Show Caption of
Expand
It’s hard not to gawk at the rotisserie oven at Hendrix. Standing six or seven feet tall, right next to the front door, the oven’s spits rotate gently for all to see.
However, the first time see it, I’m surprised because prior to coming here I had browsed the restaurant’s website, where the beautiful charcoal-fired rotisserie pictured on the homepage is completely different from what’s actually here. The real oven isn’t really fueled by charcoal. And it makes me think of those fluffy hamburgers in commercials for McDonalds, which we all know never look like the real burgers they sell. I wonder if this is going to be a similar bait and switch.
I pause and inhale. There’s nothing quite like the aroma of meat roasting on a rotisserie. I see a big hunk of meat on the bottom spit that I recognize as porchetta, an Italian specialty of roasted pork stuffed with herbs and wrapped in a thick layer of fat and skin, which turns into a thick, golden crisp under the slow heat of the oven’s infrared burners.
That other big hunk of meat, the darker one, must be leg of lamb. I am almost drooling at the the bark around the flesh, which is liberally crusted with herbs and salt.
The chickens are beautiful, too. If you watch the birds as they turn, you’ll see that they drip their juices onto a tray of potatoes that are slowly roasting underneath.
Once inside the door, you’ll be welcomed with a heartfelt greeting by a couple of dudes. In an unexpected break from typical gender bias, the greeters here are almost always men, not women.
Hendrix is stunningly designed. It is owned by the same team that operates Driftwood Kitchen in Laguna Beach, and it looks like they doubled or even tripled their budget for this place. Two sides of the dining room are wrapped with windows that are usually thrown wide open, creating a breezy, indoor/outdoor vibe. The other side of the dining room is lined with booths. A horseshoe shaped bar anchors the entire space. And an eclectic playlist skips from Diana Ross to No Doubt and One Direction to Sonny and Cher. When’s the last time you listened to Sonny and Cher?
Chef Rainer Schwarz (who also still helms the kitchen at Driftwood) borrows ideas from around the world, pulling equally from Europe, America and Asia. The theme that ties everything together is a lust for big flavors.
When your waitress initially says hello and asks about drinks, tell her to get the cornbread started. It takes about 15 minutes to bake, made-to-order in a cast-iron skillet and served with softened butter, honey and sea salt.
Now that that’s out of the way, focus on the rotisserie. Everything that comes from this oven is superb. The chicken sounds boring, I know, but I promise it’s not. The leg of lamb is wonderful, too. And the porchetta is