OH MY DARLIN' – A CONVERSATION WITH CLEMENTINE’S ANNIE MILER
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
 |
Clementine's Annie Miler |
The name Annie Miler might not ring a bell, but the name of her Century City restaurant, Clementine, which opened in 2000, is enough to elicit happy murmurs from the many fans who gladly queue up at lunchtime. Miler whips up some of the city’s best sandwiches, salads and baked goods. They’re just like ones mom would make — if mom had studied at Le Cordon Bleu and worked at the likes of Campanile, La Brea Bakery and Spago. Part restaurant, part gourmet takeout, part catering business and part bakery, Clementine always brightens things up in LA.
When Clementine opened it was really a new type of restaurant for Los Angeles. What was the concept?
Our motto is homemade seasonal food but that doesn’t really say anything about the format. When we opened, I thought it would be a store. The restaurant happened after the fact. I couldn’t tell you how it happened. The stuff we were making was the stuff that was selling and it had our own stamp. That’s still true today.
You talk about being inspired by your mother and grandmother. Does that mean they were good cooks, or are you just being nice to your family?
I think they were great cooks. I think everyone has an affinity for their family things.
Are you using their actual recipes?
About half the things on the pastry side are family recipes or variations and the other half are things we developed for the store. On the food side, the meatloaf, which one customer compared to country påté, is a variation on my mom’s recipe. When I told my mom that she thought it was hilarious since it’s meatloaf with chunks of cheddar cheese. Spaghetti pie is something my stepmom made. She made it with Prego. We make our own sauce and use ricotta instead of cottage cheese.
Tell me about the name Clementine.
We wanted something that evoked seasonality and California. I’m not from here. But I’m pretty excited to be here. We wanted something also that sounded fresh and a little old fashioned.
Do people think you’re Clementine or ask if they can speak with Clementine?
Yes. Or they say, “My dog’s name is Clementine.”
What is the most popular sweet at Clementine?
The chocolate chip cookie. We bake them multiple times a day.
What distinguishes yours from the many others around town?
It’s kind of ugly looking, sort of flat and wrinkled like a Sharpei or a cow pie — I probably shouldn’t say that! They get really caramelized around the edges then chewier in the middle.
Is there anything you’ll never be able to take off the menu?
One time I had to take the Greek salad off the menu. I got hate mail.
Why did you have to take it off?
We had limited space. Now we redid our kitchen. We won’t have to take certain things off to try new things. That was hard. We had to build some credibility before people accepted that we would change like that. I think after we did it for a while, people got the idea. But people say in June, “Why don’t you have autumn chicken salad?” I always just say, “It’s our way of forcing you to try something else.”
What are some of your favorite restaurants?
I have this one dish I’m obsessed with at Loteria [in the Farmers Market]: huevos rancheros morita. I love all of Suzanne Goin’s restaurants. The two Mozzas. I think Literati 2 is great. I like pretty much everything including a lot of trashy things.
Like what?
For my birthday here they get me Costco cake. I love that chocolate cake with the really trashy frosting. I do my fair share of fast food. I like Fatburger. I like all manner of cheese — all kinds of cheeses in every form.
Tell me something people might not know about Clementine.
One of the things we get most excited about is grilled cheese month in April. It’s our seventh year of celebrating. We always have a different theme. This year it’s an election theme with a voter guide, ballots for the menu and a blog called MeltTheVote.org which is in development. We get silly with it. We’re going to have five sandwiches each week. So it will be four weeks of five different sandwiches. The last three days are super cheese days when the winners of the previous four weeks will compete to be “commander-in-cheese.”
Any plans to grow?
We’ve been on a pretty steep growth trajectory so that’s kept us busy. I have two kids. I’m just very happy with what I have. That’s not to say I’ll never do it.
