas and the crab guacamole.   

 

Novelties include comfort food chicken lollipops (lots of crunch) and his mac and cheese with a very subtle dusting of truffle oil. I also liked that "corn on the cob" soup – but I still swear there was cornmeal in it, despite the denial of the chef.  A peanut butter crème brulee satisfies the craving for both comfort food and a sophisticated dessert.

 

The great fanfare before Breadbar’s first location opened on Third Street in West Hollywood turned out to be entirely justified.  Breadbar Artisan bread is baked by a traditional breadcraft method without one single ingredient other than flour, water, a bit of sale and a fermentation agent.  As one company member summed up, " our bakers understand that the dough is a living thing, and we give it all the time and care it needs though every stage of its life coupled with an attentive and well-informed staff, whether indulging in the Breadbar menu with or without bread, the snack or meal is satisfying and it’s superb.

 

Breadbar locations, 602 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-9490; 8718 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (310) 205-0124; 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Century City Westfield Shopping Center, (310) 277-3770.