Watertable, celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year as a destination restaurant under the culinary direction of original Executive Chef Manfred Lassahn, is the signature restaurant located at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa. “Watertable celebrates the union of rustic and refined, old and new – in both design and cuisine. Watertable serves both Breakfast and Dinner.” The Bar has a separate Spanish-focused menu (think Acorn Fed Iberico) where guests can also order any of the menu items served in the Dining Room.
“The menu features seasonal, regional grill-centric American fare, paired with a distinguished selection of vintage world-class wines. Watertable’s beverage program also includes craft brews, hand-crafted artisanal cocktails, craft and naturally infused waters, in a unique nod to its name.”
“Chef Manfred’s inspiration stems from his family heritage as a first-generation American of German descent, valuing seasonality and preserving flavors year-round. He likes to incorporate innovative ideas while honoring timeless culinary essence. Chef Manfred embraces both new and resurfacing trends.”
“For the last decade The Team at Watertable has been committed to operating ethically and responsibly, striving to more positively impact their beach communities and the environment.”
Executive Chef Manfred takes a break from his busy kitchen to be with us along with Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach’s General Manager, Jon Benson who was on Watertable’s opening team ten years ago as Food & Beverage Director and is now back from Hawaii as Hotel General Manager.
- This is your captain speaking. I'm honor your turn, captain of all in America Line, MS. Master. You're listening to the So Call restaurant show on AM830KLAA. - And welcome back. It is the pre-4th of July holiday version of the So Call restaurant show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball. You can also catch us on the AM830KLAA Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Thanks for sharing part of your pre-holiday weekend with us. We do appreciate it. And we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. A restaurant that I've been hearing a lot about, actually for the last 10 years. And it took me until recently, I have to apologize to get there, is Water Table Food and Drink, which is the high-end restaurant that is located at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. And I was always impressed that the opening chef there stayed, which is kind of unusual in that sort of situation. And also, I had the inkling that, in terms of their business profile, they were, in addition to serving the hotel guests, they were a destination for locals. And a little earlier in the year, I had a chance to get there for part of their 10th anniversary festivities, which again, any restaurant fine dining to endure for 10 years is an achievement. But particularly in a high-end hotel, because it's just a little bit of a different environment. Had a chance to meet their long-time executive chef, Manfred Lassen, also was really an unexpected surprise to meet their new hotel general manager, John Benson, who 10 years ago had been the food and beverage director of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, and working with chef Manfred had created that restaurant. And now he's back. Talk about full circle. And with all of that as background, it is a pleasure to welcome executive chef Manfred Lassen and the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, John Benson to the show. Chef and GM, welcome to the show. - Thank you, good morning, thank you. - John, let's start with you 10 years ago when water table was opened. You had a mandate from your owner to do something. What was that something that he wanted you to do? Because you had a lot of latitude in creating this restaurant, which is a little unusual. - You know, it was really an opportunity to create something unique in a destination, as you said earlier. We really wanted to really create an environment for our locals. We didn't want any interference with the thought that we were just gonna be a hotel restaurant and we hoped the locals came. We really pivoted our mindset to create a destination space for the locals knowing the hotel guests would come organically. - Well, John, that's an interesting point that you make. And let's expand on that a little bit. A lot of high-end hotels want to create a destination restaurant for the hotel because it gives you an identity in the community, it integrates you more into the community, which of course, you definitely are part of the Huntington Beach community. But then they seem to lose energy, don't really give it the resources that it needs, don't give it the time that it needs because you can't succeed in that overnight. And then they converted to a steakhouse. What are your thoughts about that? - You know, we put a lot of thought into that. Manfred and I talked carefully about creating an environment. We really, the whole restaurant design is really incorporated around the theory that we're welcoming you into our home. So the restaurant itself has multiple spaces and venues within the context of the entire restaurant, a library, a bar, a specialty dining room called Sofia's Room, a living room with a fireplace, and some private dining rooms and outdoor patio. Those were really done on purpose to create an environment that kept reinventing itself wherever you decided to die in the space. It had a different feel, a different experience. And then we really wanted to build something that was timeless. So the design, as you witnessed when you were here with us, is not really leaning into any specific genre of cuisine or theme of a restaurant. It really is something that we feel is like a really well-designed home, has a style that will last into the future. - And obviously, John has proven the test of time. Let's bring the very patient, Chef Manfred, into the conversation. Manfred, what was your original concept for the menu? What did you want to do? - Well, the original concept was supposed to be a Spanish themed restaurant based on the Hacienda style of the resort. But we have pizza sunset grill, which is next door to water table. And that is already an ethnic restaurant, a world-serve concept. So we kind of switched gears, I kind of switched gears. But then what I also did was I wanted to keep the Spanish influence at the bar. And so that the bar food and your bar experience was completely different than your restaurant experience. One of the things that makes me crazy personally is when your bar menu food are the appetizers from your restaurant menu. That's not creating a different type of experience. So that's why we have so many different menus and different experiences in the restaurant. Manfred, you bring them up really a very good point. The menu that you have at your bar at water table, which is a beautiful destination in its own right, is totally different than the menu in the main dining rooms. And again, that just shows on the part of you and your team that really a lot of thought went in designing the space. 