New Anthony’s La Jolla Stays on Beaten Track Despite Location

Anthony’s, San Diego’s very own seafood restaurant chain, is back in La Jolla. Well, sort of.

You or I might say that the new Anthony’s La Jolla, which replaces the Prospect Street location that closed several years back to make way for an office building, is in the Golden Triangle. The U.S. Postal Service, however, declares the restaurant to be in the 92037 ZIP Code, and that means La Jolla, even if Anthony’s La Jolla Village Drive address is well to the east of Interstate 5.

So what’s in a name, anyway? Plenty, when the name is Anthony’s.

There is a guarantee implied by this name, one that is synonymous with value and quality. Even though Anthony’s may have its pedestrian moments (and it has several), this chain almost always delivers a good meal for the money. In fact, it usually does better than that, putting out a very fine product at a much lower price than any number of its more pretentious competitors, several of whom are within a stone’s throw of the Golden Triangle location.

The new place cost about $2.5 million to install in rented quarters, an astronomical sum compared to what it cost to open a restaurant just a few years ago, but by no means out of line in 1986. This figure supplied fixtures and furnishings for a dining room that seats 200 patrons; a spacious bar, and a fishette, this last a no-frills room specializing in quick service.

All this money also went to pay for a decor that evidently is supposed to look as if it is under water, but instead looks under duress. The copper-backed “water wall” in the bar is rather nice, but for some reason, immense pillars capped with upside-down pyramids parade through the dining room, making the guests feel somewhat claustrophobic.

But at Anthony’s, the food and prices are the key issues, and for proof of the chain’s popularity, one need look no further than the waiting crowds. This particular Anthony’s accepts a limited number of reservations each evening (wisely encouraging a walk-in trade), and these are reservations with a twist. They merely guarantee priority seating. Guests should not expect a table to be waiting when they arrive.

Anthony’s menu always comes as something of a shock. Its three pages brim with attractive suggestions, most of them at prices that seem impossibly low; the pricing is made possible to a large degree by the fact that Anthony’s size allows it to do its own importing, and to clean and portion the fish at a central commissary. Soups, sauces and various other items also are prepared at the commissary.

The heart of the menu is the list of specials that changes daily to reflect the dozen or so fish the restaurant wishes to feature. Anthony’s is one of the best places in town to find such truly local fish as yellowtail, corvina and swordfish, but these three are only the peak of a list that includes rex sole, sand dabs, Pacific red snapper, halibut, salmon and shark.

Most of these selections are cooked according to Anthony’s own “grill-broiled” method, in which the fish is rubbed with crumbs and then simultaneously grilled from below and broiled from above. A menu note states that the process “ensures a truly moist fish,” and experience has proven that this is generally true, although a rather dry serving of corvina at this newest Anthony’s contradicted the assertion.

The natures of several fish require different sorts of treatment, such as char-broiling and simple grilling, and the kitchen seems to have mastered these techniques. A char-broiled swordfish steak came off beautifully, thoroughly cooked but still quite juicy, a set of circumstances that can be difficult to achieve with swordfish. The basil-flavored beurre blanc sauce that accompanied it seemed a little silly and pretentious for Anthony’s, which never has had much use--or much talent--for French complications. (Also out of character was the “Cajun-style” redfish filet, a ridiculous but ubiquitous dish that the restaurant must have included just so it could be part of the gang.)

Among other entrees, the crab casserole was a tasty if fairly plebeian dish of crab creamed with a thick, all-purpose white sauce and topped with a square of unmelted Cheddar cheese. The “shell fries,” a platter of various shellfish fried in deep fat, offered good selection and were excellently finished; the scallops bordelaise featured truly delicate bay scallops in a simple but flavorful sauce of butter, garlic and sherry.

Meals include the choice of a simple salad or one of two clam chowders. Anthony’s makes a fine New England chowder, the consistency perhaps a touch thick, but the flavor clean and appealing. It fudges with the Manhattan style chowder, however, which in its classic form is an entirely different sort of soup, but here is simply the white chowder enriched with strained tomatoes. It’s not actually bad, but neither is it particularly good.

Anthony’s starters are fairly typical, the cold choices consisting largely of shellfish cocktails, of which several were tried and all were found wanting. A mixed plate of shredded crab, bay shrimp and lobster simply was not very interesting, except for the nice rounds of lobster.

The “cracked” dungeness crab needed to be returned to the kitchen for a second going-over by someone who knew how to wield a mallet; it was nearly impossible to eat. Both dishes were accompanied by Anthony’s own cocktail sauce, a spiced ketchup recipe that this writer never, ever will like, but that Anthony’s surely never, ever will change.

Oysters on the half shell were quite nice, however, and a bucket of steamed clams yielded up a wealth of sweet, juicy bivalves cooked to the point of perfect tenderness.

A fair number of desserts are offered, but most are fairly uninteresting. The major exception here would be the hot fudge sundaes, generously sized indulgences in which the kitchen declines to go easy on the ice cream, the hot fudge or the whipped cream. These are, of course, quite simple, but that is only in keeping with Anthony’s basic theme.

ANTHONY’S LA JOLLA

4120 La Jolla Village Drive

Reservations suggested, 457-5008

Meals served daily, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.

Dinner for two, with a moderate bottle of wine, tax and tip, about $30 to $60.