NORTH COUNTY RESTAURANTS : Strictly French Fare at El Bizcocho

Pasta and sun-dried tomatoes have found their way onto the menu at El Bizcocho, but, despite these modern intrusions, this grandly formal room at the Rancho Bernardo Inn remains the one true outpost of French luxury dining in inland North County.

To read the menu aloud is to twist the mouth into the happiest of Gallic convolutions, perhaps to better ready it for such delicate cargo as coquilles St. Jacques aux poireaux et mache (scallops with braised leeks and lamb’s lettuce) and filet de chevreuil a la brabanconne (pungently sauced venison nestled amid braised endive and pureed celery root).

Chef Thomas Dowling may have slightly relaxed El Bizcocho’s longstanding prohibition of modern influences--there is, for example, tricolored linguine dressed with shrimp, Chardonnay sauce and sun-dried tomato coulis --but he rigorously maintains classical principles. Everything from his kitchen, including the pasta, is as Gallic as de Gaulle.

The French occasionally sauce soups; El Bizcocho does not. But except for those offerings (a celery root cream and a lobster bisque with Armagnac), nothing leaves the kitchen without a light or lavish moistening of buttery reduced stock, creamed pan juices or a classic emulsion sauce, such as choron and bearnaise. The French passion for fancy, painstaking plate decoration also asserts itself in Dowling’s kitchen.

The cold and hot appetizer listings concentrate almost solely on seafood, to the potential desolation of those who never touch the stuff. But the choices are excellent, including a salad of rock shrimp and artichoke bottoms in a highly seasoned “calypso” sauce, sauteed prawns in a gingered beurre blanc , and salmon dressed with a briny compound of caviar, sour cream and dill.

The most attractive salad bears a name, salade d’automne (autumn salad), that may seem out of season, but it would be pleasant any time of year. This beautifully presented, tricolored affair consists of rows of baked beets (baking intensifies the flavor), tender lamb’s lettuce and celery remoulade, or slivered celery root in a strong mustard dressing.

The entree list pays much less attention to seafood. The few such items are taken seriously, however, commencing with a roasted sea bass enrobed in a crust of minced basil and finished with a coyly aromatic oyster mushroom sauce. Other seafood choices include broiled swordfish in mustard sauce, salmon in a rosemary-scented reduction sauce of Pinot Noir, and scallops garnished with a vibrant teaming of zucchini, fresh tomato and thyme.

Among meats, the caneton a la Normande offers a seductive alternative to the ubiquitous duck a l’orange . This bird, cooked for two and carved at the table, is finished with sauteed apples and a sauce based on Calvados, the Cognac-quality apple brandy of Normandy. A garnish of Stilton cheese and Zinfandel sauce offers pointed accents to the sauteed aged sirloin strip. Among other meat offerings are slices of sauteed veal loin in a creamy morel sauce, herb-crusted rack of lamb, and a throwback to the old days of hotel dining rooms, chateaubriand bouquettiere, or a tenderloin for two that is carved at table and served with vegetable bouquets.

The restaurant’s glass-and-chrome dessert trolley looks oddly like an iron lung and contains mostly mousses worked into tarts, mostly in a chocolate theme. A lighter fruit alternative, the apple tart was flavorful, but not as buttery or as richly caramelized as the best examples of this wonderfully old-fashioned sweet.

The wine list quite makes up for any shortcomings on the dessert cart. Only a handful of places in the county offer such choice, illustrated not so much by the pages of Chardonnays as by the several dozen Merlots, including vertical vintages from several wineries.

Like its menu, El Bizcocho’s mood remains formal and luxurious. The well-spaced tables are set with gleaming silver and tastefully restrained floral arrangements. Service takes the team approach and, wonder of wonders, a sommelier presents and pours the wine.

EL BIZCOCHO

Ranch Bernardo Inn, 17550 Bernardo Oaks Drive

487-1611

Dinner served nightly; reservations suggested.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including a moderate bottle of wine, tax and tip, $85 to $130.