KOSHER & CLASSIC: The Food Fashions of Chef Todd Aarons

By Lisa Snider, findingojai@aol.com

At the gateway to the Central Coast’s wine country, and inside Herzog Wine Cellars’ 77,000 square foot state-of-the-art winemaking facility, is the fine dining room Tierra Sur.

Surrounded by Oxnard’s unlikely mix of industrial complexes and farmland, Chef Todd Aarons’ inspired Mediterranean menu is delighting discerning palates throughout the region. A classically trained chef who has cooked in the finest kitchens in New York, San Francisco and Tuscany, Aarons’ work has even been reviewed by renowned restaurant critic, Ruth Reichel of The New York Times. But you won’t find any cream or butter in his kitchen, something that stunned this writer as she recently slurped a spoonful of decadently creamy butternut squash soup. The reason? Tierra Sur is a kosher restaurant, which means, among other things, that dairy, shellfish and pork are not on the menu. Trust me, though, you won’t even notice.

“I come to work everyday to cook for people who enjoy food,” said Aarons, dressed in a black chef ’s coat and yarmulke, and shrugging off the notion that kosher food limits the diner’s experience.

“There are just different guidelines we have to go by.”

If anything, he says, kosher laws make him more creative. And Aarons is deeply committed to excellence in his kitchen, constantly looking for ways to exceed his patrons’ expectations, whether the diner is kosher or not.

“I think about mouth-feel and texture and where we might be missing cream or butter.” In their place, he uses fish stocks, olive oils, nuts and egg yolk liaisón – a classic French technique – as thickeners with rich flavor profiles.

If he can’t source the products he wants, he will simply make it himself. Sherry vinegar, cured meats, homemade masa tortillas and maple cured smoked lamb bacon are just a handful of staple ingredients that Aarons and his staff make onsite to bring the boldest flavors to the table. “Lamb is my pork and it’s the pork of the Mediterranean!”

Aarons describes his menu as highly seasonal, reflecting the characteristics he learned in Tuscany, combining that with the indigenous flavors of the Central California region as well as Oxnard’s Hispanic culture. The result is what gives Tierra Sur (Spanish for south land) its name, bringing with it menu influences from Greece, Italy, Spain and Mexico.

Though Aarons hails from seemingly more cosmopolitan locales, he likens the Oxnard plains to the Italian countryside. “It most resembles Tuscany for me…where you can see the connection between the land and the chef.”

Striving daily to bring the farm to the table, Aarons visits green markets and partners with local farmers, like McGrath, Underwood and Givens, to find the freshest local ingredients available. He uses organic, sustainably grown produce whenever possible. Tierra Sur also participates in the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a statewide non-profit that fosters family-scale agriculture.

“Just like winemaking celebrates the grape grower, we also like to celebrate the farmer.”

Aarons, a 39-year-old California native and graduate of the California Culinary Academy, got his feet wet in renowned kitchens such as Savoy in Manhattan’s SoHo and Zuni Café in San Francisco. Later, he set about on a personal spiritual quest to Israel, what he calls his “adult journey.” He soon learned to combine his two passions – food and spirituality – and became a kosher chef; he opened his own upscale bistro in New Jersey where he was quickly discovered by the Herzog family, who asked him to come to Oxnard in 2005.

Arriving during the restaurant’s construction gave Aarons the ability to have a hand in the kitchen’s design, which features a large arched window with a copper counter that opens to the intimate 44-seat dining room. Dominated by earth tones and walls painted pale mustard with caramel accents, Tierra Sur has a warm feel to it. Large windows are covered with chocolate brown sheers and high-back chestnut leather chairs invite diners to stay awhile. A 20-seat patio adds al fresco dining in warmer months.

The restaurant’s signature dishes feature a variety of platillos (small plates similar to Spanish “tapas”), including a trio of warmed house-marinated olives, salt cod beignets, and a harissa-marinated sunchoke carrot salad. The salt cod beignets are heaven; they’re poached and flaked and battered with a pâté choux batter as light as an éclair and served with a garlic lemon aioli. The sunchoke carrot salad has marinated red peppers, guajillo chile paste and Moroccan spices of cumin and caraway.

Dinner entrees include pomegranate-marinated lamb, aged rib-eye steak and wild king salmon cooked outdoors over an open flame to add rustic
smoky flavors. Any of the dishes can be paired with Herzog’s wines, and wine tasting menus are offered nightly. In the near future, Aarons is looking forward to Tierra Sur becoming even more connected to the region by starting its own green market on Sundays and having farmer dinners in the spring.

“It’s awesome to be part of that connection to the community.”

Click here for Aaron's Fennel, Apple and Persimmon Salad with Bresaola.

Lisa Snider is a local freelance writer. For more, visit www.findingojai.com.