Provenance – Eastbluff Newport Beach, CA

Executive chef and restaurateur Cathy Pavlos has opened a second restaurant, Provenance, a new dining concept in Newport Beach, designed to deliver elements of California’s wine country. The new restaurant took over the space where Sage Restaurant used to be in the Eastbluff shopping center.

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Provenance is an adaptive reuse project, which is beautifully designed and stems from Chef Pavlos’ early training and profession, as an architect, prior to discovering a passion for cooking. It can best be described as contemporary wine country farmhouse, porch and garden. The 2,500-square-foot restaurant features contemporary farmhouse elements, complete with barn doors, rope pulleys, and Chef Pavlos’ grandma’s 1948 stove repurposed as a hostess station.

Garden at Provenance

The restaurant is dictated by its garden, which supplies the kitchen with seasonal ingredients on a daily basis. The 1,300-square-foot organic, raised-bed and vertical wall garden also serves as an eco friendly solution for noise reduction in the small but busy, residential shopping center. Unlike LUCCA, a Mediterranean inspired menu, Provenance will draw inspiration from Italian and French cuisine but with a focus on California farming techniques such as canning, preserving, curing, pickling and smoking.

Provenance offers a Sunday farm breakfast which is what we are most excited about. Inspired menu items include: whiskey and brown sugar-cured wild salmon gravadlax with housemade English muffin, poached farm eggs, dilled Hollandaise and fried capers; pan-seared Idaho trout with poached eggs, root veggie hash browns, baby garden greens and mustard-cognac béarnaise; certified angus beef short rib hash with sunny side up eggs, butternut squash succotash, cabbage, wasabi cream and rosemary

Lunch items include mahi mahi with pistachios, quinoa medley, salsa verde, tomatillos and citrus; sandwiches such as the turkey meatloaf and roasted leg of Colorado lamb, uniquely paired with Dean Kim’s OC Baking company breads. And from the garden; honey-balsamic roasted baby carnival carrots tossed in spices, fresh dill, chives and feta cheese; shaved Brussels sprouts, with charred stems, fancy lime anchovy mustard sauce and brioche croutons; sweet and sour winter squash medley with lack kale and toasted pumpkin seeds and rapini braised in spicy tomato sauce, green garlic and topped with a cage free egg.

Dinner menus are also based on seasonal garden offerings, but focus on larger plates, including New Zealand sole, pan fried with a light crust, crispy prosciutto, planch potatoes, spinach, tarragon-infused brown butter; roasted jidori chicken served with blistered Brussels sprouts, garden veggies, baby Yukon potatoes in pan gravy; rack of New Zealand lamb with blood orange-leek risotto, cilantro-macadamia nut pesto and a 32 oz. certified angus beef porterhouse steak (platter for two) carved off the bone, served with pan potatoes, drippings, and grilled garden vegetables.

Housemade Charcuterie

Some of the table starters include housemade charcuterie with potted rillettes, duck pate, pickled vegetables and mustard; whole smoked Idaho trout with ribbons of hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, oven roasted tomatoes, capers, smoked olive and lemon cream; salt roasted garden beets with Stefano burrata, avocado, Mandarin aigre-doux, garden greens and sherry-maple vinaigrette.

Eastbluff Mimosa & Chef’s Bloody Mary

A full bar accompanies the food with house-crafted sodas, flavor-infused spirits, and vintage cocktails.

Of note, many of the menu are cooked sous-vide, a method adopted by many modern chefs such as Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. The method cooks food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath at an accurately controlled temperature. The intention is to cook the item evenly, and not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same “doneness” to keep the food juicier. With items cooked this way, it will not turn gray and will appear in its more natural color.

2531 Eastbluff Drive, Newport Beach, CA
Eastbluff Village Center
http://www.ProvenanceOC.com

Kitchen with Chef’s Table