RESTAURANTS / Max Jacobson : Dinner at Kachina of Laguna Beach Comes From a Painter’s Palate

David Wilhelm is quietly establishing himself as a restaurant superstar, and the view from here is that his reputation can only grow. Those who remember him when he cooked at Pave, the Newport Beach restaurant he operated with his wife, Nancy, are aware that he can fashion elegance out of humble ingredients. Those who have eaten dishes he conceived for the El Torito Grill probably think of him as a trend setter.

At Kachina in Laguna Beach, Wilhelm is doing something different still, combining trend and elegance with a highly personal stamp. The restaurant, named for a type of American Indian doll, is housed in the lowest level of a building whose upper floor is a Southwest art gallery. The motif is that of an adobe hut with glowing, almost translucent lighting to offset the burnt ochre walls. Blond wood tables are adorned with pastel stoneware crockery, and the servers wear colorful uniforms.

The restaurant is a family affair from start to finish. Wife Nancy is hostess and maitre’d. Daughter Heather Wilhelm is one of the servers. Even the owner’s brother, artist Bob Wilhelm, gets into the act: The walls are graced with his color-splashed modern sculptures.

The menu is splashed with color too, created by the owner with some help from head chef Thomas Tran. How’s this for color? Blue corn taquitos with smoked chicken and green chiles with avocado sauce. Grilled swordfish with desert sunset sauce and pink grapefruit salsa.

The tastes are almost as spectacular. After a few sips of wine and a bite of a dry blue-corn jalapeno muffin, my senses were riveted by one of the best dishes I have ever had: gulf shrimp and green-corn tamale with salsa verde and crema fresca.

The shrimps were plump and full of flavor, and the tamale alone, which was soft as pudding in a steaming husk, would have been good enough to bring me back. But it was the humble sounding salsa verde , a rough-hewn, pale green puree that made the dish so memorable.

That was followed by a fabulous salad: grilled quail salad with toasted onions and mango chutney. The bird was perfectly charred on mesquite, the vegetables fresh and crispy, the impossible sounding flavors stunningly well matched, and the presentation so eye-catching it wouldn’t have looked out of place on the wall alongside the other objets d’art.

If this restaurant has one flaw, it is a menu with too much color--putting a meal together here takes some work. Wilhelm often seems dazzled by his own skill. Too much creativity can cloud the canvas; the audience may miss the point.

For example, four of us split a terrific goat cheese relleno with a crisp cornmeal coating and a papaya-red onion salsa. The crunchy coating seemed born for the soft, melted cheese filling, and the crazy quilt salsa worked like a charm. After that we nibbled on a corn crepe filled with honey roast duck in a jalapeno barbecue sauce; except for a sneaky sweet aftertaste the filling reminded me of a prize-winning chili. But what would we do for an encore?

No one was sure. Matching the appetizers with the intricate main courses, (corn flour fettuccine with chicken in fire-roasted tomato sauce with wild sage, or honey-glazed pork with black beans, pueblo corn pudding and guacamole) was no mean feat. A friend remarked it was like a foodie jigsaw puzzle.

The dishes we finally chose were all wonderful. Honey-glazed pork was probably the best, crackling on the outside, tender on the inside, with a soft corn pudding quite like the green-corn tamale. Grilled chicken came on fresh corn and green pepper, in a smooth red-pepper butter. The grilled swordfish with grapefruit salsa (something I was reluctant to try) worked well. A lobster tail quesadilla was sheer artistry.

Any complaints? Well, only a couple. One dish I wanted most was sold out on both nights I dined there (mesquite smoked duck with tequila mole sauce and creamy Indian polenta. ) And a corn crepe burrito of lobster, shrimp, and peppers in smoked chile cream had too much pancake and not enough seafood.

There are only four desserts, but they are stunners. Warm chocolate bread pudding (my favorite), a soupy, fudgy delight topped with steamed milk, tasted the way I always hoped one of these desserts would, like chocolate cake right out of the oven. A fine, deep-yellow flan with berries was full of egg yolk and burnt sugar. The super-creamy tequila-raisin ice cream, made commercially for Wilhelm from an original recipe, was about perfect. And the pinon- pecan pie looked wonderful, although none of us had room for a bite. I flirted briefly with the idea of bringing a piece home . . . to put on my wall, of course.

Kachina is moderate to expensive. Appetizers are $4 to $7.50. Combination plates are $11.50 to $12.50. Southwest specialties are $9.75 to $16.50. Desserts are $4.25 to $4.75. The small, appealing wine list on the back of the menu is extremely well chosen. The restaurant takes no reservations.

KACHINA

222 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach

(714) 497-5546

Open nightly from 5:30 to 10 p.m.

All major cards accepted.