Madeleine Bistro Red beet tartare on warm tofu-cheese crouton with English cucumber and parsley oil.
December 2005 | Feature
La Dolce Vegan
At Madeleine Bistro, visionary vegan chef Dave Anderson redefines cruelty-free cuisine
by Eliza Thomas
At first glance, chef Dave Anderson, innovator behind some of the country’s most cutting-edge vegan cuisine, seems an unlikely visionary. In a profession—and a city—notorious for drama and egotism, he’s warm, modest and disarmingly sincere. And though his flagship restaurant, Madeleine Bistro, has done brisk business since its quiet opening last spring—with weekends strictly reservations-only and a steady stream of celebrity clientele (most recently, to Anderson’s unfettered delight, Sir Paul McCartney)—its Tarzana location has allowed it to retain at least the feeling of being largely undiscovered.
Which, for the moment, affords visitors to Madeleine the rare opportunity of easy accessibility to a rising culinary star. Entering the bistro, diners accustomed to the affects of upscale LA eateries will be charmed by Madeleine’s friendly, understated elegance. Sage green walls, dark cherrywood accents, white linen tablecloths and flickering candlelight provide welcome respite from the exhaustively ambitious “moderne” favored by many restaurateurs. And although the menu changes seasonally and with the caprice of the chef, “Call us ahead of time and we can pretty much make sure to have what you want,” assures Molly Anderson, Madeleine co-owner and Anderson’s wife. While you’d be remiss not to try something new on a menu this outstanding, the earnest, personal attention of the Andersons and their staff is why you’ll fall in love.
Now and Vegan
But for all its cozy, casual sophistication, Madeleine Bistro is the result of over a decade of hard work and determination. “This restaurant is the realization of my goal to introduce world class fine dining to the vegan/vegetarian world,” effuses the chef. “I had always dreamed of a vegetarian restaurant where you’re having fine wine and you’re pairing that with the food, where the food is creative and the menu is changing seasonally, where the produce comes from organic farmers and their crops are driving the menu.”
That vision was the impetus behind Anderson’s move from the East Coast, where he grew up in Brooklyn and Boston, to LA, where, as he laughingly recounts, “I was convinced I was going to find the Mecca of vegetarian cuisine.” Discovering instead a culinary culture woefully short on vegetarian—let alone vegan—voices, Anderson underwent cheffing stints at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills and as sous chef at Inn of the Seventh Ray before assuming the position as executive chef for acclaimed vegan pioneer Real Food Daily. While at RFD, Anderson refined his understanding of animal-free cooking and developed a strong sense of what types of dishes had mass appeal. He also met Molly, who was working as Real Food’s general manager—and she was the one who convinced him to go completely vegan.
“And that’s when I realized: vegan cooking was the whole trick,” Anderson confides. “This was a realm where there were still so many things to discover… And what it comes down to is just determination, it’s not giving up and it’s not settling. For years vegans have had to make due with dairy alternatives that are just… [he makes a disdainful face].
“I want to show that anything, absolutely anything you can dream up, can be carried out in the vegan realm. That’s our only rule in the kitchen: you can do anything,” Anderson continues animatedly. “We make meringue, we make cheese, we make whipped cream. That’s why I got my education at [esteemed Rhode Island culinary academy] Johnson & Whales instead of going somewhere like the Natural Gourmet Cookery school in New York. Too many vegan and vegetarian chefs are ignoring thousands of years of culinary history. They’re cutting themselves off from so many resources and knowledge, and starting all over again. I thought to myself, okay, once I understand how a meringue works, and why it does what it does, and how to make it do what I want it to do, it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier for me to duplicate that. Whereas if I’m just saying, Well I don’t know, I’ve tasted meringue before, now I’m just gonna veganize it by mixing up some tofu in a blender—I’m never going to get there.”
A tendency towards perfectionism, (“I’m a very obsessive person,” he admits) has allowed chef Anderson the wherewithal to make the impossible possible. His desert menu alone—featuring an ever changing list of vegan holy grails like crème brulée, flourless chocolate cake and the aforementioned meringue—is the culmination of serious study.
“The meringue… you should ask my wife. I drove her crazy. I would wake up in the middle of the night with ideas… I worked on it for eight months. But I mean, at this point I have a pretty even success rate just from doing it for so long. Like with the cheese, I can throw together ingredients and it’s perfect the first time. When you do anything a lot, you develop a process. I think vegan cooking now. It’s totally different. They always say if you’re going to learn another language, like Spanish, to master it you have to think in Spanish. It’s the same thing with cooking like I cook. If a traditional chef got in my head, he would think I was insane.”
A Celebration With Every Meal
While vegans will be smitten by the opportunity to enjoy long lost favorites, dishes like the Asian Tacos—crispy wontons stuffed with shredded seitan and served with an eye-poppingly flavorful tropical fruit salsa, or Tomato Risotto—a richly satisfying blend of sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, kalamata olives and black kale, are hearty enough to win over even die-hard carnivores. Paired with an organic ale or a selection from Madeleine’s list of sustainable, organic or biodynamic wines, and punctuated by exceptional soup, salad, cheese and dessert courses, every meal at Madeleine feels like a celebration.
Weekend brunches are bustling, but promise delights well worth the fray. In addition to organic coffee and tea, fresh squeezed fruit cocktails like carrot-vanilla crèmesickle or cinnamon and caramel-spiked apple add a festive touch to a mid-morning meal. There are pancakes (wheat-free with bananas, strawberries and fresh maple syrup), beignets or southern-style waffles with seitan chicken, as well as lunchier options like a club sandwich or a Caeser salad. And don’t deny yourself yet another opportunity to return to the divine dessert list—a light and sweet treat like the transcendent trio of house-made sorbets would make a lovely finish.
Whether it’s a flavor pairing you never imagined, a dairy-free feat you didn’t think possible, or simply the pleasure of enjoying a meal from a chef so clearly in his element, Madeleine Bistro is unforgettable.
Madeleine Bistro, 18621 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana; 818.758.6971; madeleinebistro.com.
Eliza Thomas is Senior Editor of Whole Life Times.
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