Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Our Guest Blogger, Bonnie sure knows how to pick the cool places.  She recently stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, where she dined at Hampton’s Restaurant with two long-time friends.  When she returned, she said she had one of the best nights of her life.  Wow!  It was a magical explosion of great food, excellent service, beautiful surroundings, good friends, special tours, lots of drinks, laughs and a million dollar wedding to crash, that made her visit so amazing.  I love nights like that.  She reports about it as follows…

As it turns out, you don’t have to go back east to experience the headiness of the Hampton’s Restaurant. All you have to do is visit its namesake restaurant at the stunning Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, California. You won’t be disappointed.

Hampton’s recently introduced two new extravaganzas – on Friday evenings, you can enjoy their “Seafood Sensation” buffet, featuring fresh lobster, chilled crab claws, shrimp and sushi. On Saturday nights, they offer the “Prime Time” buffet, which is what we opted for.

Prior to the food, let me share the setting… The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the hotel, right in front of their fantastic waterfalls. It’s the waterfalls that make this hotel a stand out and luckily for us, we got a “prime” seat with the best view of this delightful, romantic feature.

Once seated, we were immediately introduced to the Hotel’s “Ambassador,” Manager Thomas Humphrey, who graciously treated us to a private tour of the restaurant.

First, we visited the salad buffet. Mind you, this is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill salad buffet – it’s all locally grown by long time farmers in the nearby community of Camarillo. Moving on to the manned carving station, this is where they showcase a rotating selection of organic and sustainable meats such as chicken, pork and prime rib, which are roasted,  grilled, barbecued and slow cooked to perfection.

Then we moved into the kitchen “arena,” where the centerpiece attraction is a mind-blowing 2 ½ ton Bonnet Maestro range, custom made in France for the sum of $250,000 – a quarter of a million dollars! And this hotel is home to not just one, but four of them. Do the math, and you will come up with a pretty heavy-duty investment in “ovens.”

Next we toured the pastry station, which is manned by Chef Laufer, and the interactive Chef’s stations for their made-to-order macaroni and cheese and baked potatoes. Incredible! And as if that’s not enough, when we went back and sat down at our table, they brought out three sizzling skillets with our very own filets in them. Dessert followed, and it all amounted to one of the most amazing, interactive meals we have ever had.

P.S. After closing down Hampton’s, we crashed a wedding at the Hotel that must have cost as much as they invested in their ovens!  Check out the cake.

Thanks Bonnie — I wish I’d been there!