A Tustin Bistro That’s Become a Sheep of a Different Color

Times Orange County restaurant critic Max Jacobson often returns to restaurants he has found lacking to see whether things have improved. This is one in an occasional series of “Second Helpings.”

Tustin’s Black Sheep Bistro has always been one of the coziest, most charming little restaurants in the county. Now it is also one of the best.

Rick and Diana Boufford, the couple who bought it last year, have retained the restaurant’s unpretentious look and embellished it with a few personal touches. The comforting robin’s egg blue tablecloths and gingerbread house wooden chairs are still in place, but the walls have become a veritable travelogue of impressionistic country scenes into which you’d like to disappear.

You could disappear into this menu, too, which centers on the Mediterranean and the south of France. Rick is an excellent chef who has done his homework. His menu is simple and intelligent, and his food bursts with the flavors of the French countryside.

Try regional delights like fresh foie gras, confit of duck or cassoulet or bourride, dishes that pop up on his list of daily specials. Or perhaps a sumptuous paella for two, cooked in the traditional manner with saffron, seafood and homemade sausage.

Saffron never tasted better than it does in Boufford’s mussels a la maison, tiny mussels steamed in white wine, garlic, capers, tomatoes and herbes de Provence. And you must try one of the chef’s flame-broiled meats, such as magret of duck or grain-fed lamb, served with your choice of several Provencale sauces that Boufford makes without cream or butter.

Wine drinkers will be astounded at the restaurant’s wine list; it looks like a wine collector has opened his private cellar to the public. In essence, that is what has happened. Boufford has been collecting wine for 18 years, and here you will find everything from an ’86 Nalle Zinfandel to a ’78 Gaja Barbaresco. This remarkable list is just one more surprise in what may be the most surprising little restaurant in which you will eat this year.

BLACK SHEEP BISTRO

303 El Camino Real, Tustin.

(714) 544-6060.

Open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner only, 5 to 10 p.m.

VISA/MC accepted.