Replacement for Elegant Eatery Isn’t Up to the Old Standards

By remaking its elegant Sheppard’s restaurant into a lesser room called Merlano’s, the Sheraton Harbor Island hotel has performed a neat if unwitting imitation of Miss Havisham, the bitter spinster in Dickens’ “Great Expectations.”

Havisham, cruelly jilted on her wedding day, turned her back to the world and brooded miserably in the shuttered halls of her great house. The Sheraton, disappointed in San Diego’s response to its very fine restaurant, likewise has turned inward by designing a graceless room intended to meet the utilitarian feeding requirements of hotel guests who are too tired to dine off the premises.

Sheppard’s was very carefully planned as a restaurant that happened to be in a hotel, rather than as a hotel dining room, and was launched as a competitor to the city’s top establishments. In its six or so years in operation, Sheppard’s never ranked out of the top five, and its innovative cooking earned it an impressive amount of national attention.

Too Few Guests

The restaurant never did attract as large a local clientele as the hotel had hoped, however, and its pricey formality evidently appealed to too few hotel guests. Thus, although the loss of a fine establishment may be regretted, the hotel’s decision to make the change can be understood--bottom lines are as relevant in the hospitality industry as in any other.

There is no point in comparing Merlano’s to Sheppard’s, because it is merely the new occupant of what was an unusually handsome space. That the room was redesigned strictly for hotel guests is made immediately obvious by the mood, decor, service and menu. It does seem rather unkind of the Sheraton to offer its guests such a thoroughly middle-brow experience, however, especially since some of the best kitchen talent in the city is to be found at this hotel.

Instead of offering its guests a wonderful kitchen, Merlano’s gives them kitsch. There is, for example, a strolling accordionist who sometimes supplies that homey touch by sitting down for chats with the folks. There are bottles of house wine set at the center of every table; these bear a modest Italian label and are fairly drinkable, but they virtually shout “Buy me!” Merchandising ploys always are discouraging--they seem so cynical in places of supposed hospitality--but especially so when they are this obvious.

The service is offered by a staff of those nice, willing, cheerful people whom you can’t help but like, but a dash or two of training would be beneficial to all concerned. As for the decor, the elegance of Sheppard’s is not entirely gone, because the room continues to be subdivided into a series of small, intimate spaces, although that is the best that can be said for it.

Fairly Priced

The menu seems reasonably comprehensive and fairly priced, with the usual caveat that no price is acceptable when the food fails to meet a certain standard. And some of the dishes served here were amateurish, which, given the Sheraton Harbor Island’s usual high culinary standards, came as a real surprise.

The pastas, of which quite a selection is offered, came in as the most successful category. In terms of national popularity, fettuccine Alfredo probably ranks second only to spaghetti in meat sauce, and Merlano’s takes care to offer a properly creamy, eggy version, a soothing bowl of comfort to be enjoyed after a wearing day spent in the air or on the road.

The lasagna bolognese was impressive (a term that one does not use lightly when describing la cocina Merlano’s), with the cheese filling puffed and almost souffle-like between its sheets of noodle dough, and the meat sauce zesty and authoritative. Penne al’arrabiatta , an increasingly popular dish of highly seasoned macaroni, also pleased with its throat-tingling heat and its blend of tomato sauce and chopped raw tomatoes.

A basket of small rolls spiked with cracked black pepper (very nice), grilled focaccia bread and wedges of provolone and salami arrives with the menus as a complimentary antipasto; this is served with a granite cutting board and a serrated knife for the do-it-yourself effect, but it is nonetheless welcome.

A selection of hors d’oeurves from the antipasto table, on the other hand, was rather less than welcome, because most of the items were so poorly done. The giardinera , or pickled vegetables, must have been made by someone who had never sampled the real thing, and cubes of melon that were topped with the merest shred of prosciutto were for some reason sprinkled with whole cloves, a disconcerting addition. There were also tired grilled peppers, a dry shrimp-and-rice salad, and other unappealing odds and ends.

Fit for a Caesar

An appetizer of grilled eggplant was not the soft, olive-oil-marinated wonder that this dish can be, primarily because the eggplant was more raw than cooked. A touch of mint in the dressing was welcome, but, under the circumstances, also quite moot.

A Caesar salad, on the other hand, was competently done, which seems imperative, as this salad assumes an importance on menus nearly equal to that of the imperial Caesar whose name it bears.

The entree list runs through a lengthy selection of familiar veal dishes, several chicken offerings, much seafood and a mere pair of beef preparations, one the classic steak pizzaiola , the other an arrangement of sliced filet mignon with mushrooms and tomato sauce.

The tuna with capers ( tonno al capperia ) was impressive for its freshness and size; a thickly cut steak of very fresh fish can be appealing. The kitchen chose to grill it on the rare side, and although pink fish can be something of a challenge, the moderate cooking did leave the fish wonderfully moist while imparting a good flavor. The sauce of butter and capers was a nice, light accent.

The scaloppine oreganata (veal slices seasoned with oregano) was certainly original, because it consisted of a thick steak rather than a couple of thin scallops; because it was seasoned rather nicely with fresh orange peel but did not taste even faintly of oregano; because it was encased in soggy breading but also reposed in a rather nice brown sauce, and because half of it was tough enough to successfully defy knife, fork and tooth.

A tray of pastries is offered at the end of the meal, and the rum-flavored cake, basically a baba , is rather good, as is the chocolate-pine nut cake. The white chocolate mousse, on the other hand, is simply sweetened whipped cream with a bit of grated white chocolate insinuated into the blend, and is well worth a miss.

MERLANO’S

Sheraton Harbor Island hotel, 1380 Harbor Island Drive

291-2900

Dinner Tuesday through Sunday; closed Monday.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, $25 to $60.