Leatherby’s in Costa Mesa
Last week I found myself in Orange County for a show. We decided to eat at Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge. It’s located inside the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa. Leatherby’s is part of the Patina Group and I liken it to Patina at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
I wanted to get a glass of wine and maybe share a couple of appetizers but there wasn’t any room at the bar so we were seated in the main dining room.
Japanese hamachi
My dining companion and I decided to get an appetizer to share. I was fine with any of the seafood and he chose the most complicated sounding one. The hamachi was seared with seven flavor chili pepper and came with avocado sorbet, jicama, green apple, ice plant, ponzu and Filipino pink salt. I tasted…salt.
duck breast
My dining companion ordered the Maple Leaf Farm duck breast served with mushroom risotto, carmelized blackberries, Szechuan pepper and cider jus. I had a bite of duck and found it very firm. He remarked it tasted almost like pork which I didn’t think so but it definitely did not seem very poultry like. It was wilder, gamier but not bad. It was nicely cooked to medium rare.
cod
I opted to get fish. I’ve been on a cod kick lately. The Blackburn Hook and Line cod was served with lentils, bacon, potato confit and cauliflower sauce. The potato was inconsistent. Some spuds were dry and some were great. The bacon could have been in bigger pieces but I suppose they were keeping the size uniform with the lentils. Overall it was fine.
We had informed our server when we ordered we were going to the 8 p.m. show. Our check didn’t arrive until 7:55 which made a mad dash rush into the concert hall.
This was my second time dining at Leatherby’s. I shall really have to get into Orange County earlier if I want to dine at places I really like Royal Khyber. And don’t let the “cafe” name fool you. We spent almost $120 with two glasses of wine, appetizer and entrees (plus tax and tip, of course).
Renee & Henry Segerstrom Hall
615 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-429-7640