With Serenity Season just around the corner, holiday cheer is in the mountain valley air. Take time to treat yourself to a coveted getaway with all the trimmings at our iconic Ojai Valley Inn — only 90 minutes north of LA. Amid 220 acres of unspoiled beauty, savor multi-course culinary adventures at our famed dining outlets, from Thanksgiving feasts to Hannukah celebrations and Christmas buffets. Dance the night away at our annual New Year’s Gala, while your kids make memories at their own mini-gala. Pause from the holiday bustle for seasonal curations at our Forbes Five-Star Spa, or craft customized gifts at the Artist’s Cottage & Apothecary. Share the joy of fun-filled family traditions with your wide-eyed little ones, from treasure hunts and holiday stockings to nightly fireside s’mores. Here in Ojai, every moment is truly cause for celebration.

GETAWAY TO OJAI

The post Reserve Your Serenity Season Escape to Ojai appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

This summer, make waves with an oceanfront stay and experience luxury on the Southern California coast. For a limited-time, book at least 14 days in advance and receive 25% off the best available rate using promotional code SUNNY.

A Luxury Resort Like No Other

Set on 102 acres along the scenic Palos Verdes Peninsula, discover Terranea Resort – a unique combination of beautiful, coastal setting with exemplary offerings and bespoke service. From sunrise to sunset, the Pacific serves as backdrop for every offering – dining with sea views, a scenic round of golf at The Links – the nine-hole, par-3 course, adventures at sea including kayaking through kelp beds, paddle boarding to nearby tidepools, and tranquility at water’s edge at the acclaimed spa. Luxury accommodations feature elevated comforts of home within spacious residences including bungalows, casitas, and villas, with private balconies, fireplaces, and plenty of panoramic views. There’s a certain kind of magic that exudes from this serene stretch of coastline – a hidden gem far removed from the ordinary, yet, feels entirely personal immediately upon arrival. Terranea’s meticulous attention to detail and personalized experiences seizes the moment to create meaningful moments for any stay. Achieving far beyond average expectations, Terranea Resort leaves a lasting impression that much like it’s neighboring waters, is as equally as deep and profound.

A Taste for Every Palate

Experience the ultimate in epicurean along the Southern California coastline, and savor a variety of oceanfront culinary offerings throughout Terranea Resort. With over seven dining options, the choices are equally as impressive as the setting. An ever-popular eatery, Nelson’s serves coastal fare amidst wide-stretching views of the Pacific, and its prime vista is perfect for witnessing the majestic migration of whales. Cheers with a craft beer and enjoy evenings with s’mores by the fire and lively sunset summer concerts. Taste bold wok cuisine and inventive sushi at bashi, featuring a curated list of sake, and outdoor dining that overlooks the blossoming locale. Satisfying cravings daily, catalina kitchen offers something for everyone – including signature brunch buffets, delicious happy hours, and opulent seafood extravaganzas. Intimate and elevated, Terranea’s signature restaurant mar’sel provides stunning views enhanced by a seasonal menu, chef-curated selection of locally-sourced ingredients, an award-winning collection of fine wines, and unparalleled service. While soaking up serenity at The Spa, solviva offers guests light fare and poolside plates, as well as weekly signature Sips & Sunsets – including fine wines, charcuterie, and live music, under the painted, evening sky. With panoramic ocean views, The Lobby Bar and Terrace pours handcrafted libations paired with comforting fare in a relaxed setting featuring live entertainment nightly in the lounge. Room for dessert? Sweet treats, artisan coffee, and café creations can be found at sea beans – featuring house made pastries, cookies, cakes, and confections from the resort’s acclaimed bake shop.

Endless Tranquility

At the heart of the luxurious Palos Verdes resort is The Spa at Terranea – an award-winning 50,000-square-foot gem, whose premier setting along the Palos Verdes Peninsula coastline is truly incomparable. The ebb and flow of the Pacific and serene sea views compliment every signature treatment. An experience at The Spa isn’t simply relaxing, it’s transformative. Perched distinctively and dramatically at water’s edge, discover the ultimate destination to feel transported – body, mind, and spirit. Immerse in innovative offerings that take inspiration from the elemental surroundings of the pristine strand of natural environment. Discover unique wellness treatments including Crimson Revival – a holistic sauna retreat featuring contrast therapy, infrared sauna, and invigorating massage to revitalize circulation and enliven senses. Experience rejuvenating body rituals such as Ocean’s Prelude – with replenishing seaweed, relaxing saltwater bath, and the gentle sounds of the Pacific. The Spa at Terranea’s expansive variety of treatments also feature specialized massages and facials, featuring OTO CBD and Natura Bisse skincare. Featuring a state-of-the-art fitness center and movement studio, guests can reflect with offerings including meditative yoga guided by the gentle sounds of the crashing waves and invigorating spin classes directly facing the refreshing Pacific Ocean breezes.

Terranea Resort
100 Terranea Way
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Phone Number: 855.968.0107
Email: reservations@terranea.com

The post Terranea Resort | Sunny Stays Ahead appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

Local culinary experts reveal how family recipes have shaped their menus.

By Ashley Ryan

When it comes to family traditions, one of the best ways to keep them alive is through food. Whether it’s a long-established recipe followed down to a T, a classic dish that has been jazzed up or a collaborative effort created by family members from different generations, one way to show love for your ancestors is by keeping your culture and customs at the forefront.

“Family is everything—it’s the foundation of life, the anchor that keeps you grounded and safe,” says Alessandro Pirozzi, executive chef and owner of both Alessa by Chef Pirozzi and Salerno by Chef Pirozzi. “It makes you who you are.”

Family recipes passed down through generations provide a glimpse into the personal histories and cultural backgrounds of Laguna Beach’s chefs and restaurateurs. They are more than simple ingredients and instructions—they tell stories of love and offer a sense of belonging and togetherness that transcends place and time.

By exploring our culinary heritage through the groundwork that our ancestors have laid out, we’re better able to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary flavors and techniques. Our roots are important in shaping our future: Every dish we re-create tells a story of familial bond, touches upon special moments from our past or allows us to connect with who we are, and every tweak to a family recipe allows our roots to dig in a little bit deeper as we keep our loved ones’ memories alive.

Alessandro Pirozzi
Alessa by Chef Pirozzi, Salerno by Chef Pirozzi

As a native of Naples, Italy, it’s no surprise that Pirozzi’s menus are heavily inspired by his family’s culinary traditions. In fact, he started cooking with his grandmother when he was only 4 years old. Though knives were off limits in his youth, he mastered other techniques, like harvesting vegetables from the garden and roasting garlic to put into a homemade ragu sauce.

Sharing recipes was definitely a form of love for his grandmother, or nonna, as well as other relatives. “It’s mandatory—it’s like a language, religion or belief,” Pirozzi explains. “Passing down recipes preserves cultural heritage and family history.”

Through his simple yet pleasant life in Italy, where he was always surrounded by family, Pirozzi has learned that the best menus are straightforward but full of flavor. Braised meats, seafood and, of course, pastas all permeate his restaurants, inspired by his Neapolitan roots. Growing up, he recalls that they were limited in their ingredients, often relying on only flour, eggs and water to create something delicious. As such, his time-honored pastas remain a highlight.

