Newport Beach: The New Edamame

Letter from Newport Beach:
I was looking for a good excuse to have lunch at the Palm Terrace Restaurant at Island Hotel Newport Beach when Marguarite called to say that our mutual friend Christopher, the marketing manager of the Royal Davui resort in Fiji, was in town and could I possibly join them. Could I!

There’s a new chef at the recently spruced up Palm Terrace, David Man. Actually, David is an old hand here, having worked here a few years back as sous chef. But now the restaurant is all his and David was anxious to show us what he’d been up to: prime rib short ribs cooked sous vide for 48 hours in red wine; salmon poached in sparkling wine (obviously David likes to use wine in his cooking); chicken salad sliders (David refuses to call them sliders, but that’s what they are). But my favorite dish was actually a simple little starter dish that he calls The New Edamame. And what, you ask, is The New Edamame? Garbanzo beans sauteed crisply in their shells and dusted with salt and Indian spices. Fabulous.