Restaurant Operator Proves That It Pays to Be Persevering

The comforting truth about childhood adages is that they always can be whistled to the rescue, even by such notoriously penny-wise but pound-foolish folk as restaurateurs.

One local restaurant company has so profited from the saying, “When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” that it ought to emblazon these words over the entrance to each of its establishments.

Culinary Concepts Inc., which operates Seaport Village’s Harbor House, Papagayo and San Diego Pier Co. and Leucadia’s new Harbor House Seafood Broiler, has learned that when one concept fails, there is no need to abandon ship; this company merely develops a second idea and takes it for a spin.

The decidedly popular Papagayo makes a good case in point. After gasping through several incarnations as a second-rate Mexican restaurant (under different management), this place finally achieved the success that its Seaport Village location would have seemed to assure it when Culinary Concepts restructured it into a Mexican-Latin American seafood eatery. This was a simple enough trick, and one that worked.

In the case of Leucadia’s Harbor House Seafood Broiler, Culinary Concepts had to step in and correct its own mistakes. Formerly known as Horizon, this place was the firm’s first local step toward culinary greatness, but a step that foundered on the treacherously unsound footing offered by the North County restaurant landscape. Horizon was ambitious in its menu and mood, but the California- nouvelle style of cooking and the up-scale, dressy atmosphere never captured popular attention.

Thus Horizon was refashioned into a North County version of San Diego’s very successful Harbor House. The new Harbor House Seafood Broiler takes a cue from its downtown cousin by offering a menu that features a handsome array of fresh fish, but it takes its own path by charging prices that are surprisingly moderate, especially when the overall comfort level of the place is taken into consideration. It could rate high praise indeed were it to upgrade the quality of its service.

This restaurant offers its patrons two complementary menus, one a standing list that mentions appetizers and an impressive number of shellfish preparations, the other a placard that describes the various fresh fish available on that particular day. The fresh list is--to a point--by far the more attractive, since it offers such a fine choice of fish. One recent card included sculpin, king salmon (the choicest of all the varieties of this noble fish), black sea bass, swordfish, yellowfin and monkfish. But the standing menu has points in its favor, too, among them several clever shrimp dishes.

The kitchen apparently has its own motto, one that decrees that anything capable of being cooked on the mesquite grill will be grilled. This is an agreeable situation, since the virtuoso who works this grill plays it as if it were a finely tuned keyboard. To describe one of this restaurant’s mesquite-crisped fish is to describe them all, in a way, because the process seems to produce such uniform results.

In the course of two recent visits, grilled halibut, king salmon and sculpin were sampled. Each was superb, with a lovely, slightly charred exterior (such a finish might surprise some fish fans, but the crispness added much to the overall savor) that concealed exceptionally moist and flavorful flesh. The quality of the cooking was so uniform, in fact, that the only differences from dish to dish arose in the individual flavors of the three fish sampled. The sculpin was sweet and mild, and at its best when drizzled with a few drops of fresh lemon juice. The halibut offered a fuller, more assertive flavor, while the king salmon was commanding and rich, and almost meat-like in its succulence. Small red potatoes, boiled in their jackets, and a melange of julienned vegetables garnished each plate.

Although the kitchen represses any fanciful urges it may have when dealing with fin fish, it theoretically indulges in a certain amount of pomp and circumstance when shellfish are at hand. At least the menu occasionally suggests grandeur, as in the case of the shrimp that are first stuffed with a forcemeat of scallops and crab, then wrapped in bacon and set to sizzle on the grill. As a final and elegant fillip, the menu says that these beauties are served with beurre blanc, the French “white butter” sauce that is a delicate variant upon the heavier sauce known as hollandaise.

This dish indeed was lovely, the shrimp firm but moist (and tasty) because of the bacon wrappers; the mild stuffing also added succulence. But the tiny pot of sauce served on the side certainly didn’t look like beurre blanc, even though the server said it was exactly that. It was, as the taste buds screamed at first acquaintance, a remoulade (not a bad one, for that matter), a cold, oil-based emulsion sparked with a great deal of mustard. The waitress, dispatched to the kitchen for an explanation, returned with the information that the beurre blanc already was on the plate, making this an interesting sauce indeed, since it was the first in recent history to be both invisible and disembodied. The shrimp were in any case good, making the sauce question somewhat moot, but who was the kitchen trying to kid?

The guest who desires a dish that is somewhat creamy might order the “scampi,” in this case a dish of plain but delicious broiled shrimp sided with homemade fettucine in a basil and garlic-flavored cream sauce. Other choices include the mixed shellfish Newburg and the scallops in mushroom-cream sauce.

Fat loaves of sourdough bread make an early appearance on the table, but all first courses are strictly a la carte. The house salad ($1.75) is acceptable, if nothing more, but the chowder is excellent, as likeable for the corn kernels and flecks of other vegetables that color this creamy concoction as for the plump clams that lend it substance. Shellfish cocktails, some dressed with a good, spicy red sauce, complete the selection of first course options.

Although much of the service is provided by waitresses (some more accomplished than others), the plates are brought and removed by a corps of young men known as expediters. They need to be trained in certain basics, such as clearing plates only when everyone at the table has finished. In the zeal to snatch up any plate that may happen to be empty, they both make too many interruptions and make slower eaters feel rushed. Waitresses, similarly, need to be trained that patrons cannot be assumed to be in a hurry. One repeatedly demanded to know if she could bring coffee, despite the fact that she already had been informed that that decision would be made after the guests had finished their wine. This was most irritating.

A number of shellfish entrees cost under $8, as do several of the fresh fish selections, although these necessarily vary in price with the demands of the market.

Harbor House Seafood Broiler. 1950 N. Highway 101, Leucadia. Reservations suggested, 574-6495. Dinner served nightly, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. weekdays; until 11 p.m. weekends. Dinner for two including a glass of house wine each, tax and tip: $25-$40. Credit cards accepted.