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Why, you may wonder, should you take an hour's drive up a winding road just for dinner?
To get to Mountain Restaurant, the new slow foods eatery in Idyllwild.
Chef Brian Ayers and his wife, Courtney Shanks, opened the 40-seat restaurant in August, just in time for the annual Jazz in the Pines music festival.
“Living in L.A., we started coming up (to Idyllwild) and just fell in love with the community and its way of life,” Ayers said. “It gives me a chance to really focus on what I'm doing.”
For Ayers, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu (on a scholarship from the Julia Child Foundation), Mountain is the culmination of more than 20 years of experience as a professional chef. It's been filled every night since it opened in August, he said, “And people seem to like what we have to offer.”
The “offer” is the slow food philosophy that meals should be made with the freshest possible ingredients with an attention to detail that every dish deserves.
“Because we're so small, I get to see every dish before it leaves the kitchen,” Ayers said. “And also when they come back, too.”
The staff has sworn off “can openers, microwave ovens and deep fryers,” Ayers said. “Everything we serve is made from scratch, every day.”
That includes stocks, infused oils and sauces.
The basics come in the form of organic produce delivered three times a week from Sage Mountains in nearby Anza. Fish and shellfish come from Santa Monica Seafoods in Los Angeles.
In fact, the only disappointment for Ayers has been finding a local beef supplier. The restaurant gets its grass-fed, hormone-free meats from Crown Foods in Kansas.
“We tried to get (a more local producer from Brawley), but we couldn't get them to deliver up here on the mountain,” Ayers said.
Each day Ayers is first in the kitchen prepping for the evening crowd, “but that time really comes through in the foods,” he said.
The boneless beef short ribs ($22) alone take 10 hours to braise.
Side dishes get the same slow treatment as the entreés. “Our potato pureé is made from baked potatoes that we hand scoop and then add butter and cream to,” he said. “Baking the potatoes — instead of cooking them in water — gives them a different, creamy potato taste.”
Ayers hasn't left out vegetarians, either. There is a porcini mushroom gnocchi ($18) and a vegan dish made with lentils.
With all the extra time in the kitchen, Ayers has also built in time for himself. “We're not open Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said. “I need the time to slow down, too.”
