Heavy on the French, Hold the Salt

At Napoleon, a new French restaurant in Dana Point, the maitre d’s name is Alfred Bonaparte. That is what I call a tough act to follow.

Bonaparte is a colorful fellow who loves to bend your ear about the many places he has lived, but he is not actually related to the late emperor. He’s not even French; he comes from Goa, a former Portuguese colony on India’s western coast. As for the family name, it’s one his father patriotically took after serving in the French army.

The restaurant’s owner is French, though. Jean-Paul Gourgues was reared in Bordeaux and operated a restaurant in Montreal for some years. I’d guess he originally planned to limit his menu at Napoleon to traditional French cuisine but some good instinct told him to add a spate of spa and bistro dishes to reach a broader clientele.

It’s not going to be easy. Dana Point, brimming though it is with young professionals and urban escapees, is still a beachfront community where most of the restaurants are not far from the water. A formal, landlocked French dining room like this one is just not what most people expect in these parts.

Well, they’ve got one now. When he took over the premises formerly known as JJ’s Bistro, Gourgues totally renovated the place in French style. It’s now a regal blue room full of mirrors and chandeliers where you sit on faux provincial chairs with round turquoise cushions and wicker backs.

Gourgues keeps candles flickering to maintain an early 19th-Century mood (though the music is often anachronistic: sometimes Debussy, sometimes ‘30s swing) and has added framed prints of the emperor himself along with several scenes of battles royal. It’s exactly the sort of room you’d expect to find in a medium-size French city, the kind of place you’d visit after a leisurely drive through the French countryside.

Sit in one of the dark, romantic corner tables or, if possible, in the so-called gazebo room--really a boxed-in little room for romantic trysts--and follow two simple rules: Ask that dishes be slightly undercooked and tell them to go easy on the salt (chef Gilberto Mercado, formerly of Perino’s in Los Angeles, salts to excess when left to his own devices). Do this and you may eat very well here.

The hors d’oeuvres don’t show a lot of originality but most are solidly prepared. The escargots de Bourgogne are particularly delightful, one of the best versions I’ve had in a long time. Mercado prepares them in a tarragon butter sauce and serves them in braised mushroom caps. I also liked the pate maison, a grainy country-style pate served with a large heap of aspic and some crunchy little cornichon pickles.

The oysters made me feel cheated, though. As I bit into one of my huitres sautees au fenouil --oysters supposedly sauteed in fennel butter--I discovered they had been breaded and deep fried. That rendered them ludicrously heavy for the thick cream sauce, virtually inedible.

Soups and salads are not a strong point here (the vichyssoise, made in advance, was so salty that neither I nor anyone else at the table would eat it) but there are a few bright spots. Soupe a l’oignon gratinee was served in a lovely porcelain terrine with a perfect crown of melted Gruyere cheese; the stock tasted rich and beefy. Salads have a tendency to be on the sweet side--the spinach salad would have been fine with just a bit less sugar--but the potent Caesar is well mixed and very heavy on the anchovies.

There is quite a large selection of fresh fish and meat entrees; make sure to ask what is fresh that day. Langoustines Imperatrice, made with imported scampi, unquestionably is the restaurant’s star dish. Like tiny slim-line lobsters, the scampi float in a subtle beurre blanc, melt in the mouth like butter and have a lingering taste of delicious sweetness. Poached salmon, from the menu category entitled “Les Dietetiques,” was nearly as pleasing and as light as a feather. The salmon came soft and flaky, attractively accompanied with steamed asparagus, endive and Mercado’s signature broiled tomato with spiced bread crumbs.

Be sure that things are to be cooked as the menu leads you to believe. Another spa dish, paillarde de poulet, was supposed to be chicken breast poached with fresh herbs. What came from the kitchen was a butterflied chicken breast grilled nearly to death. In general go with the simple dishes here: filet mignon, grilled Dover sole, perhaps a rack of lamb. The sauce bigarade on the orange duck was sweet enough to pour on ice cream and the ponderous cream sauce on a dish called pheasant grand veneur seemed as thick as vanilla pudding.

The lunch time bistro menu lists many simple dishes, straightforward and enticing. Mousse de truite Perigueux is trout mousse in a Madeira truffle sauce. In feuillete d’oeufs mollets, poached eggs are served in little pastry shells. Omelet Brayaude is like a potato frittata with a twist, the addition of ham and chopped walnut.

Gourgues personally prepares the crepes Suzette and cherries jubilee at the table, swirling them in a flaming pan. I’d stick to simpler desserts, though: a creamy homemade cheesecake, or an artistic fresh fruit salad with several kinds of berries.

Oh, and don’t try getting funny with the maitre d’. No, Napoleons are not on the dessert menu.

Napoleon is moderately expensive. Lunch items are $6 to $12.50. At dinner, hors d’oeuvres, soups and salads are $2.75 to $6.75. Main dishes are $12.50 to $18.50. Sunday brunch is $14.50.

NAPOLEON

24501 Del Prado Ave., Dana Point

(714) 240-7944

Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., and for brunch Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Closed Monday.

American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.