Sharky's Restaurant review

Chicken Nachos

     It has been said that hunger is the best sauce.  I have to say, our small group showed up at the Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill in Simi Valley quite hungry, and it made for a pretty good sauce!   

Enchiladas

     Sharky's is not exclusive to Simi, nor is it really a small "mom and pop" type establishment anymore, but it did start out that way only about 10 years ago.  For the history of the restaurant, click here.  It is a small Fresh Mex style, not-quite-fast-food restaurant which claims to want to "Change the way the world eats!"  To do this, they offer ingredients free of GMO's, growth hormones, drugs and phosphates.  Their fish is wild caught and there are some organic options, as well as local lettuces.  Ordering is deli style and if you are really interested, you can even watch the preparation as it happens in the open kitchen.  

     Most of our group had visited this Sharky's before, but like many others, had not ventured beyond the few known menu items.  To mix things up, we tried items that were new to most, including the four cheese pizza on a jalapeno-cilantro crust, fish tacos-both salmon and cod, stacked chicken enchiladas, chicken nachos and a steak tostada salad.

Tostada Salad with organic greens

Fish tacos

     We unanimously enjoyed the pizza, which, aside from the shock at the unity of the group, surprised at least one of us who had previously tasted it with less then favorable reviews.  The enchiladas also got near perfect reviews, with only one dissenter.   It was a dish full of meat, had a nice balance of sauce and had a great flavor.  Nachos, another hit.  One reviewer wrote, "Best nachos, ever!", while another, with less enthusiasm stated, "Not bad.".  The tacos, touted on the menu as "award winning", got mixed reviews.  We definitely recommend getting them with the corn tortillas, (which you must remember to ask for), and felt that the fish was cooked perfectly.  However, like the tostada salad, the overall consensus was that it didn't really compare with the other items we tried. 

Four Cheese pizza

     I think the major issue we all had with the experience was just about the limits of the menu.  While it is extensive and delicious, for someone on a strict diet such as GAPS or paleo/primal, or who has corn, dairy or other food allergies, the menu becomes very very limited.  Additionally, while the meats are "100% natural", they are not organic and certainly not fed on pastures, let alone sourced locally.

Bottom Line:  For Simi Valley residents with limited options of whole food eateries, Sharky's is a pretty decent choice for the occasional meal out.  Not recommended for those with lots of food allergies or diet limitations, and when ordering be sure to ask for the organic greens.  $

We gave Sharky's 4 forks.

Third Thursday Review-Ladyface Alehouse

Okay, I have to admit, I get a little giddy when I find a restaurant that has potential to feed me like I want to be fed.  Add to that an interesting name and I already have a little bit of a bias.  Ladyface pretty much lived up to the hype! 

As it turns out, this LA County microbrewery  was named for Ladyface mountain that sits nearby.  For info on that little hill, see here.  (Take note, it is a great place for hiking or geocaching!)   When we arrived, a little behind schedule, it was already getting dark and for some reason we opted to sit inside, thereby missing the apparently great views from the patio.  

There were a couple of initial disappointments.  In spite of emailing ahead for a reservation, and receiving confirmation back, they did not have our name down.  This didn’t seem to interfere too much with seating though.  Also, the restaurant’s interior space was pretty loud.  It was hard to hear the people sitting at the same table.  We resorted to texting each other a few times, much to our own amusement.  

Other than that, our group was mostly impressed.  From the seasonal, sustainable and local menu, we ordered beef short ribs, duck confit salad, the Novy Ranch burger- Ladyface style, pork, curried chicken salad, and for appetizers, frites, salmon cakes and these interesting sounding Gruyere popovers.  Oh and dessert...well, though it raised the budget a bit, we all thoroughly enjoyed the creme brulee, the panna cotta and the chocolate torte.

As always, everything else got mixed reviews.   

We all agreed that the short ribs were a winner and that the fries were better with the homemade sauces.  The Novy burger was good, but made so much better with the bleu cheese and fried egg added.  The salads were both quite palatable, and there was actually a pattern to the people who preferred each.  I don't think that anyone at our table would order the popovers again.  We were all a bit disappointed that only the barest hint of the promised Gruyere was present in the light fluffy egg pastry.  I think we all hoped for a little bit of oozing. 

While we discovered that the frites were all fried in a canola mixture, which was chosen specifically for the common patrons' desire to avoid saturated fats, (sigh), we did also learn that nearly everything else was cooked on an applewood grill, even many of the veggies.

And how can we end without talking about the beers that Ladyface is all about?  Only two of us ordered beers and they were as different from each other as night is to day.  One was a light fruity ale, while the other was dark and biting.  Both of us thoroughly enjoyed them while gazing into the hops filled candle holders on the table.  

Bottom Line

Once again, this place was pretty impressive.  Even with a bit of a budget, you should be able to grab a decent bite of something fresh and healthy and WAPF friendly.  While Agoura is still a bit out of the way, on a good traffic day, you can easily make it a date night without overspending on the babysitter.  $$ -with dessert $$$

We gave Ladyface 5 forks.

photo credit