April 3, 2015 – After a four month self-imposed shut down, Carmel Valley’s luxurious Bernardus Lodge & Spa reopened last night unveiling a multi-million-dollar facelift. It’s hard to believe it has been 15 years since Bernardus Marinus “Ben” Pon, a vintner, former Olympian and motor racing driver from the Netherlands, opened his vineyard-inspired lodge. In January of last year, Pon sold the lodge to Ensemble Hotel Partners, which launched a reported $4 million renovation throughout the property in December. The frame is still there, offering a sense of familiarity, but everything else is fresh, creating an open, airy atmosphere, while maintaining the stately yet casual elegance of Bernardus Lodge.
Guests swing off Carmel Valley Road and wind up a path of California gold gravel, through a small vineyard ruffled with the green of new growth. To the left of the lodge entrance, is the Chef’s Garden, masterminded by head designer Ardie Tavangarian, and planted by specialty gardener Mark Marino. The raised garden beds are lush with sweet peas and beets, scallions, ruby chard, sage, chives, and a few California poppies. East of the lodge, another, 2-acre garden yields larger-leaf produce.
“I was there when Bernardus Lodge was first opening, in 1999,” says Marino. “My job is to dig, plant, and talk with chef Cal Stamenov, who gives a lot of input about what should grow in the garden, based on what he needs in his kitchen. Recently, we rebuilt the garden beds and added small slate labels, which help the public identify what’s in the garden.”
Chef Cal says the garden, at its peak, yields 40 to 60% of his produce.
“Much of my menu,” he says, “is based on the garden. I work with a lot more vegetables than I did in the past; it’s the way more people are eating, now. I don’t eat the giant steaks any more, myself, but we still serve them for those who do. Every year, we do a completely Carmel-based menu. We get our spot prawns from the bay, our beef from the mouth of the Carmel Valley, our greens from our own gardens, and our raspberries and additional vegetables from Serendipity Farms of Carmel and Carmel Valley.”
At the front of the lodge is what Marino calls a Provence garden, a drought-tolerant planting inspired by the foliage from the South of France, whose new plants are protected beneath the frame of bamboo teepees.
The entrance to Bernardus Lodge & Spa still ushers guests up wide stairs to the open lobby, but now it is under the glimmer of a large crystal chandelier of small prismatic spheres housed in a round frame. The chandelier is duplicated inside. For those who are returning to the lodge, arrival is met with an appreciable Ah Ha. The embrace of country casual, warmed by the colors of a Tuscan sunrise, has been replaced by the seduction of a sophisticated chic just rustic enough to be called edgy, with its imposing pillars of narrow stacked stone, dark leather couches, and glass globes suspended before a stacked-stone hearth, all in subtle, neutral tones.
Upon arrival, guests are offered a glass of chilled strawberry lemonade or the chance to sip Bernardus wine, as they await check in.
Where once there were walls, framed glass panels fold, one against another, to obscure or open wide the rooms that now house the new Lucia Restaurant & Bar. Named for the Santa Lucia mountain range and wine appellation that looms to the south of the lodge, the expansive restaurant consumes what once was Wickets Bistro and Marinus, an elegant enclave known for its tasting menu. The favorite foods on each menu are now incorporated into Lucia which, says general manager Sean Damery, “is not as high end as Marinus was,” noting that the food and wine are just as spectacular, but also a little more inviting.
Tucked at the end of the lobby is the Cooper’s Den, a dining enclave, named for the craftsman who makes wine casks, which seats a dozen gourmands for their own private dining experience.
Set across French oak flooring, this open-concept restaurant spills out into the patio, where lunch is served under the impossibly blue skies of Carmel Valley. Inside, the tables are rough-hewn and the chairs are chic, comfortable, embracing. The bar, features a back wall made of stacked-onyx stone creating a striation of natural hues and a gold granite counter-top, lit from below to create an inviting glow.
At the edge of the room, the wall becomes a glass case, where wine bottles are at rest, waiting.
Neutral colors and clean, angular lines carried from the lobby throughout the restaurant spaces and into the more formal dining room, where white leather club chairs, piped in dark brown leather, invite lingering and another glass of wine. The pallet of the room is complemented by the vibrant colors of a verdant landscape, accessible through fold-away walls and plenty of glass.
The main dining room opens to a terrace beneath a sky-high roofline, framed in heavy timbers and fitted with retractable canvas for those ambient nights when the moon is high. Through a pairing of textures, the new restaurant is an interesting alchemy of cool elegance and warm, rustic ranch, which invites guests to decide whether they want to dress down or gussy up, either way, finding themselves comfortable and relaxed.
“We hit a lot of demographics with our atmosphere and our menus,” says Stamenov. “With Marinus and Wickets, we featured some 60 items. Our goal with Lucia has been to simplify the menu, to refine it to some 25 or 30 choices that reflect our focus on good, fresh food. People don’t want complicated; they want good. They want proteins and vegetables, and I don’t have to fashion it into a rabbit. I like a nice salad and chicken, where I can concentrate on cooking it, keeping it juicy, taking the time to prepare it, fresh.”
Lucia also houses the Wine Cellar. Accessed down a winding stairway, below the main dining room, this newly renovated retreat offers private dining and service within the rustic elegance of a room where the wine is chosen, uncorked, and served. And Stamenov still entertains exclusive guests at his “Chef’s Table” for four, a booth tucked into his presentation kitchen, where diners can order what they want, and watch it come together and onto their plates.
When asked how he handles the potential diversity of requests that may come from the diners at his table he says: “If I have the ingredients, I can do it. And trust me; I have the ingredients.”
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About the author
A fifth-generation Northern Californian, Lisa Crawford Watson has enjoyed a diverse career in business, education and writing. She lives with her family on the Monterey Peninsula, where her grandmother once lived and wrote. An adjunct writing instructor for CSU Monterey Bay and Monterey Peninsula College, Lisa is also a free-lance writer, who specializes in the genres of art & architecture, health & lifestyle, food & wine. She has published various books and thousands of feature articles and columns in local and national newspapers and magazines.
