It’s entirely possible that Casablanca owns the finest seaside views on the West Coast. Hanging over the sparkling water, with a view of the Carmel Highlands in the distance, this dining room romances its location, especially with chef Job Carder in the kitchen. Reopened last spring by Tyrolean Inn owners Whitney Belvin and Charles Cheatham, the Casablanca’s reinvention as an inn and bistro stresses a regional organic menu, thanks to Carder’s many personal contacts.
“I have friends who have ranches in Sonoma, produce growers, artisanal cheesemakers—having strong personal contacts with local suppliers allows me to get great prices,” says Carder, a big man with a robust attitude and a can-do spirit.
Although he’s a native of Los Angeles, in many ways Carder’s move to Casablanca is a homecoming: his first job in the restaurant business was cooking on 41st Avenue at a place called Little Lou’s BBQ. Years later, as part of the Patina Group team operating fine French restaurants on both coasts, he helped open new restaurants in California and Las Vegas. Under the tutelage of Patina founder Joachim Splichal, he took the helm as executive chef at various Patina group bistros, then moved to Café Bizou in Santa Monica, where he garnered kudos from Zagat, and on to Manzanita in Healdsburg. “I learned a lot from Joachim,” he says, “but after lots of urban experience, I’m glad to be back in Santa Cruz.”
At this point in his career, Casablanca is the right fit. “It’s more the world I want to be part of, the farm-direct style of cooking,” he explains. Now he’s busy fine-tuning a new menu with the support of owners who he says give him free rein in the kitchen.
The new Casablanca Inn & Bistro is, in the chef’s estimation, “still a baby. We’ve been getting a lot of visitors coming in this summer, but we want to invite the locals to come back during the off season.”
The temptation for locals is obvious, and Carder is keen on making the menu appealing to all budgets. Small plate appetizers range from oven baked ravioli with umbrian truffles to fresh kumomoto oysters and duck sliders. Carder has just added new dishes to match the changing season, too. “Roasted baby beet salad, and the baked ravioli is new,” he notes. “Shrimp and saffron cakes on arugula salad—that’s new.” A braised short rib entrée announces the fall season, as does a dish of seared rabbit tenderloin paired with braised lamb leg over farro and fresh English peas.
Carder runs a new dish as a special first to see how patrons like it. Then it might run on the regular menu. “I like to cook all kinds of stuff—brainstorming cookery,” he says.
Look for French and even Japanese seasoning touches in Carder’s Mediterranean-intensive menu, like wasabi ketchup served with his hand-cut fries. The chef makes all of his own salame sausage, and a variety of prosciuttos. Right now he’s crazy about a pork porterhouse, a special cut of meat he’s procured that he describes, rolling his eyes, as “incredible.” The 12-ounce steak is served with sauteed pea leaves, slow-baked potatoes with prosciutto and rosemary. My tastebuds respond immediately.
Carder will be doing some specially packaged items from the regular menu—including a lamb ragout with housemade pappardelle and mussel steamers with fries—for Restaurant Week. “That way when people find a favorite, they can come back and have it again.” And again.
Casablanca Inn & Bistro, 101 Main St., Santa Cruz. 831.426.9063. Closed Tuesdays.
