Taste Dining Out By Victoria Woodard Harvey Photographs by Gary Moss
New Digs for Decker Kitchen THE WESTLAKE VILLAGE FOODIE HAVEN MAKES AN EXPANSIVE MOVE.
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raham Harris spent years admiring bread and bakers’ crafting of it while living in the Bay Area, so it felt like the thing to do—in his home kitchen—when he relocated to his native Conejo Valley back in 2018. “I don’t know if I’d be in restaurants if I hadn’t spent six months making bread,” says Harris, owner of Decker Kitchen (deckerkitchen.com), the cozy restaurant he opened in Westlake Village in late 2018 that has garnered wide acclaim for its breads. Fast-forward to last month and the eagerly awaited move of Decker Kitchen to its new location (a mile or so from the original), where Harris intends to continue showcasing his fresh, rustic loaves. With six times the space, this restaurant not only represents an expansion of the concept he began a few years ago, but also allows for more diners, more dishes, and under the auspices of savvy and fun-loving Harris, more growth of his epicurean philosophies. “Good product is at the core of all I do,” says Harris. “I focus on the environment, and [the new location] allows us to play and do what I like to do.” The restaurant’s latest home features nice touches like numerous skylights and solid travertine flooring throughout. In the kitchen, the walk-in cooler is about the size of the previous location’s indoor dining area. Equipment (sourced despite supply chain issues) includes a vintage smoker for creating charcuterie
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A Decker Kitchen cheese and charcuterie platter (above, left) showcases house-smoked sausage. Lush greenery borders a row of tables on the patio (above) at the restaurant’s new site.
sausage, smoked salmon, and the house ribs; a rotisserie for cooking game birds, leg of lamb, and Harris’s signature porchetta pork roast; and, naturally, a designated bread oven to ramp up production of the loaves central to the Decker food menu. Diners can choose to sit at the long, butcher block bar with brass pineapple lamps and built-in wine and beer taps or at one of the generously spaced indoor tables or cozy nooks by large picture windows. A fireside lounge is set with slingback chairs and portable poufs. At the center of all this is a raised stage on which musician friends and family will play. “No cover bands,” says Harris, whose father was a member of The Flying Burrito Brothers country rock band in
