Tijuana Eatery Comes North With Style and Superbly Varied Menu

Chile en nogada is a dish that looks as if it were created for Santa Claus, but tastes as if it were designed for someone from a vastly hotter region.

This strange, exotic and absolutely delightful specialty could be said to be nothing more that an ultra-deluxe version of the familiar chile relleno, although this is rather like suggesting that the Queen Mary is just a fancy boat. “Chile en nogada” translates as “chile pepper in nut sauce,” a neat summation that leaves out the fact that this large, tantalizingly hot chile is stuffed with a brilliant mincemeat of beef, fruit and nuts before being dipped in egg batter and fried to a lovely crispness. The finished product, set pristinely in the center of a large plate, doused with a sauce compounded from cream and ground nuts, and sprinkled with chopped cherries and parsley (giving it the Christmasy effect), offers a combination of hot, sweet and savory flavors that is nothing short of sensational.

Anyone whose sole acquaintance with Mexican cuisine consists of the polyester burritos, enchiladas and chimichangas that are so undeservedly popular on this side of the border might, upon taking his first bite of a chile en nogada, presume it to be Mexico’s one great leap toward culinary immortality. But a meal or two at Chula Vista’s new La Fonda Roberto’s, a most welcome addition to this county’s restaurant corps, should convince any skeptic that the Mexican kitchen actually is possesed of a subtle, sophisticated skill that is well worth exploring.

La Fonda Roberto’s can claim a distinction that extends beyond the quality of its cuisine, because it is an offshoot of a very successful Tijuana restaurant of the same name. This may be the first time that a Tijuana eatery has crossed the border in search of clients who are unwilling to make the trip south.

This restaurant has brought more than its recipes to Chula Vista. The waiters serve with the same thoughtfulness and style emphasized by their counterparts in the better Tijuana dining rooms. One waiter, for example, uncorked a humble bottle of red wine well in advance of the time it was required, so that it might “breathe,” and another composed a Caesar salad at table so cheerfully that it was easy to tell that he found the work a pleasure, not a chore.

The dining room itself looks as if it were transported from Mexico, perhaps specifically from the proprietor’s birthplace in the state of Puebla. It is comfortable rather than elegant, its too-bright lights ameliorated by such pleasantries as the handsomely patterned linens and the murals of Mexican village life.

The meal sometimes begins with a complimentary plate of tiny appetizers (such as miniature tortillas folded around a spicy meat filling), although this lagniappe may appear later on; there seems to be no hard and fast rule here. Crackers and two excellent salsas also make an early appearance, but these should be taken in moderation so as to leave room for the more important courses that follow.

The crepas de cuitlacoche make a superb first course, as do the similar crepas de flor de calabaza. In both cases, a wonderfully delicate cream sauce dresses the stuffed pancake, the first of which is filled with a mushroom-like fungus that grows on ears of corn. Cuitlacoche, as the fungus is called, somewhat resembles the Chinese “tree ear,” and could (with some exaggeration) be called the “truffle of the poor,” thanks to its nutty, meaty, savory flavor. Crisp kernels of corn garnish the cuitlacoche, perhaps as much to emphasize the relationship between the fungus and its host plant as to lend a complementary texture. The crepas de flor de calabaza are filled with squash-flower blossoms, whose crisp texture and mild, unusual flavor make them popular in traditional Mexican cooking (as they are in Provencal cooking).

Dinners include the choice of soup or salad, and the wise diner will choose any of the full-bodied, perfectly seasoned soups over the dull salad of iceberg lettuce crowned with canned peas and green beans.

No one who craves a salad need leave La Fonda Roberto’s disappointed, however, because it offers such pleasures as a well-made Caesar (Romaine tossed with cheese, oil, lemon and seasonings) and a classic Mexican salad of young nopalitos (cactus) mixed with onions, radishes and cilantro.

The entree list takes vegetarians into account (rare for a Mexican eatery), with a variety of tortas, or battered and fried vegetable patties finished with a light, tasty, fresh tomato sauce. The choice includes broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and huazontle, a spiky green vegetable native to Puebla.

The meat entrees sparkle with flavor. La Fonda Roberto’s not only understands how to cook a piece of beef or chicken until it has achieved a meltingly succulent texture, but how to season and sauce it so that the flavors are perfectly pronounced. The puntas de filete al chipotle, for example, is a perfect marriage of tender beef and well-blended seasoning; cubes of braised beef sirloin are slowly simmered in a chile-fired sauce of such suavity and breadth of spicing that the resulting dish seems not unlike the better sort of curry.

The meat’s natural flavors conversely are highlighted in the mixiote de carnero, in which relatively unspiced lamb is wrapped in foil and slowly cooked until the juices have percolated through the flesh.

The menu features the classic mole poblano, or chicken stewed in a sauce of ground mixed chiles scented with a touch of chocolate. But the pepian verde, in which the bird is finished with an equally satisfying sauce of serrano chiles, crushed pumpkin seeds and tomatillos, makes a very pleasant change of pace. Also enjoyable are the lengua in pepian rojo-- beef tongue cooked in a sauce that, except for the exclusion of the tomatillos, resembles that used with the chicken.

The portions are modest but sufficient, because the true Mexican sense of the appropriate precludes the preposterous portions usually encountered in local Mexican eateries. A basket of fresh, hot tortillas accompanies the entree, which may have elegantly small servings of good rice and beans on the side.

The dessert list includes the traditional flan, but goes this sweet custard several measures better by extending to a delicious coconut custard and a creamy, cinnamon-scented rice pudding. Also quite pleasing, and not at all as fearful as it sounds, is the flan de cajeta, in which rich goat’s milk is finished with a light caramel glaze.

La Fonda Roberto’s 300 3rd Ave., Chula Vista. 585-3017 Open for lunch and dinner, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sundays. Dinner for two, with a glass of house wine each, tax and tip, $20 to $40.