Sharing his loved one’s recipes—which include everything from Spaghetti Verde, Zucca ravioli and limoncello-infused taglierini to branzino and burrata e tomato carpaccio—has allowed him to offer a piece of his own traditions to diners in Laguna while also showcasing the cuisine of Naples without the requirement of a passport. A number of other dishes, like the Nonna Ida’s Lasagna and Nonna Titina’s Recipe Potato Dumplings, are also inspired by and named for the chef’s grandmothers.

“I cherish the[se] dish[es] … like a piece of art created from scratch,” he notes. “The passion, technique and experience shared with family make … [them] special. Diners appreciate the authenticity and connection to tradition.”

While Pirozzi learned to cook in his grandmother’s kitchen, he also underwent formal culinary training. But, he says, it’s all connected. “Although the techniques differ, the essence remains the same: Focus on family traditions, use quality ingredients and embrace simplicity,” he explains. “While culinary school promotes complexity, family cooking teaches that less is often more. The key is simplicity—using basics like salt, pepper, fresh herbs, oregano and extra-virgin olive oil.”

Making these recipes, using the same ingredients that he used with his grandmother, always reminds him of the memories he’s made with his loved ones. “It takes me on a culinary journey down memory lane, recalling family meals in Naples,” Pirozzi says.

Ivan Spiers
Mozambique, Skyloft, Bodega Laguna Cocina & Cantina, Rumari

Growing up in Durban, South Africa, restaurateur Ivan Spiers learned plenty about cuisine from his family during his childhood—and it opened his eyes to a culinary world that spans much of the globe, yet retains distinctly unique elements as well. “South Africa had a lot of Irish, English, Dutch, African, Indian and Malaysian influence,” he explains.

When he came to the United States more than 30 years ago and decided to launch his own restaurant, he knew that he wanted it to be distinctly South African—something that Laguna Beach didn’t have. It’s been nearly two decades since Spiers opened the doors to Mozambique, yet traditional dishes and ingredients are still prominent on its varied menu. He worked closely with the opening chefs to ensure that the food served resembled dishes he enjoyed overseas with his family and that they would be appealing to diners in America as well.

One thing that greatly impacted his menu choices was the tradition of the African braai fleis, which is a South African tradition used for birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. More than a simple barbecue, this custom features a full-on feast with grilled meats cooked over an open flame, cultural sides and drinks like beer, wine or cocktails. These backyard celebrations inspired Spiers to include peri-peri sauce in both the peri-peri tiger prawns and the peri-peri chicken dishes.

“We import all the bird’s eye chile [used in the peri-peri sauce] from Africa—it’s the only place you can buy it,” Spiers notes. “The dishes are received exceptionally well. It took awhile, but after 20 years, we sell a ton. The sauce and preparation is our secret recipe. The chicken and prawns are wood-fired—charbroiled; the sauce is added while you cook it.”

The peri-peri sauce infiltrates the menu in more ways than one, also served with the calamari, seafood platter, prego steak sandwich and Mozambique shrimp scampi. While Spiers guards his precise family recipe—which combines the bird’s eye chiles with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and a secret, specialized blend of spices—diners can stop by to try his South African creations.

Nick Gstrein
The Drake

For Nick Gstrein, sous chef at The Drake, family is a pivotal part of his life. “Family, to me, means history,” he explains. “You want to honor those who have come before you [and] remember the past, but also make a name for future generations.”

Gstrein’s father, Paul, is also a chef, so he grew up in the kitchen watching his dad work. Whether it was back in Austria at his family’s hotel or at nearby eateries like Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach or Bistango in Irvine, he says that being in those culinary environments inspired him to develop his own skills and desire to cook.

“It just built a foundation—a love and passion for culinary [arts],” he explains. “I always knew that after football was done, I was going to hang up the cleats and helmet and pick up a knife.”

Now, Gstrein works with his dad—who is executive chef and partner at The Drake—on a regular basis. “Like any job, it has its ups and downs—especially working with family,” he says. “But … you always want to work for somebody who has knowledge and has been around the block a few times. I think working with my dad has … taught me a lot.”

Being of Austrian descent, Gstrein notes that he has traveled to Austria roughly 20 times. “Growing up, whether we went for a week or two weeks or three, the meals were always planned out,” he says. “My grandma was always the cook, and schnitzel was always a big request.”

He would help her pound out the meat and prepare the family meal—however, they never used recipes. “Writing out a recipe feels very foreign,” Gstrein explains. “As I’m sure is the case with a lot of grandmas, there is no recipe. She’s just done it 1,000 times.”

Although the dish isn’t on the regular menu, Gstrein and his father often incorporate it as an Oktoberfest special, available from late September through the first few weeks of October; it can also be special ordered while dining in. Traditional schnitzel is crafted with veal, but at The Drake, the father-son duo use Iberico pork to modernize and elevate the meal. After coating it and putting it in the fryer, Gstrein says that he must pay close attention to cook it to where the crust separates slightly from the meat. The result is a sweet, savory dish with a hint of saltiness that he says checks all of the boxes, with the acidic tang from the potato and sweetness from a lingonberry preserve.

They incorporate this special to keep their traditions alive. “Cooking in my grandma’s kitchen as a child was one of my fondest memories growing up—whether I was going to be a chef or not,” Gstrein explains. “I think you cherish those moments for the rest of your life and hopefully pass them on down to your own children.”

Oma Gita’s Austrian Schnitzel

Servings: 4

4 boneless pork (or veal) chops

Salt, for seasoning

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 eggs

3 cups breadcrumbs

3 cups vegetable oil or lard

1 tablespoon butter

1 lemon wedge, for garnish

1 jar of lingonberry preserves, for garnish

Place the pork chops between two layers of plastic wrap on the countertop. Using a mallet, pound them until they are 1/4-inch thick. Season both sides with salt. Prepare three different bowls to dredge each pork chop—one each of flour, whisked eggs and breadcrumbs. Dip in the flour, ensuring it’s fully coated, then place into the egg mixture and, finally, coat evenly with breadcrumbs. Pour the oil into a large skillet to a depth of about 1/4 inch. (This should be a shallow fry.) Heat the oil to 350 F over medium-high heat, adjusting the heat source as needed to maintain temperature. Add the butter right before the meat goes in for added flavor. Fry the chops in the hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown and crisp. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to work in batches to avoid overcrowding. After frying, salt the schnitzel immediately after removing from the pan. Serve hot, garnished with lemon wedges and lingonberry preserves.

—Courtesy of Nick Gstrein of The Drake

The post The Taste of Tradition appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

Laguna Canyon Winery marks a milestone of producing award-winning vino in town.

By Sharon Stello

J.J. Huber’s passion for wine runs deep: From helping to pick the grapes in Napa and Sonoma counties to perfecting the blends, he’s been involved every step of the way at Laguna Canyon Winery, which started in 2003 and opened for tastings a year later.

This fall, the winery celebrates the 20th anniversary of its tasting room opening to the public. “It’s hard to believe how fast it went by,” Huber says of reaching the milestone. The Orange County Wine Society will help toast the occasion at a Nov. 1 party complete with wine tastings and cheese and charcuterie boards. And there are plenty of other ways to get involved, from dropping by for tastings to signing up as a member or attending monthly wine pairing dinners or a wine blending class.

Step into the newly remodeled tasting room and visitors will find self-serve wine-dispensing machines—a pandemic pivot that has proven popular among those seeking to taste at their own pace—and rock ’n’ roll presented on a 10-foot screen rather than live jazz.

