Saddle Peak Lodge - Game On

Décor: The restaurant / house has a crazy lodge style. It's really not so crazy, given the type of food that served, but it is crazy that someone built this place in the middle of no-where out in the Santa Monica Mountains / Calabasas. It was dark and filled with wood and an assortment of stuffed animal heads. The chairs were rustic, rattan-ish (it probably wasn't made of rattan wood, but some sort of woven wood) with little cushions. There is a pretty patio outside if you don't want to be constantly reminded of what you are eating. The staring eyes even get to me and I'm a pretty conscious lacking carnivore.

Service: Fine. We didn't get our wine until after our appetizer. And my family likes to get our drink on. I just get anxious waiting for something we've ordered, especially when I am taking my family to a touted one star Michelin rated restaurant. In all fairness, the staff was attentive but not excessive. Frankly, you didn't really notice the staff, because they were around when they needed to be there.

Food: The squab was great. Gamey in a good way because it was not overly domesticated. It tasted chicken-ier then chicken. Something that Michale Polan refers to in his writings about organic chickens in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma. The buffalo was dry, not surprising because buffalo is very lean, but I was expecting better. The elk was surprisingly not too gamey. It came with bing cherries mixed with elk bits mixed in (possibly liver), which took the edge off the elk. The potato mash was good.

The ceasar's salad had too much dressing. I am dating myself, but there used to be health commercial cartoons when I was a kid that told you "don't drown your food". My salad was drowned. It was way too much for fresh farmer's market vegetables. The natural flavor should have shined more.

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Saddle Peak Lodge
419 Cold Canyon Road
Calabasas, California
818-222-3888