Rancho Santa Fe: Delicias Town

The town of Rancho Santa Fe, just northeast of San Diego, is turning into a major eating destination. It is the site, to begin with, of the most famous small produce farm in the state, Chino Ranch--noted for supplying top-quality fruits and vegetables to Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters and other restaurant stars. It is also the place where one of L.A.’s best French chefs, Claude Segal (ex-Ma Maison, Bistango, Four Oaks, and MaBe), has opened Tapenade, at the Rancho Valencia tennis resort.

Now another French chef of note, Guy Leroy--a longtime friend and associate of Puck and former chef at the El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara, Carsley’s in Atlanta, Chapo on Melrose Avenue and the Squire Restaurant at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel--is in charge of a new restaurant kitchen in Rancho Santa Fe as well.

Leroy’s venue is Delicias, just opened by developer Paolo Parviz on the Paseo Delicias. “The name is kind of fun,” says Leroy. “People ask me, ‘What’s it called? Delicious?’ I say, ‘Well, it had better be delicious!’ ”

Although he is not a partner in the new establishment, Leroy says, “I designed and built the kitchen exactly the way I wanted it, so I have a little Rolls-Royce of a kitchen. We’ve got a pasta cooker, a mesquite grill, a wood-burning oven, a beautiful little pastry room. We’re having lots of fun. We’re making grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, veal flank steak with mushroom-Beaujolais sauce, simple food like that. We don’t want to be too exotic.”

The restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, also boasts a shaded patio, framed in rosemary and jasmine. “And you know,” Leroy says, “having Chino Ranch practically next door is a dream for a chef.”

STAYING PUT: Some months ago, Alberto Liani, proprietor of Il Giardino in Beverly Hills, told this column that his restaurant was scheduled to be demolished later this year. Since that time, though, the city of Beverly Hills has declared a moratorium on new construction in the area, and the owner of the property--entertainment business mogul David Geffen--has canceled his construction project. Il Giardino, says Liani, will thus remain open for business until further notice. The restaurant has taken advantage of its renewed lease to expand, adding a new 60-seat patio and a piano bar.