This oceanfront restaurant is part of a global culinary empire. Mitchell based the free-flowing plan on an unrealized house he designed as an undergraduate, giving the sequence of dining areas a warm, residential character. The timeless simplicity of the architecture was inspired by the traditional Shinto wood buildings he admired in Japan and the radical house-studio that Rudolph M. Schindler designed for himself in West Hollywood. A linear block of sand-toned, board-marked concrete opens onto a deck that is raised above the surf. The block is constructed to withstand winter storms but for most of the year a 40-foot long teak and glass sliding door opens up to turn the main dining room and bar into a giant porch. The interior is subtly Japanese in its horizontality and finely-crafted joinery. Clerestories impart a glow to the ceiling. There is no ornament: everything depends on the natural beauty of the materials and the simple furnishings.
Phtography by John Linden