Del Rio Reincarnation Results in a Pleasant Case of the Willy’s

A recent letter from a reader noted that The Manor restaurant in Pacific Beach, which replaced the venerable La Chaumine just this summer, has been ripped apart and will reopen shortly as something called Fibber McGee. The note ended rather pointedly with the comment “ Plus ca change . . . “

This French quote in its entirety would be “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose,” or, as we might say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

This rarely is true in the San Diego restaurant biz; when most places close, they don’t leave much in the way of footprints, or even grease spots, to remind us of what once was there. And, in most cases, that is just as well.

Unexpected Resurrection

But there has been an unexpected resurrection of sorts in Mission Valley in the form of Willy’s American Bistro, which recently replaced the Del Rio Bar and Grill. Before the Del Rio briefly entered the scene with its trendy, if sometimes overwrought, California cuisine, the location housed Cafe in the Valley, a desperate example of some of San Diego’s worst culinary impulses but a place that was nonetheless popular for years and years.

One of Cafe in the Valley’s former partners has taken the location back and transformed it into Willy’s, and, wonder of wonders, built himself a very good restaurant in the process.

The dining room has only grown more attractive during its two transmogrifications, and diners should feel especially comfortable in the booths at the back of the high-ceilinged, handsomely paneled main dining room. The service continues in the old style, however, and is unreliable; one evening’s server was as pleasant and efficient as another’s was careless and inattentive.

Menu notes do much to impress readers with the fact that this is an “American bistro,” without exactly explaining what that means, although the comment that “our menu offers a wide choice in both selection and price” does shed a few rays upon the situation. Suffice it to say that, although Willy’s is not a purveyor of haute cuisine , neither is it a hamburger joint.

The menu, in fact, nicely catches a contemporary mood in dining and offers both the familiar and the new, with a heavy emphasis on strong, definitive seasonings that cannot fail to be well received. Sharp seasonings form the only common bond between such otherwise unrelated offerings as smoked brisket of beef, shrimp flamed in tequila and a very clever hamburger steak cooked in the manner of a pepper steak. All of these were excellent.

Entree prices at dinner run from a remarkably reasonable $5.95 (for sauteed calves’ liver finished with onions, herbs and red wine) to a high of $14.95 for a relatively elaborate presentation of sauteed duck breast.

A French Inspiration

The kitchen might not be willing to admit this point, but half the appetizers have a French inspiration, at least in method. (The others, such as the “peel and eat” shrimp, are prime examples of edible Americana.) The corn blini demonstrates a decidedly French penchant in the way it successfully combines ingredients that do not seem at all compatible; this richly textured pancake supports a salsa of mixed peppers and a tablespoon of goat cheese rolled inside a cornet of smoked salmon. The result is Southwestern-style lox and bagels, and the combination probably would startle both New Mexicans and New Yorkers.

The daily appetizer-size pizzas built on an herbed cornmeal crust echo the planning that went into the blini. A recent example was perhaps too insistently Southwestern, though, with its topping of cilantro-tomatillo sauce, bell peppers, red onion, cheese and smoked chicken. It was interesting, but probably the sort of thing one would be content to sample once and then let alone.

Very American barbecued baby back ribs, which also can be ordered as an entree, came off very well, the meat smoky and tender, and richly flavored with a tangy basting sauce. A finger bowl or moist towel would have been a helpful follow-up, but neither was offered.

Soups and salads are a la carte and enjoyable. A tomato bisque laced with strips of fresh basil and bits of chopped fresh tomato showed far more presence than the usual tomato soup, and a cream of corn, if a bit too mild in flavor, was likable for its mixed-pepper garnish. The bistro salad of tossed greens and vegetables topped with a slice of warm, creamy goat cheese was quite to the point.

The restaurant is featuring a Maine lobster special through October, with a 1-pound lobster, salad and garnish priced at $9.95. Almost every diner at neighboring tables on both of two recent visits took advantage of this bargain-priced beast, and it was, in fact, hard to beat, the lobster carefully steamed and sufficiently generous in size.

More Interesting Items

But, although the lobster made for good budget luxury, there were plenty of more interesting items on the menu. One of the best was the shrimp flamed in tequila, which offered a remarkably subtle flavor livened by the cilantro in the butter sauce. The shrimp themselves were handsome, and even the rice seemed to have had something special, if undefinable, done to it.

Also likable was the entree listed simply as “ground beef,” which was in fact a generous hamburger steak that had been coated with coarsely crushed peppercorns, sauteed and finished with a deglazing sauce of red wine and cream. This might be called a poor man’s pepper steak, but it was, in any case, a novel and most enjoyable dish.

Among other pleasing entrees were the smoked beef brisket, tender and relatively fatless meat served in generous quantities with corkscrew-cut french-fried potatoes and an interesting vegetable slaw, and the sauteed pork tenderloin served in a well-flavored sauce of mushrooms, red wine and cream. The option of scalloped potatoes (rice and french fries are the other starch choices), which were so creamy as to be comparable to a French gratin dauphinois , went nicely with this dish.

The menu also runs to broiled shark and a fish or two of the day; a chili relleno stuffed with crab and topped with papaya salsa (this one was somewhat difficult to pass by); chicken in rosemary sauce; plain New York steak and spiced roast prime rib; and a black bean chili of pork, sausages and beans that sounds entirely on the adventurous side.

The desserts are made on the premises and tend to be both rich and sized to share. The burnt cream ( creme brulee ) is wonderfully creamy under its glaze of melted brown sugar, and, since it is appearing on so many menus these days, seems headed for the ubiquity enjoyed by cheesecake earlier in this decade. The warm bread pudding with whiskey sauce was an easy match to the cream, its flavors subdued but really quite wonderful.

WILLY’S AMERICAN BISTRO

911 Camino del Rio South, Mission Valley

692-0094

Credit cards accepted.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner served daily.

Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $25 to $50.