O.C.’s emerging gem

A friend of mine used to be quite the cinephile and would invite me to go see something every couple of weeks. We’d usually meet in front of the theater just in time to scurry in, buy some popcorn and find a seat before the previews started. She always chose an interesting film, but it made me crazy that as soon as we came out of the theater, we’d exchange a few words, and then she’d get in her car and drive off.

Er, what about a coffee? Or a bite to eat?

She obviously had places to go, people to see.

When I go out to a play or a concert, too, I want to go somewhere afterward and discuss what we’ve just seen or heard. Until recently, L.A. offered a dearth of choices, especially downtown. And who wants to get in their car and go park somewhere else? We all want a taste of urban life.

Walt Disney Concert Hall has Patina right there, and the energy in the dining room after a concert is palpable. And now the Patina Group’s founder Joachim Splichal has just opened Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. From the look of things, not many concertgoers have discovered it’s there. Or at least they don’t remember it’s there when the concert is over. (The restaurant does get an early pre-theater dining crowd.)

Last week friends and I went to Leatherby’s with dinner in mind -- hold the concert -- and happened on one of the best meals I’ve had in Orange County -- ever. It was also was one of the best I’ve had at any of Splichal’s many restaurants.

Named for O.C. philanthropist Ralph Leatherby, the restaurant is a light-drenched contemporary space designed by concert hall architect Cesar Pelli. I was expecting something much grander. The bar has fewer than 10 seats, and the single dining room is modest in size by L.A. standards. Or at least I think so. It’s a bit hard to tell, because the glamorous mohair-covered booths have such high backs that the view of the dining room is obscured. Were there 100 other people eating, or four? Without standing up from our booth, we didn’t have a clue.

It was a beautiful Indian summer night and to start off, we ordered oysters -- pristine Kumamotos served at the perfect temperature with a mignonette that favors finely minced shallots over vinegar. Delicious.

The menu definitely has an Asian-French bent. Starters include a superb sashimi of top-grade toro cut into fat rectangles and a single Dungeness crab salad that’s pure sweet crab meat crafted into a sleek cube and served with a little yuzu gelee, shaved cucumber and celery leaves. Clam and matsutake mushroom soup has a gorgeous broth -- and no cream, so you get just the pure, concentrated taste of the clams. The quality of the seafood is phenomenal.

The standout among the main courses we try is the grilled center-cut New York strip steak with parsnip turnip cream and Leatherby’s own steak sauce. The steak itself is terrific, with a deep, beefy flavor and some heft to it. Roasted chicken breast with asparagus and black truffle vinaigrette is anything but dull. There’s also mild-mannered venison wrapped in bacon and served with squiggles of herb spaetzle, and a fine Peking duck breast with sweet peas and tangerine.

Over dessert, the concert ends and the crowd begins to filter out, on and on toward the parking lot. “It’s O.C.,” one of my Orange County guests says, shrugging. “It’s hardly a late-night scene.” A hardy foursome, though, ventures into the restaurant and scans the menu. Now that’s more like it. We don’t feel so lonesome lingering over coffee and soft billowy lemon cake.

Once word gets out about Leatherby’s, it’s not going to be this way long. Here’s the rub, though: Opening chef Greg Stillman is already gone. The meal we had, in fact, was cooked from the first chef’s menu by the current chef, Mark Gold, former executive chef at Cafe Pinot downtown. He’s supposed to initiate his own menu in the next week or two. Whether it will continue in the same focused and beautifully understated style, I have no idea. But I’m certainly crossing my fingers, hoping the fine opening performance is a sign of an extended -- and thrilling -- run.

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Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge

Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. daily; dinner, 5-10 p.m. daily. Parking, $8.

Price: Lunch appetizers, $6-$14; salads, $15-$19; main courses, $14-$17. Dinner appetizers, $9-$16; main courses, $22-$37; tasting menu, $65-$75.

Info: (714) 429-7640