FULLERTON’S PANACHE FINALLY PASSES THE BAR

I was stretching a point 2 1/2 years ago when I reviewed Panache. Basically it was your quintessential white-tiled upper-line superdeli: exotic sausages, quaint shelf goods, imported cooking utensils, a bakery and a bunch of bars. An espresso bar, a wine-and-mineral water bar, a bagel bar, even what I guess you’d call an ice cream bar and a chocolate bar.

It was not, truth be told, a restaurant. Oh, you could eat there. You could get salads and sandwiches and even hot dishes at the deli counter--mostly pizzas and heated versions of the takeout entrees, like barbecued ribs, veal dishes or chicken in puff pastry.

They provided forks and even some tables, either in the store or out in a rather breezy breezeway. But apart from the delicious informality of sitting around in public, eating takeout food and drinking primo wine by the glass, there really wasn’t much reason to eat on the premises rather than taking the stuff home.

Now, somewhat to my surprise, Panache has actually become a restaurant. Or rather grown to house one. It’s still an upper-line superdeli with all the trimmings, but the shelf-goods space seems to have been squeezed a little to make room for an area permanently dedicated to dining between the espresso bar and the wine bar. This little preserve full of tables, spotted with giant patio umbrellas to give it some intimacy, is called Chez Panache, and it even takes reservations these days.

Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but there seems to be something of the deli environment about the food, a sort of etherealized delicatessen quality. The food tends to be hearty little treats. The things that you would expect to be little treats, like the appetizers, are generally quite successful. I’m thinking particularly of the cole slaw, somewhat misleadingly described in the menu as flavored with red peppers, although it is actually a crunchy red cabbage coleslaw full of caraway, onions and fresh dill. It’s the kind of thing I would order by the quart for a picnic.

Likewise, the salmon mousse, a soft, mayonnaisey mousse flavored with basil and wrapped up sushi-roll style in black pasta, has a delicatessen aura to it. Sometimes on special there’s homemade boar sausage, which tastes just like particularly good hot pork sausage in a fresh tomato sauce (here they don’t warn you of a red pepper dosage). The rather plain fried calamari (breaded strips of calamari steak, none of the little tentacles and stuff) comes with an aioli sauce that I’d bet was made from scratch.

The one appetizer item that didn’t fit this deli mold was a remarkably delicate salad on special one day: a light fantasia of lamb’s lettuce, jicama, sweet onions, corn kernels and radish strips in a dainty lemony dressing. Here we were in California Cuisine country.

Individual-size pizzas are listed as appetizers, and they are pretty good ones, with bready dough and daily-changing toppings. I’ve had one with prosciutto and pepperoni with mild pickled peppers. There are several pastas on board in the entree category about which I’m of more mixed feelings. The fettuccine with clams comes in a rather meaty fresh tomato sauce, but it’s a little salty. The fettuccine with chicken, artichoke hearts and mushrooms in cream sauce is strictly for lovers of the rich and mild.

The meat-based entrees can be a little more wobbly. The meat itself is always very good; it’s what accompanies it that worries me sometimes. For instance, the New York steak with black beans has excellent taste and texture, but there are an awful lot of those beans, and despite the garlic they’ve been dosed with, they’re pretty dull by themselves.

Take the chicken breast in jalapeno chutney sauce--literally chutney with some minced jalapeno pepper in it. It’s enjoyable, if on the frivolous side, but this aesthetic reaches for quainter and quainter extremes where you have swordfish in a mild puree of pineapple and veal medallions with shrimp in tequila sauce. The swordfish passes with me, actually; it’s excellent fish, perfectly cooked--my dinner guest was so used to dry, overcooked swordfish, she was sure there had to be something wrong with it. The sauce on the veal, however, is vague and mawkish, and if it weren’t for the shrimp you could leave your palate at home and never know the difference.

I should mention the quaint, though somewhat harried-looking, arrangements of tiny vegetables that come on every plate and the pretty good sourdough bread. I expect they bake the bread themselves, and likewise, courtesy of the wine and water bar, you get decent drinking water and the espresso bar ensures good coffee.

The desserts may owe something to the delicatessen resources as well. I’ve had a chocolate mint cake that could have been something from the candy counter carved into cake-wedge shape and rather coarse, homey vanilla ice cream that for all I know is something from the ice cream department. There are also standard pastries: tarts, substantial Dutch apple pie in short crust, passable cheesecakes.

For a nice informal foodie joint, Chez Panache has comfortable prices. At lunch, appetizers run $3.50 to $6.95 and entrees $5.25 to $8.50. At dinner appetizers are $5.25 to $6.25 and entrees $7.50 to $16.50. Desserts run $1.15 to $2.50 (and up for some of the pastries).

CHEZ PANACHE 444 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton (714) 526-6633 Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. All major credit cards accepted.