Grubtrotters

I just had a lovely little lunch with my friend Shelley at The Cabbage Patch, a casual Urth Cafe-esque spot that opened in February on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. Much like Urth, you order at the counter, take a number and sit at one of a handful of tiny tables to wait for your food. It’s fresh organic fare in the vein of Tender Greens. The chef is a veteran of Rustic Canyon and Axe, and all his beef, lamb and pork come from Niman Ranch, while his chicken is, of course, Jidori.

Tangent alert: Speaking of Jidori, I finally got to the bottom of the mystery, thanks to reader Jay Weston, who has a restaurant newsletter. Turns out these chickens, which are served by all the best restaurants in LA (and a few outside of LA), come from a company run by Dennis Mao, the chef at Robata-Ya on Sawtelle. I stopped in to Robata-Ya last week to chat with Dennis. Jidori chickens have been called the chicken equivalent of Kobe beef, but there’s really nothing all that mysterious or exceptional about them. Locavores like Jidori because they’re free-range, grain-fed chickens raised in California without hormones or steroids. They’re also shipped within 24 hours of slaughter, meaning they’re fresh. However, they’re not organic, nor are they massaged daily or treated like some kind of chicken royalty, as some people seem to believe. Mao says you can, indeed, eat his chicken rare, although I don’t really want to test that premise. I tasted a little grilled skewer of his Jidori chicken thighs cooked medium rare, and it was juicy and delicious.

Anyhow, back to The Cabbage Patch. I ordered the chicken n’ apple salad, and the guy behind the counter immediately told me, “That comes with bacon, you know.” Perhaps it was the Indian caftan I was wearing, giving me away as a yogini, albeit a guilty meat-loving one. “Yes, I know,” I told him. “Bacon makes everything better.” That just seems to be my motto this month. (I still haven’t found the time to write about the maple-bacon ice cream I recently tried at Craft, but that’s another post for another time. I don’t want to digress again.)

The salad was large and delicious, with juicy green apples, Applewood smoked bacon, Jidori chicken, celery, capers, baby mixed greens and brioche croutons with a tart champagne vinaigrette. The salad was a full meal, which is good because it was $12. I have to say, after tasting Robata-Ya’s chicken thighs, I think the chicken breast meat in this salad was ever-so-slightly dry or overcooked. Maybe I’m just such a huge fan of the juicy, fatty, medium-rare dark meat I tried last week that a fully cooked Jidori chicken breast doesn’t taste quite as good in comparison. Nevertheless, the salad was satisfying. Not quite as good as Tender Greens, but solid nonetheless. Shelley was also happy with her seared tofu bowl with rice and carrots and cucumbers in a soy sesame dressing. She’s a better yogi than I am, for sure. The big cookies, by the way, are $4, but they’re worth it. I’m also curious to try the Jidori chicken wings next time I visit The Cabbage Patch. That’s one I haven’t seen on a menu anywhere else. — Jenny

Cabbage Patch, 214 Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-550-8655