Billed as OC’s first urban winery, everything is done on-site in Laguna Canyon, from the grape crushing to the fermenting and bottling. Every inch of space is used. Even barrels under the tasting tables often hold wine. Huber sees the wine-making process as a creative endeavor, making Laguna Beach, with its history as an art colony, the ideal location for his craft. “This is our expression of art, so it’s been really nice to be part of that,” he says.

The creative aspect of winemaking becomes evident, Huber explains, as people might buy the same grapes, but their wines each end up tasting different in the end. There are so many things that can be tweaked during the process to create your own style. His small-batch wines are unfiltered and made with high-quality grapes from low-yield vineyards. “We do it by hand, so you get a much better extraction and some amazing color as well coming from the skins,” Huber says, noting that larger companies often produce wines with a lighter or medium-bodied color. “… And ours are inky, chewy, jammy. So that’s part of the benefit of handcrafting something in small lots.”

Laguna Canyon Winery—which consistently wins awards at the OC Fair’s Commercial Wine Competition including lots of gold and double gold medals—offers 20 different varieties, from reds like pinot noir, syrah, petite sirah and a Super Tuscan to whites like chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. Huber started with a focus on blends, but now also offers pure varietals. There isn’t one that’s the most popular. “Members will come in and buy a case … and there’s 12 different bottles in the case,” he says.

In addition to the Laguna Canyon brand, he also produces wine under the Purple Paws label, which is a tribute to his late poodle, Tierra (aka Terr Bear or Bear), and donates the proceeds to nonprofits helping homeless pets.

“So the story goes, I was here pressing pinot noir about 15 years ago and I brought her to the winery. We were in the back here pressing and there was wine all over the floor,” Huber recalls. “Her little paws got soaking wet with pinot noir and she came to the front and she was traipsing around in the tasting room and marking all these little … paw prints all over the tasting room floor and I said, ‘That’s it, Purple Paws Pinot.’ And so I’ve been donating a portion of the sales for homeless pets in Orange County for the last 15 years.”

Deep Roots

Huber comes from a ranching family in Canada, where he first caught the wine-making bug. He knew the ag life wasn’t for him, so Huber moved to Vancouver where he met Gianni Seminari, who would become his mentor. Huber crushed grapes for two years with this Italian wine master from the University of Milan, honing his skills. Eventually, Huber embarked on his own journey with much success. Huber and his brother established their first winery in the Vancouver area in 1993 and then the family opened a second winery in 1996.

But Huber felt pulled toward the renowned vineyards of Northern California, so he continued his wine science education under the tutelage of UC Davis professor Clark Smith. Over the years, Huber’s style has evolved, combining Old World and New World wine-making methods to create complex blends. After visiting a friend in San Diego and meeting a young woman there, he decided to stay in Southern California. She eventually introduced him to his future wife, who was from Orange County and chose the Laguna Canyon site for his third winery.

Huber and his brother grew the winery exponentially. At one point, they had an extra 4,000 square feet of space in the adjacent building and had 150 barrels going at one time. They distributed their wine in 15 U.S. states and exported to China for many years. Laguna Canyon Winery’s bottles could be found in Costco, Ralphs and Albertsons stores across Southern California and in some restaurants. Then, in 2019, Huber bought his brother’s share of the business, becoming the sole owner, and decided to downsize right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. When wholesaling, the winery was producing 5,000 bottles a year and, since downsizing, only creates about 1,000 per year now.

“Downsizing was the best thing I’ve ever done,” Huber says. “So now it’s really winemaking for passion more so than winemaking for profit. I’ve got my 500 members … and retail guests, we’re open six days a week as a public tasting room and I’m happier than I’ve ever been—no headaches and no pressure and no stress. I just love what I do and I’m able to meet nice people along the way.”

The tasting room exudes a comfortable, homey feel that’s at once modern and rustic with huge wrought-iron chandeliers, farmhouse-style pendants and wine barrels holding up the tabletops. Behind the counter, a large, dark wood cabinet—built by Huber’s father—displays wine bottles and medals from the fair. Ceramic flooring was replaced with polished concrete and the walls went from a dark clay color to a brighter off-white. And Huber’s office was converted to a private event room, which is great for special occasions like bachelorette parties and birthdays. “It really turned out nice and I think now it’s timeless,” Huber says of the remodeled space.

From Vine to Wine

When it comes to making the wine, Huber travels to Northern California in a rented van to get his load of grapes at harvest time. For pinot noir, that’s usually in early September.

“And I’m picking grapes in the vineyard so I still have that connection to the land,” he says. “I’ve still got that agricultural spirit, really enhanced, that I love so much. It’s great to be able to be an urban winery and not a vineyard-[based] winery. I contract with vineyards throughout Napa County, Sonoma County, Lake County, even Paso Robles [and] Monterey. And, in doing that, I’m able to integrate different soil compositions and different terroirs into my wine portfolio so that they all are unique and different in their own ways.”

In addition to loading up his bins of grapes at harvest time, Huber goes to the vineyards two or three times a year to maintain his relationships with the growers. When choosing vineyards for his supply of grapes, he has four criteria: hand picked, low yield, sloped fields and no machines. “If it doesn’t meet those four criterias, I’m not really interested,” he says.

For the best picking conditions, he gets to the vineyard in the middle of the night. “We pick at usually 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” he says. “And it’s great because the Budget rent-a-vans are air-conditioned, so by the time I get [back to Laguna], … they’re still …cold. It’s an eight- or nine-hour drive, sometimes 12 hours, from Lake County.”

Upon returning to the winery, it takes two or three hours to crush a ton of grapes. “So I’ll do an email blast and some of my members and retail guests will come out and kind of watch us crush and maybe throw a fork or two in there and help crush a little bit and kind of get the experience, which is fun.”

After crushing the grapes, yeast is added and fermentation starts, he explains. The yeast eat the sugar, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide, the latter of which rises to the top, bringing the skins with it and forming what’s known as a cap. Huber and his team punch that cap down several times a day to extract more color and tannins, and flavor compounds and enzymes from the skins as opposed to large wineries with massive tanks that pump the wine over that cap.

Once the crushed grapes ferment for 12 days or so and the juice has been pressed off the skins, then the mixture continues to ferment in the space behind the tasting room. The red wines also go through a second fermentation called malolactic fermentation. “That’s where I’ll inoculate the wines with bacteria. It will eat the malic acid [and] it will convert it to lactic acid, so it gets rid of all those harsh tannins,” Huber explains. “And then it will sit there. So pretty much from the time we receive the grapes until the time they get in the oak barrels, it’s about two months. And then pinot noir and sangiovese will come around pretty quickly in the oak barrels, usually a year, whereas cabernet sauvignon, syrah, petite sirah, they’ll take upwards of two years.”

Huber has been bringing on more people to help oversee his winemaking program, including a UC Davis enologist and now the former head winemaker from Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Napa Valley.

“I’m 62 years old this fall,” Huber says. “I’m kind of getting up there, so I’m just stepping back a little bit and letting my team do a little more and me do a little less.”

When it comes time for bottling, that process has been done in the tasting room for the last 20 years. “We send the glass to a company in Paso Robles and a 1,200-degree oven heat inks on the labels [instead of using a paper label],” Huber says. “… [It has] just a really nice, clean, elegant look to it.”

