JiRaffe Restaurant

Featured Recipe: Filet of Beef, Yukon Potato and Pear Gratin, Red Flame Grapes, Sauteed Swiss Chard, Julienned Hearts of Palm, and a Madeira Reduction

Fueled by a passion for high-quality ingredients, fine technique, and the seaside lifestyle, JiRaffe offers market-directed rustic California/French food with seasonally inspired classic cocktails in a casually chic environment. JiRaffe was born in 1996 and continues to gain attention and praise from food critics, local diners, and food and wine lovers from around the world. The restaurant sits at the corner of Fifth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard in downtown Santa Monica in a bright, bi-level loft space with soaring ceilings, walls of windows, dark woods, and crystal chandeliers that meld into the feel of a neighborhood bistro. Comfort, good food, and attention to service can all be found at JiRaffe.

JiRaffe Restaurant

502 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.917.6671 – phone | 310.917.6677 – fax

Facebook
Twitter

About the Chef:

Chef Raphael Lunetta

Chef/Owner Raphael Lunetta directs the kitchen nightly. He is a true local, growing up in the Santa Monica and Venice area and attending Santa Monica’s Washington Elementary School and then Santa Monica High. He also grew up visiting the South of France with his family where they ate fresh, simply prepared foods that anchored his love of creating well-prepared food for family and friends. His rustic American/ French cuisine, noted for its simplicity and clarity of flavors, is prepared with the best regional products, plus “a little love from the kitchen.”

Chef Raphael is known for his culinary talents and equally as an active sportsman. He earned the title “The Surfing Chef” when he first opened JiRaffe, and it is more than a title. Raphael’s passion for food is matched only by his passion of the water. He finds the balance of the body helps with the balance of managing an active and successful kitchen. Yet, he still loves good food and is known to splurge. When eating out he often orders everything on the menu to create great tasting experiences. These passions have taken him traveling around the world, bringing back many experiences to JiRaffe and Santa Monica.

Cooks&Books&Recipes Editors {Dee}, on JiRaffe Restaurant:

I had the pleasure of meeting JiRaffe Restaurant’s owner and chef, Raphael Lunetta, at a recent Buick Discovery Tour, presented by Buick and Food & Wine magazine. (If you ever have a chance to attend this event, jump on it!) He was refreshingly approachable and engaging, and he made us all feel that we could make his dishes as easily as he does. That’s never going to be true for me, but luckily I can experience the product of his labor at JiRaffe. For the next two weeks (July 15-26, 2013), the restaurant will be featuring dineLA lunch and dinner specials. My goal for the summer? To try one of the three-course Bistro Monday prix-fixe menus. Because experiencing good food should be an ongoing goal in life, don’t you think?