The ReTreat, the Costa Mesa sushi-bar-cum-breakfast-cum-barbecue restaurant where the irrepressible Dave Mau and rock & roll sushi master Cody Requejo worked, actually ended its run Dec. 20, 2010. But I didn't know about its demise until I tried to come back recently and found out that The Spa, the exclusive Costa Mesa pampering spot the ReTreat was attached to, folded shortly after. The Spa's website has nothing but a farewell letter.
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So I e-mailed Mau and got the whole story. He told me what happened and pointed me to his Dinners With Dave blog, on which he announced the closing in December. He wrote:
“A
great, nearly three-year run has come to an end, and we will miss all of
our valued clients. The restaurant business can be tough, but we were
fortunate enough to have a loyal following of great friends who made our
shop a joy to work in, with bustling lunches and brisk Friday night
dinners. Out of decorum, I will obviously not discuss the details;
suffice it so say we had a different cultural and business vision than
the parent company of The Spa.”
The truth is the duo saw The Spa was in dire trouble and decided to leave rather than sink with it.
Mau reports he has kept plenty busy at Memphis at the Santora while continuing to do private chefing and a food-photography gig for Disney. His Dinners With Dave, by the way, is going strong and still happens on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at Memphis.
Meanwhile, Cody Requejo, he tells me, is now at Bear Flag Fish Co., rolling out a new sushi menu for them. “He's pretty stoked about it,” Mau says.
Read more about Mau in our Best of OC Profile HERE.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.