RESTAURANTS : Ritz-Carlton Dining Room Has Great Service, but the Food Is Hit or Miss

I wouldn’t hesitate to call the dining room at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel the most beautiful in Orange County. It’s a magnificent French provincial salon, resplendent with beveled mirrors, crystal chandeliers, tranquil impressionist paintings and the warm glow of elegance.

In a room like this you expect great service. And you get it. The maitre d’ never forgets a face, the sommelier is knowledgeable and the staff is efficient. From amuse-gueule to petit four , a dinner in this dining room is a meticulous experience.

On a few occasions, I have left this hotel feeling so pampered, it didn’t occur to me until much later that I had not particularly enjoyed my meal.

The problem? Consistency. Recently, longtime chef Joao de Souza left his position here to become executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton’s new Sydney operation. In his place here is 29-year-old Fabrice Canelle, a native of Paris who honed his skills at Ambria in Chicago. Canelle is a modernist, a visual stylist with little regard for classic preparations. Instead of sticking to the tried and true, he has completely reworked the menu.

His food is bound to be controversial, especially in this most stately dining room. It tries hard to be California, but it’s also French with hints of the Middle East and the South Seas. It is food that probably will take a lot of people by surprise. Though it sometimes is overly sweet, much of it is very good. A good deal more of it is not, floating somewhere between art and artifice.

Sonoma duck foie gras is an example of what works for him, even if the dish is a little busy, consisting of a buttery, rich piece of duck liver in a filo crust with red cabbage and cubed apple.

Steamed Maine lobster in a vanilla vermouth sauce is an example of what doesn’t work. Big, seductive pieces of shelled lobster meat, claws and all, are garnished with a black fettuccine and a yam puree. The yam and vanilla make the dish so sweet that the natural essence of the lobster is totally eclipsed. At $42, this could be the world’s most expensive dessert.

Many of Canelle’s appetizers are beautifully crafted, but the tastes just don’t transport you. Crayfish and marinated zucchini make up one of the most appetizing dishes I have ever seen, with a whole school of crayfish crowded together atop a colorful mold of marinated vegetables. But the end result is rather bland. Charred sea scallops are delicious and cooked perfectly, but the crispy potato bed under them is merely a distraction, and the yellow pepper vinaigrette alongside an error in judgment.

I loved one of the salads, mesclun with a warm goat cheese dressing and an herb pesto. I thought the combination was brilliant, and the dressing one of the best I have ever eaten. The other, mache with roasted peppers and a sherry vinaigrette, is a solid alternative.

For a dining room of this stature, this is an astonishingly small menu. There are only 10 entrees in all, and not a single chicken dish. My choice would be the roasted lamb tenderloin--noisettes of lamb swirled around a melange of spinach and mushroom with the ethereal essences of tomato and thyme. It is the most subtle dish I tasted in this dining room.

Sauteed veal entrecote with a confit of Belgian endive in a port wine reduction with porcini well might have been its equal, but it came out scandalously overcooked and could not be properly appreciated. Air-dried roasted duck--succulent, crispy and meaty--suffered from a sticky sweet honey ginger sauce and a cherry-almond couscous. A waste of excellent duck.

Needless to say, there are impeccable desserts. Honey-lime parfait is one, a creamy, frozen confection with caramelized walnuts and ginger cookies. Something called pistachio marjolaine is just wonderful, three tiers of grainy pistachio cookies with fresh raspberries and mascarpone between the cracks. And then there are souffles, light, airy and frothy with the whites of eggs, probably the chef’s most classical preparation.

The dining room at the Ritz-Carlton is very expensive. Cold appetizers are $11.50 to $80 (for one ounce of Malassol caviar). Hot appetizers are $11.50 to $22. Fish and seafoods are $28 to $42. Meat and poultry are $28 to $34. Desserts are $6.50 to $9.

THE DINING ROOM

AT THE RITZ-CARLTON

33533 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Dana Point

(714) 240-5008

Dinner nightly from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

All major cards accepted.