PIRET’S IS BUSIER, BETTER IN ITS NEW INCARNATION

It’s always a little spooky when people say a restaurant is “making a comeback.” A restaurant comeback is, after all, like a movie star comeback: It might be only for a shot on Hollywood Squares or, in the case of the restaurant, a role as the set for an instant coffee commercial.

However, Piret’s in South Coast Plaza is coming back. There are more people eating there, they seem gladder about it, and anyway I’m coming back to Piret’s, which has always offered unusually sophisticated snacks and light meals for a shopping plaza eatery.

It made a reasonably sized splash when it opened here three years ago as a combination deli, patisserie, kitchenwares store and restaurant. Part of an innovative chain based in San Diego, it had wine tastings and food events and was the model for a new wave of shops that are total gourmet headquarters.

Then the original owners sold the chain and things seemed to fall apart. I noticed that the Beverly Hills branch of Piret’s closed.

Two months ago I dropped by the South Coast Plaza branch and found to my dismay that the menu had shriveled to one short page. It was like seeing an old friend reduced to skin and bones. Where were the dishes Piret’s was famous for, like the pate plates with “ charcuterie salads”? After having a very ordinary shrimp cocktail and a sausage platter made by somebody who believed red cabbage was a way of serving mounds of juniper berries, I got ready to write an obituary.

Then I heard it had changed hands again. Now the cookwares department is owned by Kitchen Things, which has four other Orange County locations, and the restaurant is owned by the South Coast Plaza Restaurant Assn. Yet another round of changes made me fear for the worst, but the new chef turned out to be John Harrington, from that extinct Beverly Hills Piret’s, who has also cooked locally at Hemingway’s and the highly regarded Golden Truffle. The well-known food writer Marion Cunningham has been consulting with him. Things are definitely looking up.

The marinated eggplant appetizer they serve at Piret’s today is one of the best eggplant dishes I’ve ever put in my mouth: thin slices of eggplant marinated in balsamic vinegar and garlic, briefly grilled and served in a little oil with some minced basil and a scatter of chopped raw tomato. The smoked salmon and cream cheese comes with a really delicious onion bagel, or rather an onion bagel with poppy seeds in it. The house salad is a light and pungent thing of capers, chopped walnuts and bacon, crumbled goat cheese and grated Gouda. Even that old luncheon cliche salade nicoise is worth eating with its hot chunk of fresh broiled tuna.

The entrees are still rather light and simple things like excellent broiled chicken with crisp skin. There are big, puffy pizzas, one of which is a pleasant tomato and cheese with chicken. The sausages with warm potato salad are still on the menu--say a boudin blanc much like a bratwurst, along with a meaty slice of rough country sausage, all with hot sliced potatoes in vinaigrette. The green fettuccine with fresh peas, pancetta and Gorgonzola is about as complicated as things get.

In its shopping plaza location, with its patio dining and revolving art exhibit, Piret’s is inevitably a little like a tearoom. In fact, Piret’s serves an actual afternoon tea of fruit tarts, petits fours, scones with Devon cream and strawberries, and even cucumber and watercress sandwiches. Some of the entrees seem out of an old-fashioned ladies’ tearoom as well. “Theatre steak,” intended for pre-Performing Arts Center use, is a very tender filet with a lot of fried mushrooms and onions in meat reduction, mounted on two engagingly silly slices of bread. Pastas tend to come with ladylike cream and sherry sauces, and there is, of course, the trademark quiche of the day.

In the dessert department, Piret’s has possibly the best chocolate mousse in Orange County. I know there are a lot of schools of thought when it comes to chocolate mousse, but this one is undeniably top drawer, dense and buttery with an aggressive bitter chocolate note. I’ve never been able to finish one. Otherwise desserts are not quite innovative but generally good, such as a chocolate cheesecake with a little sour-cream effect to cut the sweetness, apple plum tart with a marzipan base, feuillete of fresh fruit, a classic poached pear.

Piret’s serves the same menu at lunch and dinner, and the price range reflects the dual purpose. Appetizers and salads run $3.75 to $7.50, entrees $4.50 to $13.25 and desserts $2.25 to $3.75. Afternoon tea is $5.95.

South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa

(714) 556-6461

Lunch and dinner daily (closes 7 p.m. Sundays). American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.