Interestingly, in addition to his Italian technique and mentor, all of Huber’s equipment is Italian, from Tuscany: the filling machine, corker, spinner, crusher and press. Even his automatic dispensing machines (for tastings) are from Tuscany. “I’m the first winery in Southern California to get them,” Huber says.

Visitors get a card loaded with a pre-set amount of money, then insert the card in a machine to dispense a taste of wine. Staff are still on hand to answer any questions.

“Right now it’s all through the machines, but we’re talking about introducing a secondary tasting program where we would still pour at the bar,” Huber says. “That would be a little bit different price point and more educational and more one on one. We’re talking about it right now. … That would be something we’re looking at maybe a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or just Saturday and Sunday. We’re not sure, but we’re looking at it right now.”

For a more immersive introduction to the winery, which has become quite popular, guests can sign up for a two-hour premium wine and barrel tasting experience on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. “That’s one on one with me as the owner, winemaker and sommelier,” Huber says. Guests receive a glass of Champagne, then Huber gives a talk about the winery and presents a video about his wine-making process, followed by premium wine tastings from the machines paired with a cheese and charcuterie board. And, finally, the event ends with tastings straight from the barrel. “It’s just really educational, really engaging and really a lot of fun,” Huber says.

Whether you like reds, whites, blends or single-varietal vino, Laguna Canyon Winery has something for every taste. And if, for some reason you don’t find that perfect sip to please your palate, there’s a wine blending class to try your own hand at mastering the art of winemaking.

The post The Canyon Crush appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

From architectural arches to furniture pieces with rounded edges, the trend of embracing curves continues in contemporary homes.

By Tanya A. Yacina

Incorporating curves into a room’s design adds a touch of softness and intrigue, enhancing the space’s visual appeal. In a renewed focus on creating comfortable, nurturing home environments, curved design elements contribute to a sense of coziness and relaxation, making these spaces feel like a safe haven.

When including curved design components in a home, Juaneice Munoz, CEO and principal designer of La Casa Azul Design, says to start with the bones of the home; begin with the base and build from there.

“If you start with the decor, you always have regrets because at some point down the line, you end up working on the structure and function of the home and find you missed some things,” she says. “If your structure is fine, then the easiest thing to do is add wall decor and accents with [a] curve. Start big and work down from there.”

Munoz says an example would be adding a large curved mirror in your entryway to set the tone. She loves to use furniture to add curved lines and suggests placing custom round pieces throughout the home, including adding a circular coffee table to a room or ceramic “fireballs” stacked in the fireplace instead of logs to break up the angles. She also says to consider rounded rather than hard-edged vases—even the greenery or flowers they hold could also have rounded leaves or petals—to soften hard lines in a space.

“Curved vases, pillows [and] unique accents are fun because they break up the monotony,” she says. “Mixing it up is always a great idea. In design, all elements of the architecture and the furniture need to speak to each other and, if flexibility is necessary, that is a very simple go to.”

Munoz says the trend can be taken a step further by adding curves in the architectural details.

“Arches have been a staple to design dating back as early as 200 B.C.,” she says, “but have started to become more popular as of late. We add arches to bars, cabinets, doors, doorways and fireplaces, and borrow from Greek, Mediterranean and Spanish styles to create a timeless design.”

In custom home design, Munoz says adding arches to doors and doorways is likely the easiest way to add curves to the home’s architecture. However, if an in-depth, comprehensive design is at play, there are many beautiful and thoughtful curved details that can be added to ceilings, hallways and kitchens that will be timeless and well-appointed.

“Create a plan for a consistent story, vary the size of accents—big, medium and small, [and] find a statement piece,” she advises when trying to achieve this look.

Ahead of the Curve

Soften a space with these pieces featuring rounded edges from local shops.

The post Cutting Corners appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

History, art and culinary adventures create a feast for the senses in Mexico City.

By Sharon Stello

Whether strolling the upscale Polanco neighborhood, with its tree-lined streets named after famous writers and scientists, neobaroque architecture and high-end boutiques, tasting your way through a street taco tour, soaking up local culture at one of the many museums or standing in the shadows of ancient pyramids at Teotihuacán, just a few miles beyond its northern edge, Mexico City is a vibrant destination with endless experiences for visitors.

The massive metropolis, covering nearly 600 square miles—bigger than New York City—is divided into 16 boroughs. Interestingly, the central and eastern sections were built on dried lake beds situated at more than 7,300 feet above sea level, which is a higher elevation than the city of Denver.

And while Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, is a densely populated area, it’s also filled with green spaces: One of these lush oases is Chapultepec Park, the largest and oldest urban park in Latin America and one of the oldest in the world. From history and art museums to an internationally renowned zoo, a lake and gardens, there’s plenty to explore in this park alone.

Mexico City is also a global hot spot when it comes to the culinary world. In May, the Michelin Guide debuted its first list of recommended restaurants in Mexico, including two in Mexico City that received two stars—Quintonil and Pujol—and five others that each garnered one star; establishments in other regions of the country also were recognized. And, back in April, Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City was named at the top of North America’s 50 Best Bars list as voted by industry experts in this third annual contest.

Indeed, there is something for all the senses to savor in Mexico City.

A Place in Polanco

When considering a home base for your travels, Las Alcobas Mexico City offers a central location, luxurious accommodations and friendly service. The five-star hotel’s concierge team members speak both Spanish and English, helping American visitors easily navigate their new surroundings. They are also part of the world-renowned Clef d’Or organization.

The intimate, 35-room boutique hotel in the Polanco neighborhood was formerly a palatial private residence. Designed by Yabu Pushelberg, a Toronto and New York-based firm, the hotel offers a serene retreat with its own restaurant and spa, all located steps from local boutiques and eateries along main thoroughfare Avenida Presidente Masaryk and the surrounding area.

Rooms feature rich wood, modern design, cultural touches like an alebrije—bright-colored folk art sculptures of mythical creatures believed to offer protection—in the closet, and views of the bustling cityscape. While fall is a great time to visit, when several festivals take place, so is early spring (before the rainy season begins), which allows you to enjoy the jacaranda trees in full bloom; the windows of some rooms look right into these trees with their purple blossoms and birds flitting about in the branches. Upper floor suites and a penthouse offer outdoor terraces with garden areas and sweeping views.

Spalike marble bathrooms feature a rain shower, separate soaking tub, plush terry robes and handmade soaps. Make sure to indulge in the bath service: A butler will arrive to set up a bath using an herb and salt blend of your choice such as lemongrass, arnica and camphor to ease jet lag; rose, orange and cocoa nibs for a sensual scent; or lavender, mint and chamomile to induce relaxation.

Meanwhile, a cabinet holding the mini bar and coffee maker is filled with traditional Mexican candy and snacks. Continue the culinary journey with room service or a meal at the on-site restaurant, Anatol, with international-inspired, farm-to-table dishes. For breakfast, choose from items like stuffed French toast with strawberry-rhubarb compote, bacon and basil or chilaquiles featuring a mouthwatering roasted tomatillo sauce, plus a variety of pastries. At lunch and dinner, choose from bone marrow flatbread, lobster esquites (street corn), salmon belly tartare with yuzu and serrano chiles, steaks, pasta, short rib or the signature house-roasted chicken.

