2 All in the Family Restaurants Know How to Dish Out Some Fine Food

Besieged as we are these days by chain restaurants, with their programmed and often pedestrian cooking, it is pleasant to be able to seek solace from time to time at those remaining family-run restaurants that treat their guests as respectfully as they would guests in a private home.

We are not discussing tiny Mom ‘n’ Pop cafes, which certainly have their merits, but more formal, full-service restaurants in which Papa heads the cooking crew while the rest of the family waits table and handles other chores. Relatively few such places exist; most of our better restaurants are individually owned but are staffed by employees rather than family members.

There is a certain charm to a family-run restaurant. At such places, every dish arrives scrawled with an invisible signature--Papa’s--that serves as an implied guarantee of satisfaction. When Mr. Smith, who often stops by on Friday and asks for a corner table, sends back a dish, Papa can investigate the problem and send Mr. Smith his apologies along with a new dish. A corporate vice president in charge of 25 restaurants, no matter how good his intentions, can know Mr. Smith only as a rise or fall in the monthly gross.

Among the several Papas cooking in San Diego County are Don Caulon and Jimmy Katsos. Caulon and his family run the well-respected Belgian Lion, which a year ago moved from Old Town to larger premises in Ocean Beach. Katsos and family operate Dimitri’s, a likable Greek restaurant in Solana Beach that recently expanded its menu to include dishes not commonly offered by Greek restaurants in this country.

The Belgian-born Caulon, like many chefs, holds down two jobs, but only one is at the range; during the day, he works as a systems analyst for a computer company. But it is his talents at the range--and they are considerable--which concern us here.

The Belgian Lion menu largely ignores modern trends in cooking, relying instead on the classic concept of reciprocity: sauces and meats echo one another in flavor, each reinforcing the other and ultimately combining in a natural harmony. In the choucroute alsacienne, for example, the dish develops its own sauce as it cooks; the sauerkraut and smoked meats taste of the white wine in which they spend the day simmering, and the thickened, reduced wine tastes of sauerkraut and meat. Compare this with the deliberate and often exaggerated contrast attempted by many nouvelle dishes, such as those that team a pan-fried piece of veal or fowl with a sauce of kiwis and blackberries. The effect may be startling and even delicious, but it will be contrast, not reciprocity, that will be credited for the flavor of the dish.

Caulon’s cooking is homey and rich and ever so Sunday dinner-French. Meals start with a complimentary snack, often a crisp tartlet filled with sauce bechamel and a bit of cheese, and move along to dishes smoothed with cream, herbs, and such natural flavorings as wines and liqueurs. It is easy enough to bypass the appetizers--pate, herring, snails--which can be found elsewhere, and proceed to the salads, among them a crisp mix of watercress and red cabbage moistened with virgin olive oil, and a classic pairing of slightly bitter Belgian endive with the pungent crunch of chopped walnuts.

The soups also make good starters; the choice includes a fish soup spiked with an aromatic garlic sauce (only the French would sauce a soup), and, when available, a deeply tart and seductively smooth cream of sorrel.

In the entree department, sorrel reappears in a sauce used to top poached salmon. The menu offers other fish, but it is the succulent point to which Caulon coaxes meats that makes the entree list so unusually attractive. Best of all, for those who like sweetbreads, is a tender braise of this fine meat that arrives bathed in a mild and superbly creamy mustard sauce. Caulon recently added red currants to this sauce, an entirely successful measure that supplied snap, crunch and a pleasing tartness.

The breast of chicken normande is equally succulent, and quite unlike the dry, tough chicken that seems almost standard in most restaurants. Cream, apple brandy and tender apple rings give this dish a radiant flavor. Among other dishes prepared in a similar spirit are veal chops with tarragon, roast pork in a herbed red wine sauce, confit de canard (preserved duck, oven-crisped in its own heady juices), and cassoulet, a stew of beans and many meats that is grander than it sounds.

Caulon can strike a modern attitude when he wishes, as he did recently with a steak recipe borrowed from France’s celebrated Troisgros brothers. Called dix sur dix (“ten on ten”), the thin slices of meat are sizzled in hot butter for only 10 seconds per side, and then finished with a pan gravy elaborated from the cooking juices, red wine, vinegar, shallots and tarragon.

Entrees are served in individual casseroles, from which guests may help themselves to several servings; this facilitates the happy business of sharing bites. Vegetables likewise arrive family-style, one choice per person, with a big bowl of crisply fried potatoes thrown in for good measure. The green beans stewed with garlic, creamed carrots, and turnip souffle all are good bets.

Caulon’s wife, Arlene, takes credit for the turnip souffle, which she said reflects her Swedish heritage. She and four of the five Caulon children make up the bulk of the Belgian Lion staff, an arrangement which she said has certain side benefits. “I work with my family around me,” Arlene said. “Not every working mother gets to see her children and grandchildren every day.” She added that patrons occasionally have discovered toys under their tables, which have been left by Caulon grandchildren who came to watch their elders clean the restaurant.

Work also is a family affair for Dimitri’s Jimmy Katsos, his wife Sally, and their children. After operating a number of restaurants in Washington, D.C., the Katsos moved West for what they thought would be retirement. But, Sally Katsos explained, she couldn’t keep Jimmy out of the kitchen.

Nor should she try. This chef does very well with all the staples of Greek cooking as commonly understood in this country, and lately has added several dishes that rise above the run of the moussaka-stuffed grape leaves mill.

Among these are a rack of lamb in what Katsos calls a “Greek provincial” sauce, and roast duckling with a honeyed orange walnut sauce. Interestingly, both dishes are cooked so well that neither requires a sauce, but both sauces do have their merits.

Lamb, of course, is the most quintessential of Greek meats, and Katsos roasts the baby rack (the racks usually yield seven or eight small chops) to a fine rareness that leaves the meat rosy and juicy. The sauce, a compendium of tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs and other flavorings, is very much in the lightly spicy style typical of Greek cuisine, but rather unlike any of the sauces used to decorate familiar Greek dishes. Used as an option with the lamb, it is quite enjoyable.

The duck, to put it simply, was a sheer triumph. The portion included two large legs, both roasted so beautifully that every drop of fat had disappeared in the process, all the while basting the flesh so that it remained wonderfully moist. The skin crisped to a crackling gold that rarely is seen in local restaurants, and crunched deliciously between the teeth. The sauce, like the sauce for the lamb, only was wanted with perhaps every third bite. Its list of ingredients sound as if they were lifted from a Greek pastry recipe, but in fact the flavors--the taste of orange liqueur predominated--suited both one another and the duck. A melange of dilled zucchini and carrot spears, and a choice of rice pilaf or oven roasted potatoes, accompanied both meats.

Katsos also whips up a mean taramosalata, a mousse-like creation of red caviar beaten with various flavorings that is used as a dip for wedges of hot-from-the-grill pita bread. Other appetizer choices include a cool eggplant-yogurt dip, spiced meatballs, and savory phyllo pastries with assorted fillings, but it is wise to be circumspect when ordering appetizers. Entree portions tend to be quite generous, and meals also include the choice of a garnished Greek salad or avgolemono soup. The soup, by the way, is excellent; plush with egg yolks and teasingly tart with lemon, it also tastes quite clearly of rich, old fashioned chicken stock.

THE BELGIAN LION

2265 Bacon St., San Diego

223-2700

Dinner served Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday.

Dinner for two, with a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $45 to $60.

DIMITRI’S

145 S. Highway 101, Solana Beach

259-0733

Dinner served Tuesday through Sunday; closed Monday.

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