James Beard Award-winning chef Dave Beran—formerly the chef de cuisine of the world-renowned Michelin three-star restaurant Alinea in Chicago, went back to his multi-course fine dining roots with Seline on Main Street in Santa Monica earlier this year. The location is not far from his French-themed Pasjoli, which opened in 2019 and was immediately celebrated for the chef’s decadent dishes and creative use of an entire duck served tableside for two.
While Seline is an evolution of Beran’s first Los Angeles restaurant, the now-closed 18-seat Dialogue, Pasjoli has morphed into an approachable, cozy French bistro originally designed by Steve Rugo from Rugo Raff Architects Ltd. in Chicago—who also oversaw Beran’s other west coast spots, along with Alinea.
To many people’s surprise, Pasjoli closed in May of this year and quickly reopened again in June with a minor dining room refresh—however the menu is nearly completely unrecognizable. But—one may ask—why mess with a good thing and why now?
“I had a pretty eye-opening moment at the bar with my daughter,” Beran explains. “I was sitting there having a snack with her right at opening on a Monday and it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like the place I’d always envisioned it to be. Seeing the space with fresh eyes after the Seline opening offered a moment of clarity. Five-and-a-half years in, sometimes you just have to make a change.”
During the transition, Beran found that the entire menu was in need of a revamp. “Obviously, a burger, steak frites, and French onion soup will always sell,” he says of some of the new, more casual offerings. “But the real surprise has been the balance across the board on food ordered. I give a lot of credit to our chef de cuisine Jack Joyce and exec sous Erik Beringer for really helping to hone in on a vision of a very crowd-pleasing, delicious yet simple menu.”
One of those crowd pleasers—which you can also order at the bar, along with martinis or rosé by the glass—is the cordon bleu-stuffed chicken wings. “We wanted to do cordon bleu for a while,” says Beran. “We played with the idea, but Jack really pushed these to the finish line with the current presentation.”
“The wings are filled with gruyère cheese that is wrapped in thinly sliced prosciutto,” adds Joyce. “Then dredged in egg wash and a mixture of flour, cornstarch and baking powder. We fry them until golden brown, season with fennel pollen salt and serve them with a pickled Fresno hot sauce.”
Another smart move is the French onion souplette which is a small, manageable portion of the classic that is usually so filling it’s an entire meal. Now, there will be plenty of room to order steamed mussels or poutine with frites, duck, cherry-duck gravy and gruyère.
And if you want to go all in, order the whole pressed duck dinner—one of the only original menu items still available—presented tableside for the first time since before the pandemic, and available by pre-booking on the website. “It’s a nod to 19th-century French tradition—an experience as theatrical as it is delicious,” notes Beran. Using a vintage duck press—which showcases and savors the freshness of the birds while extracting the juices—an entire duck is transformed into multiple dishes, including a salad with a warm duck fat sherry vinaigrette and crispy duck skin, duck leg confit with black truffle and wild mushroom ragout and mouthwatering roasted sliced duck breast. “The chef extracts the rich juices and combines them with red wine and cognac to create one of the most iconic sauces in French cuisine,” Beran explains.
But, Beran warns, the restaurant has been selling out of ducks regularly. “If you want it, reserve it!” he says. “It’s a tableside celebration of duck in all its glory.”
Pasjoli; 2732 Main Street, Santa Monica; 424-330-0020; pasjoli.com