Still a Bit of a Secret 
Le Café

For almost two decades, the denizens of The Conejo wandered into the inviting garden like building on the corner of Agoura Road and Lakeview Canyon in hopes of a pleasant dining experience. A myriad of restaurant operators including Mariel Hemingway generally disposed daily, of dozens of disappointed diners dourly departing and depressed over poor food and service. John Notter who owns the restaurant property as well as Provence and the Westlake Inn and Hotel courageously stepped in. He decided to invest some of his significant capital and food knowledge in the difficult task of turning a repeated loser into a winner.  He also needed a full time food facility for his adjoining upscale hotel. His love affair with the South of France resulted in calling the place "Le Café"

At first the restaurant foundered under suspect chefs, amateur front management and lack of direction. Notter then hired Aldo Saad, a chef with credentials from Scandia, Beau Rivage of Malibu, the Beverly Hills Saloon and Tuscany. He brought in the very experienced and energetic John Gress as general manager. Saad gave the menu a new creative look and Gress provided Le Café with professional front-end discipline that had been missing. The restaurant serves about 600 meals a day since it is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Saad, who has been around for a while unfortunately did not have the legs for this kind of a track.  He left for the kinder pastures of the Bel-Air Country Club and a more relaxed pace.

Nishizaki’s training emphasizes casual French cooking. He and Gress have determined that Le Café will live up to its name and become one of two French bistros in Ventura County. Items that he hopes will soon be featured are Coq Au vin and Braised Short Ribs.  The restaurant is warming to the task by offering a nightly “Bistro Special” that includes soup or salad, a select entrée and a special glass of wine for 19.95. They will also be offering multi course gourmet tasting menus every night for the table at 29.95 per person.

Breakfasts are traditional, as are the lunches. There are wide choices of hot and cold sandwiches, salads, pasta and burgers including the new Marinated Grilled Portobello. Prices range from 7.95 to 13.95 for any dish that has the word Ahi in it.  

Dinner continues to be “Super Eclectic”. There is a wide range of interesting appetizers, salads and soups including Dungeness Crab Cakes, French Onion Soup and three kinds of chicken salad. Eclecticism reigns when Chicken Pot Pie and Home Made Meat Loaf compete with Le Café Bouillabaisse (my favorite) and Facon de Patron, a wonderful ½ chicken marinated in citrus and aromatic herbs and served with rosemary potatoes and spinach in olive oil (Italian Bistro?). There are daily Fresh Fish specials along with a selection of red meat offerings. Prices range from 9.95 to 17.95. Under Michizaki’s now stern hand in the kitchen and Gress’ direction in the dining rooms, the food comes to the table in an appetizing, appealing and well served manner.  

A mesquite wood-burning oven fires up for pizza at night.  

Thus, Le Café is one of the most all around satisfying and pleasant restaurants in the area.  However, beginning with a suspect descriptive name, it still suffers an identity crisis exacerbated by a case of multiple-personality disorder, both in food as described above and ambience as described below.  There is the front section for the casual boothy types; a high ceilinged warm room with a fireplace for the serious diners and a lovely greenery enclosed patio for the romantic. I think the patio is delightful any time of the day or night.

We will be coming back to review Le Café again soon to see how much Nishizaki can gild a currently satisfactory lily.

Le Café 32037 Agoura Road, Westlake Village, Most credit cards, 818-889-9105 

Impressing the Freeloaders From The Cold Country
Coogies

Now, that the cold waves have hit back there, the onslaught of relatives and friends may begin.  Tired of Universal, Disney, Knott's, the bottle house in Simi or Six Rags Magic Mountain? Show your guests, on an economy ticket, how close you are to the Pacific, those Malibu beach houses, Pamela Anderson and the hardbody surfer girls. Whip over famed Malibu Canyon in 25 minutes (passing the expensive and suspect Saddle Peak Lodge) to the inexpensive Coogies on Malibu Colony Road right next to Wolfgang Puck's famed Spago annex, Granita.

Unlike Westlake's Le Café, Coogies in Malibu has the psychiatrists in house to manage the multiple personality disorder. There is only one large deluxe coffee shop room, Malibu style. They do serve a merely "eclectic" menu of Oriental, Latino, American, Pacific Rim and deli to the stars that overflow (in disguise) from Granita. While the menu may give you a hernia, the check will not. Choose from things like their delicious and ubiquitous meat loaf or roast chicken (10.95) or go to the top of the trendy line with seared Ahi Tuna (14.95).  You can even sneak in for breakfast or lunch disguised, as the real stars do. It's fun and even cheaper.