MIDWEEK IS FARM FRESH AT SADDLE PEAK.

Byline: ERIC NOLAND

>LA.COM 

Each Wednesday afternoon, a short caravan of cars leaves the Santa Monica Farmers' Market and scoots up Pacific Coast Highway before winding into the depths of Malibu Canyon. Once the cadre of chefs and cooks reaches the Saddle Peak Lodge and unloads its treasures, the real creative fun begins.

The Calabasas restaurant recently instituted a special Farmers Market Menu on Wednesday evenings. The three-course fixed-price offering -- $65 per person, $75 including two wine pairings -- is devised and printed up literally minutes before the first patrons come through the doors.

"We're buying for the week anyway," general manager Iain Walling said. "We thought, 'Let's take the best of what's there and make a special menu out of that."'

On a recent Wednesday evening, that meant a wide assortment of fresh produce from some of the small California farms for which the Santa Monica market is renowned. There were elephant heart plums from Kennedy Farms in Reedley, heirloom tomatoes and lemon cucumbers from Windrose Farm near Paso Robles, passion fruit from Coleman Family Farms in Carpinteria, zucchini and artichoke hearts from Green Family Farms in Lompoc, and fennel from Rutiz Family Farms in Arroyo Grande.

All well and good, but what made this dinner really sing was Saddle Peak's use of premium, market-quality items around which to build each dish. That meant some fantastic Monterey albacore sashimi -- pink, tender, thinly sliced and tasty -- in the starter course, and a filet of wild Rhode Island black bass in the entree, prepared with a crispy skin that gave the delicate fish a pleasingly smoky taste.

The base ingredients were also first-rate for a cheese plate (a pound cake dessert was the other choice for the third course). The farmers' market presence here was julienned Fuji apples, quince marmalade and candied pecans, but the quality and contrasts of the cheeses held center stage -- a Humboldt Fog goat, a creamy French Epoisses and a salty, blue-veined French Roche Baron.

This kitchen is an ambitious one, but on this night chef Steven Rojas may have gotten carried away in jazzing up produce that didn't need a lot of help. The result was purees on parade.

The amuse bouche was a short glass of a warm, curried carrot soup with a cool cucumber foam on top -- a nice contrast. For the albacore sashimi, the plums were pulverized into a puddle of puree and an avocado got similar treatment, reduced to little guacamole-like dollops. On the main course, the bass was bracketed by two Nike-style swooshes of zucchini-basil mousseline (puree by a different name).

Even the tomatoes had been cooked down to a compote, which meant a creamy base of you-know-what. The pound cake dessert was topped by Valencia oranges that had been similarly rendered to a compote.

After this barrage of gummable gourmet, you might find yourself desiring the structure of a zucchini slice or a cauliflower floret, or the exquisite essence of a garden-fresh tomato simply sliced up or chopped into a cool salsa.

Regardless, the Saddle Peak's Farmers Market Menu can be particularly welcome on a sweltering summer day. This is a cozy, rustic, hunting lodge of a restaurant, with game trophy heads on the walls (and a fire in the fireplace, in August!), so the main menu plays to this ambience with such items as elk, bison, venison and squab. It's refreshing to have the option of delicate fish and fresh produce (in any form) on the special Wednesday menu.

Settle in for a long stay, though. The pacing of our dinner was very deliberate: The three-course parade required more than two hours. It's nice not to be rushed, but that was simply slow. The bus service, however -- filling water glasses, bringing more bread, folding your napkin if you left the table -- was impeccable.

At its best: Superb fish cuts are the equal of the farmers' market ingredients with which they're dressed up.

Could be better: Maybe the timing would be a little smoother if they weren't spending so much time mashing vegetables in the kitchen.

Eric Noland, [phone]

[e-mail]

SADDLE PEAK LODGE - Three and one half stars

>Details: 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m., brunch Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. [phone].

>Cost: Starters $12 to $23, main courses $28 to $42, desserts $7 to $19. Farmers Market Menu $65 per person, $75 with two wine pairings.

>Noteworthy: There are a lot of predictable chain restaurants in the Valley, but the Saddle Peak Lodge, to its credit, takes chances in an effort to be something special (it's a great spot for a special occasion, in fact). The dress code, business casual, is strictly enforced; they don't want beach bums stumbling in on their way home from Zuma.

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Photo:

Executive chef Steven Rojas garnishes smoked Monterey albacore sashimi in the kitchen of Saddle Peak Lodge, where a farmers market menu is featured on Wednesday evenings.

MICHAEL OWEN BAKER>LA.COM