The history of Scandinavian restaurants in Southern California is thinner than a slice of Wasa Crispbread. Once upon a time, a legendary Swedish watering hole called Scandia sat on the Sunset Strip, and the famous and the infamous showed up for aquavit cocktails and unlimited Swedish meatballs during happy hour. Then there was the Swedish fine dining restaurant Gustaf Anders, which began in San Diego, then moved to Costa Mesa, and then faded into memory. Beyond that, if you wanted an order of herring, meatballs and lingonberries, you had to go to Ikea.
Conny Andersson
Photo: courtesy of AK Restaurant
And then came chef Conny Andersson, a two decade veteran of fine dining at Four Seasons around the world, who decided it was time to bring back the cooking of the Land of the Midnight Sun, ABBA and millions of voluptuous blondes. His AK Restaurant, located on Venice's artsy, colorful Abbot Kinney Boulevard, has quickly become a white-hot ticket on one of the Westside's fastest-growing Restaurant Rows.
Merill Shindler: I grew up in a world of herring, pulled from barrels on New York's Lower East Side. I dream of pickled herring. But I've long feared that California's agricultural checkpoints don't just stop the importation of fruit – they also stop herring from crossing the border.
Conny Andersson: It's true – it's been hard to find. There was a time that Scandia was a big deal, one of the most popular restaurants in town. They served classical Scandinavian food, cooking you don't find many places anymore. And its time came to an end. The cuisine has been dormant for years. But I think it's coming back.
MS: I think one of the problems is that people think the food is leaden. It's like our relationship with German and Eastern European cooking. The pain of liposuction is too great.
CA: The food isn't heavy. It's really closer to Japanese cuisine, with so many fish, meats and vegetables that are pickled and cured. Gravlax, interesting herrings, good meats, all pickled and cured. And, yes, we have heavy food as well – we have dark winters, so you need something that sticks to the ribs. But our summer cuisine is just right for Southern California. And so is the aquavit, which is like vodka, only better.
MS: I see an order of herring on every table. It's as if you've tapped into a hidden need for fish, fat and salt.
CA: I tell you, the crowd is all about herring and gravlax. I think they're having Scandia flashbacks. People are hungry for what's new and different, even if it's actually dishes from the past coming back. My dream is to put Scandinavian food back on the culinary map.
Meatball with lingonberries
Photo: courtesy of AK Restaurant
MS: How did you wind up on Abbot Kinney of all streets? I mean, your neighbors include a pizza place that makes its pies on bagel crust and a brown-rice sushi bar.
CA: It presented itself to me and my partners. There was an empty space. It was the right size, the right location. I love Abbot Kinney – it's why we call it AK. I love the street, I love the neighborhood – it's a minimalist, functional, artistic space for minimalist, functional, artistic people.
MS: One of your commitments is to be a seasonal restaurant, built around produce from the farmer's market. You can find locally grown lingonberries?
CA: There's a farmer's market just around the corner. I walk to it when it's open. I want to be a Scandinavian restaurant built around California ingredients. Except for the herring and lingonberries. I have to bring them from the old country, especially the fat herring. Though I don't call it fat herring. I don't think the word "fat" is a popular one.
MS: After your years with the Four Seasons, with their seemingly limitless budgets and huge procurement power, you must feel naked being on your own. Isn't it scary?
CA: I was with Four Seasons for 20 years. It was time for me to go back to cooking. Really, I just wanted to get back into the kitchen, and have fun doing my cooking. And to bring Scandinavian food back. No more big corporate things for me. I'm very happy. Now, you want to taste some herring?
–Merrill Shindler