Exploring the Area

While the hotel affords a comfortable stay, visitors will want to step beyond those walls to take in the local culture and history that abounds here. And Las Alcobas can arrange exclusive experiences from cooking classes to after-hours museum tours, hot air balloon rides and a variety of tours. For example, guides will take you to the 8-square-mile pyramid complex of Teotihuacán, a UNESCO World Heritage site, or Coyoacán, the neighborhood where artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived.

In Teotihuacán, which means “the place where the gods were created,” stroll between the towering Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon and the Temple of Quetzalcóatl, which were built between the first and seventh centuries. Some smaller, stone structures feature painted animals and geometric designs. At its peak, this community boasted at least 25,000 inhabitants. Now, these ruins hold the secrets of this vast civilization. Archaeologists are trying to understand more about the ancient city that existed over 1,000 years before the Aztecs arrived, and why it disappeared. Walking along the main path, it’s possible to feel transported, imagining what life here might have been like so many years ago. Every so often, the stillness is punctuated by vendors demonstrating whistles that replicate bird calls and jaguar growls, their sounds echoing off the stone surroundings.

On another day, venture to Coyoacán with its indoor markets selling fresh produce, spices and even edible insects as well as beautiful handmade textiles, toys and more. Food stalls offer tacos and tostadas bursting with fresh flavor. For dessert, head a block away to Lecaroz bakery to pick up a churro or pan dulce then grab a cafe de olla, coffee made with sugar and cinnamon, at Café El Jarocho, a fixture in the community since 1953. Then enjoy a few peaceful moments in the nearby park, Plaza Jardin Hidalgo. Make sure to peek into the adjacent Parroquia San Juan Bautista Coyoacán, one of the oldest churches in Mexico City, to see the resplendent interior with gilded details, stained glass and paintings along the walls and ceiling before heading to the Frida Kahlo Museum.

The museum encompasses Casa Azul (the Blue House), where Kahlo grew up and later lived with her husband, Rivera, the famed muralist. The two-story home displays her paintings as well as photos, folk art, personal items and furnishings in many rooms including the area where she painted with views out to the courtyard gardens. An easel is set up with her wheelchair in front of it. Kahlo suffered from several health problems during her lifetime, contracting polio as a child and sustaining serious injuries in a bus crash at age 18, requiring more than 30 surgeries through the years.

Visitors may be overcome with emotion as they stand just inches from the four-poster bed where she spent her days after the accident. Her mother attached a mirror on the canopy above so Kahlo could see herself to paint her famous self portraits. Aside from her physical pain, Kahlo, who has become a feminist icon, no doubt also endured emotional trauma as her relationship with Rivera was a tumultuous one, filled with affairs by both of them; the couple divorced after he began a relationship with her younger sister, but they later remarried. She died at 47 of pulmonary embolism, although some have speculated that she may have overdosed on painkillers.

Your ticket from the Frida Kahlo Museum also includes entry to Rivera’s Anahuacalli Museum, which combines modern art and the pre-Columbian aesthetic. The building, made of lava rock from the Xitle volcano eruption, houses more than 45,000 pieces from Mexico’s ancient civilizations—such as arrowheads, pottery and stone figures—including 2,000 on permanent display. Mosaics by Rivera and Juan O’Gorman embellish the ceilings in several rooms. One space also features 16 large sketches for murals by Rivera. And a rooftop terrace affords expansive views of the area.

Local Flavors

Another worthy excursion is a boat trip through the “floating gardens” of Xochimilco, about 17 miles south of Mexico City. Step aboard a brightly colored “trajinera,” a flat-bottomed boat, with a guide who will ply the shallow waters with a long wooden stick to move the vessel through the canals. Bring a picnic and a cooler of beer or buy food from “chalupas,” or gondola-type boats passing by; from those boats, they cook and sell traditional Mexican street food and drinks, including roasted corn, sopes and pulque, an alcoholic beverage made of fermented agave sap.

Boats carrying mariachi bands will also step aboard to perform music for your group, for a fee, creating a lively party atmosphere. And vendors may suddenly appear as if out of nowhere, selling their wares from jewelry to decorated blankets and the like. Alongside the canals are several fields where farmers grow produce and flowers on “chinampas,” or artificial islands—the “floating gardens”—which are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. These are the only reminder of pre-Hispanic land use in lagoons within the city’s basin. Also an ecological reserve, a variety of birds can also be spotted along the way.

There are also land tours that will tempt your taste buds, like visiting popular taquerias, street taco stands and bars in the Narvarte neighborhood of Mexico City during a nighttime walk led by friendly and knowledgeable guides from the Eat Mexico culinary tour company. Among the spots on a recent tour was El Vilsito, which is an auto repair shop by day, then the doors are rolled up at night to reveal a taqueria within. Tables and chairs are also set up on the sidewalk as the crowds often spill outside. Known for its al pastor, the meat is cooked on a spit; watch as the cooks slice off pieces to make the tacos, piled high with cilantro and onions on warm tortillas. Then choose from a variety of salsas based on your flavor preference and heat tolerance. Plenty of other options are also on the menu, but al pastor is what they are known for.

Down the street is the Tacos Tony stand, beloved by locals for steak and sausage tacos. You’ll eat standing up at raised tables, but part of the fun is watching the workers prepare the meat. For “suadero” tacos, thin meat is cooked in a special pan with a raised mound in the center. The meat is simmered in fat with water, onions, longaniza and chorizo sausage for added flavor. With your tacos, be sure to also grab a Boing! soda in mango or guava for a unique refreshment. Farther down the street taco tour route, brave eaters may want to try tacos de cabeza (braised meat from the head of a cow) or lengua (beef tongue) at the Tacos Manolos stand.

End the evening at Alquimia Cafe Barra y Tostadora, a neighborhood spot with both coffee and cocktails. Sidewalk tables provide a nice place to gather with friends, enjoy the evening air and toast the end of a trip filled with good food, history and culture—and start planning your return visit.

The post Cultural Immersion appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

The local author shares a glimpse into her recent and upcoming books and some of her favorite places in town.

By Sharon Stello

Laguna Beach author Kaira Rouda says she likes to write about grown-ups behaving badly. And she finds abundant inspiration all around. Once she has an idea, she runs with it.

“I write by the seat of my pants,” she says. “No outline, no idea where the story will go. I start with a character and, usually, a title. And the story builds from there.”

The prolific novelist released “The Second Mrs. Strom” in August and “What the Nanny Saw” is slated to come out Nov. 13, both published by British publisher Bookouture.

“[They] are stand-alone sequels to my first big breakout book, ‘Best Day Ever,’ ” Rouda says. “I’m so excited for people who have read ‘Best Day Ever’ to reconnect with Paul Strom again, and his new wife, Cecilia, on their romantic … trip to Paris. Even if you haven’t read the first book, you can jump right in.”

The telling tagline for “The Second Mrs. Strom” is: I don’t want a perfect marriage—I want revenge. “I love to write stories about what is beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives,” Rouda says.

Rouda and her husband, Harley, a former Congressman, live in Laguna’s Emerald Bay neighborhood. They moved to town 14 years ago from Malibu. While Rouda’s family goes back five generations in California, she moved around a lot as a child due to her father’s job as a professor at various universities. Meanwhile, her husband and his family have deep roots in Ohio, so they lived there for 20 years before making it out to California.

