Good Food Helps 2 Little Restaurants Grow

It always is pleasant to watch small, individually owned restaurants grow and prosper, especially because they seem to be the most vulnerable to the restaurant industry’s alarming mortality rate.

Two of the better such eateries in North County that have made it through the traditional danger period--the first 12 months in operation--are Encinitas’ La Bonne Bouffe and Leucadia’s When in Rome. Each deserves the success it has found, because each puts out a quality product at a reasonable price. The cooking is emphasized at both these restaurants, but both also offer comfortable environments and competent service.

La Bonne Bouffe translates as “the good feast,” a comment that can be made fairly about the meals served at this attractive, storefront restaurant. The cooking, like the decor, honors the French provinces and mostly emphasizes hearty dishes of a simple but savory nature. It seems natural that boeuf bourguignon, the classic casserole of beef oven-braised in red wine, should be on the menu; among other dishes that slip comfortably into this restaurant’s mood are the appetizer plates of charcuterie and crudites.

A standing menu, as such, does not exist, although many offerings repeat from day to day. The menu instead is presented at the table on a series of blackboards, and these must be read carefully because the dishes listed in the smallest print can be the most interesting. Also carefully read the blackboard outside the restaurant that lists the day’s specials, because the waiter of one visit recited an entirely different selection of specials than those posted outside. He said any of them could be made, however, and cheerfully kept his promise.

Included among that visit’s offerings were genuine Dover sole, done simply in the meuniere manner, which suits it best. At $18.50, this was the most expensive, but, then, the genuine article is costly. Other entree choices include rack of lamb finished with either garlic and herbs, or mustard sauce; chicken breast with mushrooms and tarragon; large shrimp, baked individually in pastry casings and finished with a dilled cream sauce; filet mignon coated with two kinds of cracked peppercorns, and duck flavored with green peppercorns. Every other Tuesday, La Bonne Bouffe features fondu bourguignon, or chunks of steak cooked at the table in hot oil; these nights apparently enjoy a good bit of popularity, and reservations are suggested.

The meal began with the day’s special appetizer, a half-dozen first-class oysters served on the half-shell. The bivalves should have been pleased by the unusual treatment accorded them (but one never knows with oysters); each was topped with a fine, imaginative sauce elaborated from beaten sour cream blended with raspberry vinegar and minced shallots. The pungent, faintly sweet-sour flavor of the sauce gave a lovely lift to the oysters, and even those who insist that nothing more than lemon should be employed as seasoning might be seduced by this sauce.

A plate of crudites was selected as an alternative to salad. This sampler of six chilled, marinated vegetables is one of La Bonne Bouffe’s best bets. Each vegetable gets its own treatment and one most in keeping with its own nature. Thus both tomatoes and tender, braised leeks are presented soaked in a mustardy vinaigrette, while shredded red cabbage reposes in red wine vinegar, shredded carrots swim in a lemon dressing, beets bathe in oil and vinegar, and cucumbers luxuriate in sour cream. (A party of three or more might like to pair an order of crudites with a plate of charcuterie, which the kitchen also presents well; this selection of cold meats includes pate, a spicy pork paste called rillettes, French sausages and cured ham.)

The two entrees selected for that meal provided a splendid contrast in cooking styles and said much about the kitchen’s versatility. The first, duck compagnard (“peasant style”), was a very pleasant change from the usual sweet, fruit-sauced fowl. Roasted to a juicy turn, the impressively sized mound of meat was buried beneath a robust, unsophisticated and quite delicious sauce of tomatoes, black olives and garlic--much garlic, actually, as befits a dish christened compagnard. A tiny pastry duck roosted atop the serving, a whimsical culinary gesture very typical of a kitchen run by a Frenchman, as La Bonne Bouffe’s happens to be.

The second entree, thick slices of sauteed veal tenderloin served in the normand style, quickly transported the meal from the country to the city. An elegant, traditional preparation, the dish depended particularly upon technique for its success. The veal, browned in butter, was treated to a flambe in cognac; cream was then added to the pan and allowed to reduce to sauce consistency, and sliced mushrooms were tossed in for flavor and luxury. A variety of fresh vegetables, cooked simply in butter, garnished both entrees.

The desserts follow the general theme of the menu and are old-fashioned, uncomplicated and good. A baked custard arrives afloat in caramel sauce, and bittersweet chocolate melted in cream enriches a combination of chocolate meringues and French vanilla ice cream.

When in Rome must be doing something right, because it has more than doubled its size and was packed to the rafters on a recent Tuesday, the night that many restaurateurs term the worst of the week.

The menu has not changed at all since the place opened a year ago, but, then, it was a pretty good menu to begin with. A few daily specials now are offered; none of those suggested recently seemed any more interesting than the menu’s regular listings.

When in Rome is run by a Roman family, and it pushes la cucina italiana as interpreted on the banks of the Tiber. As she passed around the menus, the hostess said, “Be sure to try the pasta, it is the best outside Italy.” She overstated the case considerably, but the pastas certainly do pass the test of quality, and some true Roman specialties are numbered among them. The menu considerately offers pasta in both appetizer and entree-sized portions. Also quite Roman are the veal and chicken sautes finished with sweet Marsala wine or lemon juice, and several other regional specialties have merit, too.

Melanzane Parmigiana is offered as a side dish, but it makes a most successful appetizer as well. Considerably lighter and more delicate than the norm, it consists of thin, unbreaded slices of sauteed eggplant, layered with mozzarella cheese and a fresh tomato sauce brightened with leaves of just-off-the-plant basil.

Meals include a simple green salad dressed, as the waiter warned, in the severe Roman style, which allows only oil, lemon juice or vinegar, and a touch of salt. But it is hard to imagine a better combination, especially when, as in this case, the lettuce was the freshest and most tender available.

A trio of pastas was offered as a special entree, which was somewhat surprising, since the approach seemed more American than Italian. But it also was difficult to refuse, because When in Rome does know its noodles. Two of the three made the grade; the third, a lasagne, was disappointing, largely because it contained a selection of ingredients rather different from those the waiter had mentioned. But the spinach-and-ricotta filled ravioli in rich becciamella sauce were superb, and the penne in an Abruzzese blending of hot peppers, tomatoes, garlic and cured belly bacon made an impressively spicy statement.

The dinner also included veal pizzaiola (usually beef gets the pizzaiola treatment), or pan-fried meat finished with a hearty, quickly cooked sauce of tomatoes, basil and plenty of garlic, the garlic sizzled in oil until it grew pungent and wildly aromatic.

The dessert, a Roman classic called Tirami Su, was a fine dish of self-indulgence that combined a rich, Marsala-soaked cake with mascarpone cheese that had been whipped into a froth and flavored to imitate Italy’s famous zabaglione sauce.

LA BONNE BOUFFE

471 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas

436-3081

Dinner served Tuesday through Saturday.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a moderate bottle of wine, tax and tip, $45 to $80.

WHEN IN ROME

828 N. Highway 101, Leucadia

944-1771

Dinner served Tuesday through Sunday.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a moderate bottle of wine, tax and tip, $35 to $55.