Cathy Chaplin is a senior editor at Eater LA, a James Beard Award–nominated journalist, and the author of Food Lovers’ Guide to Los Angeles.
Chef John Vega, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa and worked in Grant Achatz’s modernist kitchen at three-Michelin-starred Alinea in Chicago, is opening Selvin’s in Thousand Oaks on Friday, June 21. The chef is keeping edible helium balloons and Anti Plates in his back pocket for now and is focusing on California coastal cooking on the ground floor of the Palm Garden Hotel. The restaurant is named after Harry Selvin, the hotel’s owner since 2012.
The slate of approachable dishes includes starters like truffle fries and corn agnolotti, along with heartier mains like pizzas and seared halibut. For those looking for a taste of molecular gastronomy, find some mango powder alongside the hamachi crudo under the raw selections and a Parmesan truffle foam served with the seared scallop risotto.
Selvin’s is located at 495 N. Ventu Park Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, and is open Monday to Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Inside Selvin’s in Thousand Oaks. John Troxell
