Charlie Palmer takes his first Pacific steps at South Coast Plaza

PHOTO by RICK POON

Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s feels like fall. Past all its glass are fading shades of yellow and brown and a staff barely brightened in mild tans and rusted oranges. At the center of the restaurant, a near-leafless tree is stained into slabs of yellowing glass, branching out so far it seems like a support structure. The restaurant’s earthy autumn styling makes for a strange mix at times, but it’s at least a unique approach, an organic chemistry that pulls from all things contemporary.

That streak of modernity is a deep one at Charlie Palmer. And it’s with the restaurant’s eWinebook that it comes through even clearer. The eWinebook is a Tablet PC that’s loaded with the wine list, a technology thoroughly tested and touted as part of the Charlie Palmer brand. It’s a novelty to some degree, but it’s a forward-thinking one at that, a peek at what’s bound to be a paperless future.

It’s after the eWinebook makes its rounds that the staff familiarizes you with Charlie Palmer. The man, depending on your server, might be described as a progressive American chef who forces you to “think outside the box.” By now, however, Palmer’s creations don’t break many boundaries—he’s been drawing his own culinary lines ever since he founded Aureole in New York City 20 years ago. Since then, he’s planted his tastes everywhere from D.C. to Dallas. Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s simply marks the man’s and the brand’s first stop in California.

The restaurant takes its first Pacific steps with about a dozen first courses. There have been some changes to the menu in these early months, and by far the freshest addition is the heirloom tomato and watermelon salad. The tomatoes are pared down into wedges, the watermelon into tidy hunks. Together they work almost seamlessly as a summer salad. But what really ties the two together is the consommé of lemon verbena, which is plated as clear and cool cubes, gelatinous little blocks that wiggle their hints of lemon onto every ingredient.

On the heavier end is the crisp pork belly. The dish is a bit of a misnomer—the only crispness comes from a tiny strip of skin barely thicker than that on a slice of deli meat. Rind aside, the pork belly remains a relatively strong dish, with dry sherry vinegar, pickled onions and lumps of cool cantaloupe lightening up the flabby stomach.

Some of the restaurant’s main courses suffer from a bit too much salt, but the Tasmanian salmon isn’t bothered with such saline problems. In fact, the salmon is a terrific dish, marked first and foremost by the crisp layer of panko seared to its skin. The fish is cooked perfectly—you’ll be given a knife, but the salmon doesn’t require such pointed cutlery. An even more pleasant surprise is that underneath the salmon is a second helping of the fish, bits of smoked salmon chopped so fine that they look like flecks of diced tomato.

Among the heavier entrées, the liberty duck breast is a standout. Charlie Palmer’s menu absorbs a number of international tastes into its recipes, and the duck serves as the restaurant’s Indian ambassador. Patted down with a heavy helping of toasted cumin, the duck possesses a powerful flavor that bounces off the same pickled onions of the pork belly and a tiny, tented duck wonton. But equally essential to the dish is that, like the salmon, it’s one timed with tenderness.

For dessert, scoop up the vanilla-braised pineapple, juicy cubes that come drenched in a coriander caramel. Paired with the pineapple is a brown sugar cake that’s so loosely packed it almost instantly crumbles into toffee-type tastes.

Try as you might, there’s no forgetting that Charlie Palmer is stuck inside a corner of Bloomingdale’s. But it’s actually out in the store itself that the restaurant is at its most alluring, cutting out an eye-shaped window that lets customers stare straight into the kitchen. It’s there that crowds stop and watch every choreographed move of every cook, completely transfixed by the restaurant’s own fitting form of window-shopping.

CHARLIE PALMER AT BLOOMINGDALE’S 3333 S BRISTOL ST | COSTA MESA 92626 | 714.352.2525 | CHARLIEPALMER.COM/BLOOMINGDALE/HOME.HTML | OPEN FOR LUNCH MON-SUN 11:45AM-2:30PM | DINNER SUN-THURS 5:30-10:30PM | FRI-SAT 5:30-11PM | DINNER FOR TWO $70-125 | FULL BAR

Tags: charlie palmer, costa mesa, Food, Restaurants, south coast plaza