'Cause it's a big space, it doesn't feel like that because the rooms are broken up. But again, I'm impressed with the attention to detail here. - We really did. We really did want to put a lot of thought into it because it was about the experience. If you're coming in just for a cocktail or just the evening at the bar, now you can have the dinner menu brought to the bar, but the bar appetizers will never make their way to the dining room. - Again, just intriguing concept. Now, before we go any further and I don't know if John wants to answer this or Manfred wants to answer this, whichever is fine, but water table, there's quite a story about the name of the restaurant and the manifestation of water table is actually in the restaurant that you might initially think it's an art piece unless you look close and see the water pictures. So who wants to take that on? - I'll give that one to John. - John, you're up. - Yeah, you know, thank you. We went through a lot of iterations when we were trying to name the restaurant, but one of the things we landed on is the actual water table of the said ocean right out in front of us. One of the highest points of the water table rises on the property, the grounds of the hotel is about two stories below where the actual restaurant is located in the footprint of our 18 and a half acre property. And there's actually some really good engineering going on down there because we literally pump water away from the bottom of the hotel in that location so that we're not sitting like a boat in the ocean bobbing around as a hotel. But that was really the genesis of the naming of the restaurant. We went through a couple of different iterations of ideas and the Poppy and the Quail was one because the state birds stayed flower. Many referred to the end illusion we were thinking at some point about the black footed pig, which is where Iberico Ham comes from. But water table really resonated. And then we did a lot of really iconic things around that. And one of those pieces you just referenced is the actual art piece. One of one in the world is that water distribution system that is sitting in the center of the space. Manny and I and a couple of others took a road trip up into San Francisco when we were in design looking for something to inspire us. And we met with a fabricator from a motorcycle shop that could do some powder coated metal work. He also did some woodwork. We found a stone mason to create some of the architecture for the piece. And then we had to find those glass cylinders. And we found a gentleman that makes and blows the glass from medical grade pyrex. And we pulled all these individuals together, sketched all this stuff literally out on an app given in a coffee shop up in San Francisco. And off they went. And I remember the day they called us and said, it's done. You want to come and pick it up. And Manny and I looked at each other like, we can't go. We want them to come and assemble it. We would never be able to do that on property. So they drove it down from San Francisco, assembled it on site. It's triple filtered water coming out of enormous infrastructure up in the ceiling there. But that was kind of the whole surrounding of the water service in the restaurant. We had envisioned maybe flavored waters coming out of some of those cylinders. But that proved to be too challenging. But yeah, that was really about it. And then we had some art pieces throughout the restaurant that there's actually a piece next to the bar that illuminates the actual depth of the water table all the way out into the ocean. And the various depths of the water table all the way up to the hotel and the location of the restaurant that are imprinted on this piece of art. And it's just another fun way to pay homage to the name. You know, John, again, the attention to the details of the design impresses. But I get back to the question, in terms of the water table structure itself, how did you ever get your owner to go along with that? Because that wasn't an inexpensive proposition. And as you say, it's a one-off. Nothing else exists. It starts with amazing owners. Manny's looking at me. You want to say something. Go ahead. Yeah, no. Originally, that table was supposed to have a huge bowl on it filled with bounty filled with all everything that we were going to use for that evening. And the idea was that we were going to come out of the kitchen and grab it and then go take it back in the kitchen and cook it. And I looked at John and I said, that makes absolutely no sense. Because at the end of the night, we've got an empty bowl there. And we're just running back and forth out of the kitchen. Oh, and the health department would have loved that, Manny. Exactly. Exactly. So that's how we landed on that piece, that art piece. It's a beautiful piece. Well, and again, it becomes a signature for the restaurant. We are speaking with the team that put together the water table at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach 10 years ago. And still is a classic and very fresh. We're going to pick up the conversation on the other side. We're speaking with hotel executive chef Manfred Lassen, who created the concept. The original food and beverage director of the Hyatt Regency, John Benson, that went on to become a general manager in Hawaii. And now came back to manage the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach kind of full circle. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. We'll be right back.
