by Mary Colarik

One Sunday afternoon recently, this writer had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Victor Sandoval, the gregarious and engaging owner of Flights and Irons Urban Kitchen - a restaurant and bar located in a small, non-descript strip mall on the edge of San Clemente and Capo Beach.

He and his wife, Andrea have also opened two other fun and interesting businesses in the same building, Roost 374, a speakeasy, Door 6, ‘Everything but the Booze;’ a purveyor of top-of-the-line bar items, shakers, stainers, jigs, vintage and modern glasses, elixirs for mocktails, plus an array of gift wares, all marketed for professional bartenders and for those who enjoy setting up bars and entertaining at home. 

 

Victor grew up in a family of restauranteurs as did his brother, Sergio who works at the restaurant alongside Victor, cooking and bartending. Both brothers know every aspect of the restaurant business, so they can fill in as needed in the kitchen, bar or dining area.  

 Andrea has an extensive retail background. She owned a 3000 sq. ft. store in La Verne for many years during the ‘shabby chic’ era. With her keen eye for detail and retail expertise she was able to secure and curate items for the Door 6 store, and after researching several speakeasys she formulated a plan to create the amazing Roost 374 speakeasy with vintage and modern pieces. As Andrea was designing the space she spent a lot of hours hunting down and collecting antique furniture, objects, artifacts, old photographs, newspaper clippings and furniture, intermixing modern pieces to create a truly eclectic space, evoking the feeling of a 1920s-1930s Prohibition era speakeasy. 

During our delightful sit-down conversation about the three connected businesses, Sandoval told me “everybody has a story.” I chuckled a bit as I think the same - everybody does have a story. When Victor was a young boy full of energy, he climbed a tree one day and knocked a bird’s nest to the ground. There was a little crow that tumbled down with the nest. Victor’s mom told her young son, “you have ruined the little crow’s home, so now you need to provide a home for him, put him a shoebox and take him to your room.” Young Victor did as he was told and learned how to take care of the crow, who he named Marvin. The question is … who took care of who?  The two learned life lessons from each other. Marvin taught Victor about responsibility and discipline while Victor learned much about communication and caring for another. The crow remained with Victor all the way through his high school years. 

 

Fast forward to a 10-year period when Victor and Andrea were living in South San Clemente. Victor often rode his bike to Dana Point along the beach and up the hill through the Capo Beach neighborhoods. One day he noticed a building for lease on Camino Estrella. He felt a pull and he had a strong sense that the empty spot wanted to be a restaurant again. However, Andrea did not feel the same and it took a bit of coaxing and convincing by Victor to get her on board with the concept of opening a restaurant in that space. 

Sandoval had been working in the corporate restaurant world for a long time and was ready to open his own place. Although of Mexican descent, the Sandoval brothers were trained in the Italian and French culinary art of cooking. Victor envisioned an intimate and welcoming neighborhood restaurant with a bar that would serve food from an all-scratch kitchen, including all the sauces and dressings. His vision became a reality October 3, 2018. 

Only fresh foods locally sourced with 95 percent of the food being prepared in iron skillets and finished in a wood-fired oven would be served, and although they now have a full liquor license when they opened six years ago, they only had a beer and wine license. Thus, Flights (four wine and two beer flights) and Irons (Iron Skillet meals) Urban Kitchen was born. 

The eatery’s décor features a prominent crow motif as a tribute to Victor’s former pet crow, Marvin. The family run restaurant which also includes aunt Deb and uncle Greg who are partners of the entity, all enjoy celebrating Halloween, Fall and Christmas. They have fun adding decorations to the crows, infusing the interior rooms with a holiday spirit from October until the end of the year. 

The menu has evolved over the last several years with a variety of small irons, soups and greens, big irons and fire logs, plus desserts. Sandoval feels strongly that cooking equals timing, knowledge and execution. According to Victor, chefs and bartenders are ‘entertainers and creators.’  

During my and my companion’s dining experience, we first entered Roost 374, the speakeasy. We followed the signs from the front of the building around to the back of the building where there is a light over a sign with the rules for entry next to a plain door with a tiny, barred peephole. Rules include no shorts, flip-flops or baseball caps, and phones must be turned off and are not to be used once inside. After buzzing a button to announce our arrival somebody asks us what our business is? My friend answers, “spirits.” We are quickly ushered into a small press room that serves as a sort of foyer before entering the rather large speakeasy - complete with a long bar, and several cozy seating areas. My companion sipped on a delicious mocktail, while I slowly drank a tasty Paloma. The atmosphere there lends itself to quiet conversation with background music from the bygone era. Roost 374 offers memberships, a live jazz night once per month, (reservations required), and one time per month they also provide tableside magic entertainment and private tastings. 

 

After drinks, we slipped out a different door and right into the restaurant. We began our meal with two of the recommended Small Irons - Angus Bourbon Bacon Meatballs, with maple and brown sugar lardon smothered in a bourbon BBQ sauce. We also shared the Flying South appetizer, fried green tomatoes with burrata, cured red onion chipotle aioli topped with micro cilantro. There are several other small irons offerings as well. For our entrees my friend ordered the F&I Pork Chop, double cut pork chop with applesauce, harvest mix vegetables with a bourbon maple sauce. I ordered the Cast Iron Grilled Salmon served with mashed potatoes, grilled baby bok choy and roasted golden beets. Both Big Irons were scrumptious. My friend, remarked about his choice, “my pork chop was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time, the harvest hash served with it was cooked to perfection and delicious.” 

The menu is extensive with many choices for all, no matter one’s palate. Flight and Irons top seller is the Fried Bologna Sandwich which Victor resisted, although Andrea insisted on having it on the menu. Known as DD’s Bologna Sandwich, it’s cast iron fried, classic bologna, champagne mustard, house pickle, red eye mayo, cured red onions, on toasted panini bread - it sells out regularly so it’s now a menu staple. Other sandwiches available include: a portobella vegetarian burger, iron cooked hamburger served on brioche, classic chicken sandwich and a short rib grilled cheese sandwich.