by Lisa McKinnon
Ventura County Star

At Watermark in downtown Ventura, the sign over the restaurant's vintage bronze doors juts out over the sidewalk like a theater marquee.

How appropriate, then, that the painstakingly remodeled, 1920s-something building will serve as the backdrop Saturday for not one but two sneak previews.

The first will bring Oscar-winning actor — and former Buena High School student — Kevin Costner to town for the hometown premiere of his new movie, "Swing Vote," at the Century Theater across the street. Tickets are $500 each for the afternoon event, presented as a fundraiser for area charities.

But the second preview is more of a first-come, first-served affair, with free food.

From 7 p.m., Watermark and its third-floor lounge, W2O, will be open for tours designed to show off the embossed bits of copper set in the travertine floors, the plaster ceiling painted to look like wood, the lit-from-within gold onyx bar and the Norman Kennedy murals that owner Mark Hartley is turning into labels for bottles of the house wine.

Watermark isn't expected to make its official debut until next month. But executive chef Greg Kurtz plans to give everyone a taste of things to come via appetizers that will be served during both events.

"We're doing locally inspired cuisine," said Kurtz, reeling off the names of Ventura County farms and farmers already on his list of suppliers. Seafood will come from the waters off the Channel Islands and meats from what he described as a "self-sustainable farm" outside of Santa Maria.

"Basically, the cows are at a country club," Kurtz added with a laugh. "They're relaxed, they're open-range, they get fed corn and grass every day."

Like Costner, 53, Kurtz, 29, is a local boy made good. He played football and baseball at St. Bonaventure High School before graduating in 1997 and moving on to the International Culinary School at the Art Institute in Santa Monica. He worked at the Water Grill in Los Angeles and did some entertainment industry catering before returning to Ventura two years ago to head the kitchen at Westside Cellars.

Kurtz's Saturday night menu of free tastes offered by servers wandering through the restaurant with trays of hors d'oeuvres will be only slightly downsized from the appetizers featured earlier in the day. That's when Costner and company will step into a tent erected on Chestnut Street, just outside the kitchen door. There they'll find raspberry tarts, Kobe beef sliders, and a towering ice sculpture laden with clams, oysters and Santa Barbara spot prawns.

"We're treating everybody like the president in this restaurant, so everybody's going to eat the same thing," Kurtz said with another laugh. "So we'll have a thousand Kevin Costners instead of just one for the day."

View article on VenturaCountyStar.com: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jul/23/ld1fcappetizer23/