From small things, great things grow
by Richard Foss
I get nervous when a restaurant I like makes a drastic expansion, because some concepts scale up well, some don’t. Doubling the seating may require doubling the kitchen size or not, and probably demands a staff expansion – but by how much? Restaurateurs who get those answers wrong find themselves with slow service, erratic food, inefficient operations, or various combinations of the above.
When I first went to Jame on Main Street in El Segundo, it was obvious that some expansion was in order. The restaurant was instantly popular despite the fact that the interior was tiny, the sound level high, and the seating cramped. I watched for news they had moved to a larger location. Instead they obtained the premises on either sides of their little space, more than tripling the indoor seating even though they also added a bar. In case that wasn’t enough, they doubled the outdoor seating too. Both of those moves turned out to be smart, because even with the vastly larger seating space, they have one of the harder to get reservations in the South Bay.
Sensibly, they haven’t tried to increase the menu selections on the same scale, though there are a few more items than when they opened in 2018. The core is still the handmade pastas that put Jackson and Melissa Kalb’s food on the map, with a selection of small plate items and four large entrees – chicken parmesan, a pork shank, ribeye steak, and branzino. There are daily specials, but all our conceptually similar to what they have already demonstrated they know how to do.
At two, recent family dinners, one inside and one outside, the service was efficient and at times almost too fast. On the first occasion, a starter of flash-fried brussels sprouts with an herbal vinaigrette had barely arrived when the main courses arrived. We temporarily ignored the chicken Parmesan because the sprouts were superb and would be much less appetizing once they were cold. Our server apologized for the error in timing from the kitchen, but on our second visit something similar happened.
That was unfortunate because the starters here were really worth savoring. We ordered the ciabatta with nuts, olives, oil, and umami butter because it was the way Southern Italians would start a meal, simple items in which the quality shone. If you have a table of people who are sharing, it’s worthwhile to set a baseline for the more complicated items. The panzanella salad, basically a plate of large croutons topped with cucumber slices, fresh and marinated tomatoes, and housemade soft cheese with herbs, fit in the same niche. If you have a large group, get both, and if a small one, try the panzanella. If someone in your party likes octopus, get a plate of slightly smoky grilled tentacles with roasted potatoes, which is enlivened with small pickled peppers and a garnish of mint and cilantro leaves. It’s fancier than you’d find at a fisherman’s café in Sicily, but has bold, direct flavors of rustic Italian food.
Since the bar had been added, we had to try a few of those selections. Many are named after famed Los Angeles chefs, and I asked a server whether the honorees get a royalty when somebody orders one. She responded that one of them does, since the Melissa Kalb is named after the restaurant’s co-owner of the restaurant. It’s a fitting honor, since the balance of gin, St. Germain, wine, lemon, and lime juice was flavorful and refreshing. The Jeremy Fox was another hit, a tiki-style rum drink that used a pu-erh tea orgeat and baking spices to achieve a magnificent complexity that encourages slow sipping.
The mocktails were very good too, with every bit as much thought put into their balance of elements. The only mixed drink I didn’t think much of was the Rob Gentile, an old fashioned that was infused with extra smoke at the table using a blowtorch. It’s a flashy stunt, but leaves a slightly acrid flavor. If I want a smoky whiskey drink, I’ll ask for something made with good malt scotch.
Among the mains, the chicken parmesan was such a hit on our first visit that we ordered it again. The gigantic cutlet was fried with a crisp exterior but quite tender, topped with a long-simmered sauce that had just a tiny bit of chili heat along with herbal notes. This is offered with or without pasta. If you get it with the extremely thin, extremely long homemade capellini, it is easily enough for two.
We were lucky to be able to snag the last order of squid ink bavette, an item they apparently only make in a small quantity each evening. If you like seafood, and it’s available, get this – the ink adds more color than flavor to the pasta, but the rock shrimp ragu with a dash of serrano heat and fresh cheese topped with herbed breadcrumbs is superb. Some other pastas have sauces that are more subtle, like the capellini with pomodoro sauce, basil, and gran Padano cheese. As with all of the pastas the texture was perfect, but even by pomodoro sauce standards the sauce was mild and had little fruitiness. That may have been a consequence of ordering it in late winter – I suspect that when the summer tomatoes are in, this will be better. Luckily the person who ordered it had selected the option of meatballs on the side, and every bite with those perked things up.
The outstanding item of both meals was the pork shank that had been roasted with a lambrusco-mustard glaze, which was served over potato puree with a reduced au jus. Combining a sweet lambrusco with mustard and caramelizing that sauce on the meat created a warm, aromatic crust that had just the touch of herbal spiciness. After we finished the potato puree, I was looking for any leftover bits of ciabatta to get the last of the sauce. This and any pasta or a couple of starters would be a magnificent meal for two, so if you eat pork, eat this.
We finished with a Meyer lemon pie (good) and a bread pudding that was even better. Some bread puddings are really custards with some bread added, but this one is the crisp-topped style topped with ice cream and butterscotch. I enjoy the traditional New Orleans style with rum sauce rather than butterscotch, but had to admit that this hit the spot.
Dinner with drinks averaged out to about $70 per person, not at all unreasonable for cooking of this caliber in a nice environment. Jame has managed the trick of expansion without compromising on an intimate and personal dining experience, a remarkable feat, and other restaurateurs must envy them.
Jame is at 241 Main Street in El Segundo. Kitchen opens daily 11 a.m., Close 9 p.m. Sun.-Thur., 9:30 p.m. Fri. -Sat. Bar open later. Small parking lot and structure or street parking. Noise level moderate to loud depending on area of room. Some vegetarian items. Reservations recommended, (310) 648-8554. EatJame.com. ER
