Grubtrotters

Flora Springs 2005 Trilogy from Napa Valley is our wine pick of the day. I had an opportunity to sample half a dozen Flora Springs wines at a dinner hosted by the third-generation, family-owned winery at Wilshire, one of my favorite Santa Monica restaurants, back in March.

The 2005 Trilogy is a Meritage blend of traditional Bordeaux varietals, 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 4% Malbec mainly from the Komes Ranch estate vineyards surrounding the winery. The wine spent 22 months in new French oak barrels, and it’s wonderfully rich, full-bodied and balanced.

The best wine of the night was actually the 1996 Trilogy, but that one is a lot harder and more expensive to get your hands on at this point. The ‘05 Trilogy retails for $65, but I found it offered online for as little as $39.99.

The family behind Flora Springs owns 650 acres of vineyards in Napa Valley, a total of 10 vineyards in five appellations: Rutherford, St. Helena, Oakville and Carneros. All the vineyards are sustainable, and 20% are certified organic, with another 240 acres to be certified this year. A full 90% of the grapes used in the Flora Springs red wines are from organic vineyards. That means no spraying of harmful chemicals. Instead, they use natural methods such as cover crops, hawks and owls to control problems such as pests.

A quick summary of our dinner to whet your palate: We started with a delicate hamachi seasoned with ponzu and wasabi, which was paired with Flora Springs 2007 Soliloquy Sauvignon Blanc. That was followed by ricotta gnocchi with hedgehog mushrooms, Cippolini onions and chestnuts, which we enjoyed with the 2007 barrel fermented Chardonnay. For our third course, we savored a rich and delicious Moroccan spiced lamb stew with fregola sarda (a healthy pasta from Sardinia), cauliflower, piquillo pepper harissa (a hot sauce) and banana raita (a cool, yogurt-based sauce). This dish was accompanied by the 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. And finally, we sipped the ‘96, ‘99 and ‘06 Trilogy wines with some artisinal cheeses before capping off the evening with a dessert of pain perdu with meyer lemon, huckleberries, port reduction and vanilla ice cream. Yum. — Jenny

One Life Natural Natural Foods is a healthy little corner market on Main Street in Santa Monica. I often stop in after my yoga class at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, when I’m craving clean cuisine. I love their juice bar. You can create any combination you want, and today I ordered organic spinach, beet, carrot, cucumber and ginger juice with a shot of wheatgrass thrown in for good luck. Ginger was the dominant flavor, but it was the mixture of sweet, spicy and bitter that got my blood flowing. They also have great acai smoothies, a deli, and prepared foods from Leaf Cuisine, the raw food restaurant in Culver City, and Sakura, a catering company. I bought a delicious Sakura hiyashi wakami seaweed salad to go with my juice. If you have never tried seaweed, except wrapped around your sushi, it’s crunchy, tastes like the ocean, and it’s surprisingly good. I was feeling the spice, with red peppers adding a nice kick and mellow sesame oil providing some balance. I only wish the portions had been bigger. One Life has had the same owners for almost 30 years, and before that, it was a hippie hangout where people used to give away food. The prices now are a bit steeper than free, but it’s a great spot to pick up some veggies and health foods. They also have a cool upstairs space to devoted to natural herbs and vitamins and alternative cures for whatever ails you. With only one life to live, One Life might just help you extend it. – Jenny

One Life Natural Foods, 3001 Main Street, Santa Monica, 310-392-4501

Feeling a bit under the weather, I ordered the spicy chicken soup ($9) for lunch at Axe on Abbot Kinney in Venice. Made with white chicken and rice in a simple, clear broth, it tasted clean and healthy. I’m not usually a huge fan of cilantro so I asked for the spicy relish on the side. But after tasting the onion-heavy mix, I dumped the whole batch into my bowl to kick it up a notch. One question: Would it kill them to add a few veggies?

Axe (pronounced ashay) has always been a top choice for a local lunch, namely because it never sends me into an afternoon food coma. The dishes are light and healthy, a simple mix of soups and salads made with fresh organic ingredients from local farms. The lentil sausage soup with tomato onion relish is a wonderful and hearty choice for cloudy beach days.

I was a little surprised, however, to see the “fall salad” (with chicken, apple, potato and celery) still on the menu in April, given that Axe touts itself as seasonal. When I inquired, the hostess said they switched the dinner menu but won’t have a new lunch menu for another few weeks. Fall ended more than three months ago. How seasonal can it be?

The bottom line: If you’re a vegetarian or just someone who enjoys simple food that won’t hurt your waistline or the environment, you will probably dig Axe. (This place sends its kitchen scraps back to its farm suppliers for composting.) If you’re looking for inspired, high-concept cuisine, go elsewhere. Axe is essentially a minimalist’s paradise.

The basic rice bowl, which I always order with brown rice, bursts with beans sprouts, carrots, cucumber and onion, radicchio, peanuts and huge sprigs of basil and mint. You can add “mostly wild” salmon (whatever that means), chicken, tofu or a hard-cooked egg. You can also construct your own salad plate with choices such as beets, hummous, quinoa, goat cheese and greens of the day.

The dinner menu is more substantial, with soy braised beef short ribs, porterhouse pork chop and sake marinated filet of beef. But whatever you order, be prepared to sit on hard benches amidst bare white walls and artsy Venice types. It can get crowded and loud, and yet I keep finding myself coming back again and again.

Axe, 1009 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, CA; 310-664-9787.