Two Rural Retreats Serve Up Serenity Along With Good Food

Cruising up Interstate 15 to Temecula in Riverside County may not be quite as glamorous as crossing the Golden Gate en route to the vineyard restaurants in Napa and Sonoma valleys, but the journey takes just an hour from downtown San Diego (and much less from North County), and ends at a pair of excellent rural retreats in Southern California’s own sun-warmed wine country.

Since Temecula is in Southern California, the area is losing much of its wild character to the housing tracts that seem to propagate as suddenly and as persistently as does crabgrass in the Midwest. The drive down Rancho California Road to Cafe Champagne at the John Culbertson Winery, for example, will pass by Chardonnay Hills and its Vintage Chateau subdivision, which are just two coyly named developments among the dozen or more that have sprouted in the last year. The exit from I-15 that leads to the Temecula Creek Inn, which is situated much nearer the heart of historic Temecula, similarly is lined with suburban encroachments.

Serene Sensation

Even with hordes of condominiums howling at their gates, both these places preserve their own patches of scenery that, given the times, are at least temporarily permanent, and a lazy lunch or dinner at either should offer the serene sensation of a stay in the country.

The larger civilization may be just around the bend from the shady terrace at Cafe Champagne, but to gaze over the rim of a champagne glass at hillsides of vines soaking up the sun is civilizing in an entirely different way.

Most of the area’s vintners (the Hart and Callaway wineries are just across the road) offer tours, but the John Culbertson Winery was designed more in the spirit of the destination vineyards found in Northern California. Guests enter the grounds through a formal herb garden that supplies the kitchen, and most first turn right to the handsome stone building that houses the winery proper, a tasting room, a gift shop and an elegant, second-story private party room.

Cooled by Fans

To the left is Cafe Champagne, with its open kitchen and pleasant indoor room. Except for the hottest days, however, the place to lunch is the terrace, shaded by a lattice roof and cooled by gently swirling fans that turn redundant when frisky breezes race through, as they frequently do. The winds are themselves an appetizer, since they snatch down from the kitchen chimney the fragrant smoke of the smoldering grape vines and mesquite over which meats and seafood are grilled.

The menu designed by Chef Dennis Barry and winery co-proprietor Martha Culbertson is a breath of pure intelligence and reads exactly like the menu one would hope to find at a wine country restaurant. Champagne (actually, as the winery emphasizes, sparkling wine produced in the methode champenoise , or champagne method; genuine champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France) naturally enters many of the dishes, as a sauce, a poaching liquid and a basting agent. Servings tend to be almost remarkably hearty, and while the menu honors local tastes by listing a great deal of seafood, it also pays attention to the sausages and robust meat dishes typically found in such French wine-producing areas as Burgundy and Alsace.

The wine list begins with Culbertson varieties, including some from vintage years; all are available by the glass, which makes it convenient to match a different one with each course of the meal. The fine, dry brut goes well with appetizers and seafood, the deeply red cuvee rouge mates nicely with meats and the soft, somewhat sweet cuvee de Frontignan accompanies any of the desserts quite happily. The list also offers still wines from leading California vintners.

Hot, freshly baked French loaves arrive at table with the menus, and it is altogether too easy to fill up on these before the appetizers have been served. To do so is to err, of course, especially when faced with such starters as Puget Sound clams steamed in champagne; roasted poblano chilies, stuffed with cheese and placed on a spicy, brick-red sauce, and a terrine of black beans and goat cheese with fresh corn relish. The guest who ordered the grilled scallops on wilted spinach, finished with a tart, creamy champagne sauce, looked up from her plate only long enough to say, “This is almost too wonderful!” But the the shrimp remoulade , described as “traditional Louisiana style,” lacked the fire of the real thing, although anyone who likes shrimp should enjoy the 10 jumbo specimens arranged around a somewhat tangy, mayonnaise-based sauce.

Starts With Fish

The entree list starts with the fish of the day and several pastas, including fettuccine with scallops, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, cream and champagne, which is a rare example of sparkling wine entering a sauce for pasta. The mixed sausage grill includes French andouille and boudin blanc and German bratwurst; a mixed seafood grill dresses salmon and scallops with a grain mustard-champagne sauce, and a breast of chicken is baked with herbs, mushrooms and tomatoes. A plate of sauteed pork schnitzel was immense and exquisite, the pounded scallops of meat flavored with a little lemon zest, then crisped in butter and garnished with champagne-braised cabbage, oven-browned new potatoes and excellent caramelized apples. The kitchen also served an exceptional hamburger on a freshly baked bun; piles of homemade potato chips and wispy fried onions made the plate substantial and delicious.

Desserts can be a challenge after so much food, but the unusual, apple-and-nut cheesecake in caramel sauce has many merits, including the fact that it serves two quite easily.

Cafe Champagne serves the same menu daily from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Reservations are recommended, and can be difficult to come by on the weekends. From I-15, take the Rancho California Road exit and drive east for approximately two miles; the winery and restaurant are located prominently on the right.

The Temecula Creek Inn, a resort hotel designed as a series of low-slung buildings spaced along a golf course, offers a different experience, since the dining room is indoors and there is no winery on the premises.

But the menus are thoughtfully composed and carefully executed, the wine card includes many choices from nearby vineyards and the dining room, which houses an impressive collection of Native American artifacts, looks out on the green fairways and fountain-ornamented water traps of the golf course.

The lunch menu leans in the direction of elaborate salads and sandwiches, although there is sufficient choice of formal entrees. The kitchen also knows its soups--the clear onion served as one day’s special was based on excellent broth and showed inspiration in its garnish of sun-dried tomatoes, and a chilled avocado cream was leavened with the sharp taste of lime.

Southwestern Influence

A Southwestern influence runs through the menu and shows up in such dishes as the “Imperial” salad of snow crab, bay shrimp, papaya and poblano chilies in lemon-cilantro mayonnaise, the “tortilla roll” stuffed with black beans, goat cheese and a dried chili pesto sauce, and the veal medallions with cilantro pasta. The same influence brought an unusual but likable flavor to a slab of grilled swordfish dressed with olive oil, avocado, onion and cilantro relish.

But the kitchen’s best effort lay in an Italian direction, with wonderfully flavored grilled pork tenderloin medallions that were arranged over black pepper pasta and sauced with roasted red bell peppers and woodsy porcini mushrooms.

The restaurant offers an array of breads, and those left over--even pumpernickel--end in a fine bread pudding moistened with vanilla custard sauce. Flan can be quite ordinary, but this menu offers a most unusual version spiced with anise and cinnamon, with a little brandy added to the caramel sauce for a smooth and subtle finish.

To reach Temecula Creek Inn, take California 79 east from I-15, turn right on Pala Road and follow the signs. Lunch and dinner served daily.

CAFE CHAMPAGNE

John Culbertson Winery, 32575 Rancho California Road, Temecula

(714) 699-0088

Credit cards accepted.

A meal for two, with one glass of wine each, tax and tip, $30 to $70.

TEMECULA CREEK INN

44501 Rainbow Canyon Road, Temecula

(714) 676-5631

Credit cards accepted.

Lunch for two, including one glass of wine each, tax and tip, $25 to $45.