Rouda pursued several different careers before becoming a novelist. She and her husband started Real Living—a lifestyle real estate brand that recognized the significant role of women in making or influencing home purchases—which was franchised and expanded into 22 states. That led to her first book, “Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs,” later followed by her first novel.

Now, Rouda is on track to have four books come out in a little over a year. “Last September, ‘Beneath the Surface’ came out and was quickly optioned for a feature film, which is exciting,” Rouda says.

“ ‘Beneath the Surface’ introduces the ruthless Kingsley family of Newport Beach,” Rouda explains. “I like to describe it as ‘Succession’ meets ‘White Lotus.’ ‘Beneath the Surface’ takes place on a mega yacht trip to Catalina Island. Book two, ‘Under the Palms,’ published in May of this year, … features the same family—at least those who survived the yacht—on a weekend retreat to The Twin Palms, inspired by the Montage Laguna Beach.

“Both novels were so fun to write because it was like being on vacation in my mind. I had no idea that the next two books would be slated so soon after, but they are, and I can say I’ll likely not ever have four books in a year again. It’s been a bit exhausting, but fun.”

Laguna Beach Magazine: What do you like about living in Laguna Beach?

Kaira Rouda: What’s not to like, truly? After spending so many years in Ohio, I never take for granted the sparkling views, the ocean breeze, the soft sand beneath your feet. I love our town, and how special it is. I love everything about living in Laguna Beach.

Any favorite spots in town?

KR: I love Heisler Park … and then walking to the Laguna Art Museum and seeing the latest exhibit, and then heading into town. There are so many special places. … [Some are] Brussel’s Bistro for mussels, GG’s [Bistro] for the meze platter, 230 Forest [Avenue] for french fries—a publication day tradition—and Alessa [by Chef Pirozzi] for great Italian food.

What genres do you like to read?

KR: I read widely, but because I’m a domestic suspense/psychological fiction writer, I read a lot in that genre. I also founded and co-host a show called “Killer Author Club,” where we interview the top-selling suspense authors in the business, live, every other Tuesday. Check out killerauthorclub.com for more.

You also do a lot of volunteer work.

KR: It’s an old adage, but it is true: The more you give back, the more you grow as a person. I’ve never regretted spending time volunteering and wish I was doing more—always.

The post 10 Minutes With … Kaira Rouda appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

Laguna is brimming with new coffee shops, adding to several longtime cafes, all serving up steaming hot—or iced—cups of caffeine.

By Sharael Kolberg

Laguna Beach residents must love their coffee because this small beach town seems to have exploded with new cafes offering a variety of custom caffeinated concoctions—joining many longtime favorites. Laguna now has at least 20 places to grab your morning cup of Joe, which means you could visit a different cafe for nearly three weeks to try them all.

Whether you like a hot espresso, pour over or cold brew, there’s something for every coffee connoisseur, not to mention alternative drinks from herbal tea to matcha lattes and chagaccinos (made from chaga mushrooms), plus delicious pastries to pair with your favorite morning beverage.

New to the Neighborhood

If you’re in need of a morning jolt or an afternoon pick-me-up, these new businesses have a variety of sips to get you going.

Coffee purists will love Jedidiah Coffee’s beans, which hail from places like Ethiopia, Guatemala and Colombia and are freshly roasted in Laguna Canyon. The local brand’s “Keep Laguna Caffeinated” motto extends to educating customers about its craft coffee, and the north Laguna cafe is much more than a coffee shop, it is a community gathering place. Local groups meet there and the owners, husband-and-wife team Steve and Embry Munsey, organize beach clean-ups and Corner Markets with artisan goods. “We like to think we give back to our community by really being ingrained in it,” Embry Munsey says. The company is named in loving memory of the couple’s stillborn son. After several years of pop-ups and event catering, the Munseys finally opened their brick-and-mortar cafe earlier this year, partnering with local companies such as Gelato Paradiso for their affogatos and South Swell Donuts for the pastry case.

Also in north Laguna, The Lost Bean Coastal Cafe opened in May in the space formerly occupied by Zeytoon Cafe; it’s the brand’s seventh OC location. The Lost Bean works with sustainable farms and sells fair-trade coffee, as well as international organic loose-leaf teas. The cafe roasts its organic beans using an eco-friendly machine that recirculates the air to ensure quality, smokeless roasting and is better for the environment. You can also feel good about what you’re drinking as the company gives a significant portion of its profits to charities around the world that support education, health and the environment. While at the cafe, select a scrumptious dish from the Mediterranean menu and dine on the rooftop patio.

Bear Coast Coffee, which debuted in December on South Coast Highway—with shops also in San Clemente and Dana Point—serves artisan coffee using syrups made in-house and almond milk made from scratch. “Our focus on community, connection and creativity sets us apart,” says owner Jeff Clinard. Bear Coast sources coffees from farmers the company knows and cares about, paying growers above fair trade prices and working with communities that follow the best practices for sustainability. The owner visits the farms where the coffee is grown, spending significant time in Central and South America. In El Salvador, the brand even serves as a philanthropic partner to provide clean water to surrounding communities. Try one of Bear Coast’s specialty drinks, such as lavender caramel coffee, dark chocolate mocha, vanilla nutmeg latte or horchata latte. Be sure to also try the yummy chia seed pudding.

Food-forward cafe Rye Goods, which opened last year in downtown Laguna, mills its own flour for delectable pastries and offers organic premade meals to take home. Food leftovers are donated to the Laguna Food Pantry. The cafe’s coffee drinks are made with beans from LA-based Canyon Coffee, which sources fair trade beans and uses 100% regenerative organic coffee beans. For a unique drink, try the saffron latte or strawberry matcha latte.

In a hurry for your caffeine fix? No problem. Swing by MoonGoat Coffee’s drive-through spot—which opened last year in north Laguna—for a churro latte, masala chai, matcha spritzer or Yuzu Fizzy soda with an espresso shot. Pair your drink with a gluten-free yuzu raspberry lemon loaf, overnight oats or a buttermilk biscuit and egg sandwich. The company has also sponsored, collaborated with and hosted multiple events and fundraisers with Growers First, a local nonprofit that empowers indigenous farmers to achieve a sustainable income and growth through partnerships with U.S. buyers. And a few years ago, MoonGoat partners David Yardley and Mark Evans went on a trip to Mexico, bringing supplies and goodwill to some of the coffee farmers and their workers.

Endless Quest Roasters is a single-origin shop that opened in March at Boat Canyon Shopping Center, focusing its efforts on specialty roasted coffees and teas, such as ceremonial-grade matcha from Japan, which customers love with the cafe’s house-made lavender syrup. Owner Ryan Okko, who visits the farms where the coffee beans are grown, says, “I am committed to … making a positive impact on the lives of the coffee producers we support.” The cafe also offers vegan doughnuts, which are a hit.

Although Michelin Guide-recognized Selanne Steak Tavern is known for its superb steaks and wine, the restaurant also recently opened The b8kery by Selanne, adjacent to the restaurant, late last year. The bakery is housed in the former Andree’s Patisserie, established in Laguna in the 1960s. Customers can select from a variety of specialty hot and cold drinks, as well as The b8kery’s popular fruit bang pies and assorted pastries.

