Periodic Spicing-Up of Menu Gives PiretM the Touch It Was Missing

The Piret’s story is one of the more convoluted sagas in our regional restaurant lore.

The original Piret’s introduced the city to French cafe food when it began serving a menu of pates, composed salads and bistro classics in Mission Hills in 1978. To many, Piret’s was a kind of gustatory prologue to the widening of dining options that ensued through the 1980s.

To a degree, Piret’s did for San Diego restaurant patrons what Julia Child did for home cooks by making a complicated cuisine accessible and familiar. In the words of one observer, “Piret’s made everything possible.” That seems a fair assessment because Piret’s smoothed the path for the purveyors of nouvelle and California cuisines, and for such unusual new entries as Gustaf Anders, which in local terms seemed almost Martian when it opened in 1981.

Grew Into a Chain

Under the guidance of proprietors Piret and George Munger, the restaurant expanded into a chain with five county locations as well as outlets in Orange County and Beverly Hills. A shaky financial situation, however, resulted in its sale in 1986 to Vicorp, which controlled a number of restaurant chains and which itself divided and spawned a new, San Diego-based firm called Paragon Restaurant Group. Within a relatively brief time, the more marginal Piret’s locations were closed or sold, the handsome downtown outlet was converted into a Boathouse (now itself mercifully gone), the Mission Hills cafe was purchased by former Vicorp executive Jeanne Driscoll and the Mungers reacquired the Encinitas and La Jolla Village Square locations.

To reestablish their presence at the Encinitas cafe, the Mungers added an art gallery and revised the name to PiretM Bistro Gallery. The menu remained the same, however, and, after a while, began to seem old and stale--a restaurant that had been an innovator seemed too cozy in its niche to rouse itself and try something different.

The recent introduction of new, periodically revised menus at PiretM has given the place the gastronomic equivalent of a good redecorating job. Some familiar items remain, such as the charcuterie (French delicatessen) salads and thoughtful designer pizzas. But these can be regarded simply as a background to the contemporary French preparations and a number of dishes inspired by the now chic Southwestern cuisine.

Cafe Mood Retained

The cafe mood has been retained by reserving large sections of the menu for appetizers, soups, salads and simple dishes, but the list of formal entrees also has been made more interesting and comprehensive. Prices seem a touch high at the starter end and relatively low for the entrees. As at so many places these days, the cost of a dinner for two will vary wildly according to the combination of items selected; only the most formal restaurants continue to dictate a minimum check by expecting patrons to order a complete dinner.

The appetizer list gets off to a smashing start with a plate of baked oysters in a cream sauce enriched with Stilton cheese and bacon. The inclusion of lemon juice in the sauce cuts the overall richness and reminds of the presence of the oysters under their gaudy and remarkable cloaks. An eggplant and garlic terrine (in this case, a light, pate-like loaf) in a fresh tomato sauce comes off even better, thanks to the surprise attack on the taste buds by cinnamon and either cayenne or chili peppers. This dish admirably combines sharp, sweet and pungent flavors.

Other choices in this department include grilled fresh asparagus with a lemon-flavored soy sauce (this makes a light, refreshing starter or snack) and gravad lax (Scandinavian-style cured salmon) with mustard sauce and cucumber salad.

The kitchen also does very well with soups, as any sincere and well-intentioned bistro should. The red lentil puree is sharpened with a dose of masala (an Indian spice mix that gave birth to the Occidental curry powder) and enriched with smoked ham, and is a sturdy, savory soup. A cabbage soup offered as one evening’s special seemed rather wintry for this time of year, but was likeable anyway for its full-flavored broth and bits of tender cabbage.

Host of Filling Salads

Many of the salads can easily double as main dishes, including the spit-roasted chicken with vegetables and aioli (garlic mayonnaise), the grilled salmon salad and the chicken, walnut and apple salad with Waldorf dressing that, if it contained celery, would be a Waldorf salad with chicken.

The pizza and pasta list continues to include the “breakfast” pizza, so named because George Munger likes to eat it cold at breakfast. With its cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoni topping, it remains the most classic of the lot and is indeed quite tasty. Examples that go further afield include a pie decorated with lamb sausage and grape leaves, and a Mexican-style combination of roast chicken, avocado and tomatillo salsa.

Among the pastas, the linguine with rosy slices of grilled lamb filet, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and Madeira sauce, all scented with rosemary, is a combination that would be Greek to the Italians, as it is to us. This dish may be pungent and is not recommended to the timid, but it is also as delicious as it is unusual.

Expanded Entree List

The expanded entree list begins on a Southwestern footing with chicken and corn bread with yellow red bell pepper coulis (a type of puree), and sauteed slices of turkey breast with an herbed tomatillo sauce. It becomes more generally American with Munger’s Meatloaf, a sturdy loaf dressed up with caramelized onions and bordelaise sauce that was, unfortunately, too like the school cafeteria classic. Overloaded with filler, it had a tough, grainy texture and something of a steam-table flavor.

Among much happier offerings were a classic and classy pepper steak that could be--and was--cut with a fork, and a plate of choucroute garni , or deeply savory sauerkraut garnished with a healthy variety of sausages. Fish is offered on a daily list, and a sauteed slab of salmon was respectable, if not ravishing, under its light sauce of white wine, shallots, lemon and butter.

Piret’s always prided itself on its lengthy selection of homemade desserts and continues the practice with the new PiretM menu. In addition to such well-made standbys as chocolate mousse and creme brulee , there is a tray brimming with pastries, most in the chocolate mood that seems to hold the sweet-eating public enthralled at present. One of these days, someone is going to rediscover coconut, fruits and Bavarian creams. The chocolate truffle cake is every bit as rich as it sounds, however, and the cherries jubilee tart cleverly engages cherries, custard, chocolate and nuts in a good, toothsome crust.

The wine list, which includes a long selection of wines by the glass, also continues to be excellent.

PiretM BISTRO GALLERY

897 1st St. (in The Lumberyard), Encinitas

942-5152

Lunch and dinner served daily

Credit cards accepted

Dinner for two, with a glass of wine each, tax and tip, costs $30 to $65.