Other newbies include Equator Coffees, a Certified B Corporation focused on quality, sustainability and social responsibility, which serves its specialty java and pastries from LA’s Farmshop in a space at Rivian’s South Coast Theater. And Succulent Coffee Roasters offers batch brew, pour over and cold brew selections with a rotating mix of seasonal coffees and a full espresso bar.

Oldies, But Goodies

There are plenty of coffee shops in Laguna that have withstood the test of time and have gained many loyal customers. These places are where you meet up with friends and the baristas know you by name. Some sell bagged beans, in case you want to sleep in and savor your morning brew in your PJs.

You can smell the beans being roasted when you walk in the door of mother-daughter-owned Laguna Coffee Co. A longtime locals’ favorite, the lively atmosphere, friendly baristas, art-adorned walls and outdoor seating make it an appealing place to chat over a cup of your favorite bean-to-cup brew; notably, the cafe’s coffee comes from small-batch growers across Central America and Africa. The medium roast Laguna Blend features a mild flavor with cherry and floral notes. While at the cafe, fill your belly with fresh pastries (from Rye Goods), toasts or sandwiches, too.

Heidelberg Cafe, a popular Laguna Beach staple for three decades, offers coffee from Delta Cafe Roasting Co., which is made with 100% shade-grown, sun-dried coffee beans; for espresso-based drinks, Illy brand beans are used. The cafe also features a large breakfast and lunch menu paired with ocean views. Try the vanilla cream cold brew, iced strawberry matcha or lavender vanilla tea latte and sink your teeth into the eggs Heidelberg or almond stuffed French toast. Sign up for the cafe’s loyalty program to earn points toward future purchases.

Situated in what was once part of The Pottery Shack, established in the 1930s, The Pantry is an expansion of the adjacent Sapphire, Cellar-Craft-Cook restaurant. You can’t miss the iconic statue of Eiler Larsen, the original “greeter” of Laguna, out front. “Everyone loves the historic nature of our location, plus … we have a beautiful patio with an ocean view,” says owner Russ Bendel. The coffee shop features traditional coffee drinks, as well as a breakfast and lunch takeout menu with items such as pastries, waffles, burgers and sandwiches. Of course, coffee isn’t the only beverage served here. Don’t miss The Pantry’s popular mason jar cocktails.

Moulin, a traditional Parisian cafe, carries authentic French food and drinks. You’ll find no-fuss coffee drinks such as espresso, Americano, cafe au lait and cappuccino (without flavored syrups), as well as freshly made bread, pastries, desserts and sandwiches, and made-to-order crepes, omelets, salads and more. The bistro also carries wine and Champagne imported from France.

For organically grown heirloom coffee, decadent baked goods and desserts, and beautiful latte art, head to Urth Caffé, where you’ll typically see a long queue patiently waiting. Customers’ favorite drinks include the Spanish latte and the caffe pistachio latte, made with Sicilian pistachio butter and pistachio milk. Organic ceremonial matcha and rooibos teas are also offered.

Zinc Cafe, which opened in the 1980s and recently came under new ownership, features a classic and innovative coffee menu with traditional lattes and cappuccinos as well as a lavender latte and salted rosemary latte—plus a full food menu from breakfast through dinner with many vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.

Laguna is also home to two Starbucks locations (downtown across from Main Beach and inside Pavilions), for those seeking their familiar Frappuccino, nitro cold brew and ever-popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. A few other well-established coffee shops in town include Anastasia Cafe, open since 1995, with traditional coffee beverages, fresh-squeezed juice, plus breakfast and lunch dishes, all made in-house daily. Others include Blk Dot Coffee, known for its Vietnamese coffee drinks and also serving breakfast sandwiches, bowls and bagels; Kitchen in the Canyon, with hot and iced coffee, mochas, rose and lavender lattes, a variety of tea options and a full breakfast and lunch menu.

Of course, many other restaurants in town serve coffee as well, but there’s something comforting about walking into a warm coffee shop, especially in fall and winter, to enjoy a steaming cup of joe while perusing the newspaper headlines, getting lost in a good book or catching up with friends.

The post What’s Brewing appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

Delight in authentic flavors, a glass of wine and downtown views at Alessa by Chef Pirozzi.

By Sharon Stello

Ideal for alfresco fall dining with its patio and extended deck on The Promenade on Forest, Alessa by Chef Pirozzi offers a charming setting to enjoy lunch or dinner with a view of downtown and live music on the plaza Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Perhaps more importantly, the authentic Italian menu tempts with the chef’s time-honored family recipes. Chef and owner Alessandro Pirozzi learned to cook with his grandmother while growing up in Naples, Italy. The youngest of four children (and the only boy), he would often hide out in his grandmother’s kitchen when the girls were teasing him. This became his sanctuary, where Pirozzi fell in love with cooking. Here, he learned secret family recipes and traditional techniques, which put him on the path to later train to become a chef.

Pirozzi owns two restaurants in Laguna Beach: Alessa by Chef Pirozzi, which he opened in 2010 on Forest Avenue, and Salerno (formerly called Polina’s Salerno), which he bought eight years ago, on Beach Street.

While the menus at these two bistros are similar, there are some differences. For example, Alessa has a pizza oven, allowing for creations like the margherita with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, organic basil and extra-virgin olive oil infused with Italian herbs, and the Calabria with homemade mild Italian sausage, Gouda cheese and spicy salami and arrabbiata sauce. And, for mushroom lovers, the Funghi Misti is a must-try item: Made without tomato sauce, it layers a mix of wild, organic mushrooms, fontina cheese and house-made infused truffle oil. The dough for each pizza’s crust is prepared with a blend of flours imported from Italy.

Alessa also offers some meats that aren’t commonly found on local menus, like salami made from elk, bison or wild boar as well as duck prosciutto for antipasti options and entrees like wild fish of the day, duck breast and elk chops available upon request. Try the delectable smoked duck breast with wine and blueberry sauce. Pirozzi smokes the duck himself and the meat is cut into succulent medallions drizzled with the sauce and topped with whole blueberries.

Of course, you won’t want to dine here without trying the pasta. Consider the bucatini arugula e burrata. The bucatini pasta is tossed with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, Italian herbs, baby tomatoes and arugula, then topped with fresh burrata cheese and black sea salt. While the sauce contains no dairy, the creamy texture makes it a dreamy dish. Or consider the Maine lobster and fennel-filled ravioli in a pink sauce or the limoncello-infused taglierini pasta mixed with tiger shrimp and shallots in a lemon and white wine sauce.

Other homemade options include Spaghetti Verde, which infuses the pasta with arugula; slow-cooked lamb over rosemary-infused pappardelle; Nonna Ida’s meat ravioli; and baked ziti with Mamma’s Meatballs. There are also five kinds of gnocchi based on Nonna Titina’s recipe for these potato dumplings, as well as three versions of risotto. Staple Italian dishes like chicken Parmigiana, veal Marsala or cioppino don’t disappoint either.

To drink, pair your meal with a glass of wine from the impressive list of vino from Italy and California’s premier regions. Then sip the night away or end the meal on a sweet note, with desserts like panna cotta, spumone, refreshing gelato or ricotta cheesecake with fresh berries, mango and raspberry puree while getting lost in conversation with your friends or loved one.

Alessa by Chef Pirozzi

234 Forest Ave.
949-497-8222; alessalaguna.com

The post Savoring Tradition appeared first on Laguna Beach Magazine | Firebrand Media LLC.

Award-winning jeweler Adam Neeley combines his talents in goldsmithing and gemology with masterful designs to create wearable pieces of art.

By Sharon Stello

On the heels of his first solo exhibit, which wrapped up over the summer at Laguna Art Museum, jeweler Adam Neeley has launched a nonprofit to encourage the next generation of jewelry makers while continuing to craft his own stunning pieces and push the limits with his materials and techniques.

Neeley himself got started in the field at a young age in Colorado. “My dad was a rockhound and we’d go rock collecting,” Neeley says. “And I’ll tell you, when you dig for seven hours in the ground and you finally find a crystal, it is absolutely thrilling. You’re the first person in the whole world to see it and hold the treasure. And that was something that just captivated me as a kid.”

From there, Neeley became interested in stonecutting and started working with local rock shops. Artists in the area took him under their wings and taught him the ins and the outs of the trade. From there, he learned silversmithing and took part in his first jewelry show at age 14 in Telluride, Colorado, selling out in just two hours. “And immediately, my parents said, ‘Well, Adam, this might turn into a business if you want it to,’ ” Neeley recalls.

His recent exhibit, called “Modern Alchemy”—the museum’s first decorative arts showcase and a 25-year retrospective of his work—shared some of that personal history because he wanted to “inspire the next generations to fall in love as rockhounds or beginning lapidary artists.” Among more than 100 pieces on display were his early creations including a pair of earrings he made for his mom as a 12-year-old. “And it was an interesting progression because you can see I started out a little more Southwestern, coming from Manitou Springs, Colorado. And then by age 14, I started to move a little bit more modern,” he says.

Polishing a Gem

Refining his raw talents, Neeley attended the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, California, then traveled to Florence, Italy, and studied at contemporary jewelry school Le Arti Orafe, apprenticing under master goldsmith Giò Carbone, who took him to the next level, guiding him to experiment with custom alloys and ancient techniques like niello.

Neeley went on to learn platinum smithing and computer-aided design in New York, but was drawn back to Southern California’s warm weather and scenic coastline, opening his first atelier in north Laguna Beach in 2006—across the street from his current studio and shop—in this “wonderful, charming artist colony in one of the most beautiful places you could imagine,” Neeley says. “And it also has the appreciation of patrons that collect here and come here for it.”

Only 23 years old, he opened the shop with about a dozen pieces over Fourth of July weekend and sold all of them that same month. That momentum has continued for the past 18 years, gaining loyal collectors along the way including at Festival of Arts, where he exhibited for more than a decade. He has also won dozens of awards and even has a piece, his lustrous pearl-filled South Sea Glow pendant, in the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.

Among his innovative achievements, Neeley created SpectraGold, a gradient alloy that transitions from rich yellow gold to white gold. He has also invented a cool green VeraGold, red RevaGold and peachy Champagne-toned AlbaGold. These metals required hundreds of hours of experimentation to perfect the colors and ensure they are flexible enough to work with and hard enough once a piece is finished. And each piece takes more than 80 hours of work, hand-fusing and forging, to produce.

Neeley is inspired by nature, whether it’s flowers, seashells or color palettes like the purple blossoms and green leaves of a jacaranda tree. “Nature’s one of my favorite muses,” Neeley says. “[I] take a look at something that’s really beautiful in nature, like a flower, and … kind of distill down those elements, like the curves and movement into something that’s a modern, abstract interpretation.”

He also enjoys borrowing color combinations from artists like Vincent van Gogh and elements from different time periods, whether it’s a touch of midcentury or modernizing a look from the Victorian era. When it comes to men’s jewelry, from rings to cuff links and lapel pins, Neeley trades curves for angular forms, often turning to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright for inspiration.

Neeley says he was drawn to making jewelry because there are so many facets to the art form, including different techniques and also the challenge of mastering each aspect. “And I think that constant search for perfection and craftsmanship, that constant search for balance and design and originality and then the next stone,” he says. “Today, … we purchase a lot of our stones at the Tucson Gem Show and I go and I’m like a kid in a candy store—the world’s most expensive candy store. And I just love it. It’s my passion. And I was very lucky to find my passion early in life.”

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

He offers both a fine jewelry collection, where he re-creates a few of his most popular pieces for people to buy, as well as high jewelry, which he often enters in competitions. Designs sometimes come to him in dreams. The key to capturing that idea, he says, is waking up during the dream and sketching the design before it fades from memory. Take, for example, his Nautilus earrings: Reminiscent of a shell shape, they are made of SpectraGold and outlined in different colored pearls for an ombre effect. 

Neeley’s Tonna Galea earrings also came to him while sleeping. “There’s a particular shell in Greece called the Tonna galea … and I actually brought one home with me and cut it open,” he says. “And inside, you get this wonderful spiraling of the shell, which is so cool. And so I had gone to bed with the shell right next to me—kind of planting the seed.”

And the dream did come, leading to the earrings made of SpectraGold and mimicking the curves of the shell, accented along the edges with glittering diamonds. In Neeley’s further research, he made a fun discovery: If you plot this shell’s shape on X and Y axes, it’s the same as the harmonic series if mapped out as sound waves. So this idea of the parallel between music that you hear and jewelry worn on the ear added another layer of intrigue to the design. Neeley started to release the brand-new Tonna Galea earrings and other Greek-inspired pieces in the Cyclades Collection over the past few weeks and will continue rolling them out through the end of September. 

He also plans to introduce a new titanium collection next year, possibly in spring. Embracing aerospace technology, Neeley uses the computer to create designs that are produced by a 3D printer with a kind of metal typically reserved for space shuttles and satellite parts. He was drawn to titanium because it’s strong and lightweight—meaning large, dramatic earrings are more comfortable to wear—and it can be made in vibrant hues. In this way, he continues to push boundaries.

Giving Back

Neeley also seeks to encourage today’s youth. In late May, he founded an educational nonprofit called Gorgeous Little Things to instill in children an appreciation for gemstones and minerals—Earth’s geologic marvels—and the art of contemporary jewelry.

“Going into the art world is a little less known than becoming a lawyer or a dentist,” Neeley says. “And so I’m seeing, generationally, our industry is shrinking a lot—the jewelry industry itself [and] the art industry. … And so I want to inspire those next generations to take that leap if they feel this is something that could be their life’s passion.”

The nonprofit is, in part, a nod to his mother’s career as a teacher. For his recent exhibit, Neeley worked with Laguna Art Museum to create educational programming that will eventually be incorporated in curricula for grades K-12 that teachers can download from the nonprofit’s website, gorgeouslittlethings.org, to use in schools across the country.

And, leading up to Neeley’s exhibit, the nonprofit paid for the creation of special display cases that were donated to the museum to use in future exhibits. Also in collaboration with the museum, the nonprofit sponsored an outing, Art Access: Dig for Gems with Adam Neeley, which took a group of children and adults to the Oceanview Mine in San Diego County in June. Neeley anticipates offering other events and outings in coming months.

“In addition, the nonprofit will begin to amass a collection of gems and jewelry that will be available for museums and other educational institutions to be exhibited or showcased and then eventually donated,” Neeley says. “… We’re hoping that legacy continues beyond us.”

Adam Neeley Fine Art Jewelry

352 N. Coast Highway
949-715-0953; adamneeley.com

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