RESTAURANTS : Golden Truffle Maintains Its Midas Touch

Serious chefs flash across the local scene like meteors, but Alan Greeley remains in his singular orbit. Greeley is entering his 10th year as guiding force of the Golden Truffle, a Newport Beach restaurant where the unexpected is commonplace. And his cooking is more interesting, and personal, than ever.

With its unlikely strip mall location and comfortably ordinary appointments, the Golden Truffle might easily be taken for a fairly ordinary restaurant. There’s a breezy bistro section, dominated by an open kitchen, popular with the lunch trade. The rest of the place is almost somber in comparison, an elegantly dressed-up addition cheered by a pastel color scheme. Neither half prepares you for any kind of tour de force, but that is what you may experience here.

When I first reviewed the Golden Truffle, four years back, it was Greeley’s whimsy that struck me. This time around, I ordered the Caesar salad on two separate occasions. To my astonishment, the repeat performance brought an entirely different preparation.

So when Greeley made his rounds in the dining room that evening, I asked whether he had changed his recipe. “Oh no,” he replied. “I just felt like doing it differently tonight.”

There are even more substantial changes in the offing. Today, Greeley describes his menu as French Caribbean, and some of the entrees that have been on the Truffle menu for years are about to be retired.

French Caribbean means you can start off dinner with something like Jamaican jerk chicken salad, Florida stone crab spring rolls with ginger wasabi sauce, tiger shrimp fritters with cactus pear splash or--believe it or not--iceberg lettuce with Thousand Island dressing before working your way across the Atlantic to more classic French entrees. Bon voyage.

The jerk chicken salad is a hoot: sweet, spicy chicken marinated in a quirky sauce that Greeley manufactures himself and sells, bottled, at the cash register. The meat is warm and tender, and the French-type mixed greens underneath it almost melt away when you eat them.

The dense, delicious spring rolls couldn’t be more different. Subtly flavored by crab and minced vegetables, they are crisp, though perhaps too oily inside. He cross-cuts them at irregular heights and arranges them on the plate standing up, like the pipes on a church organ. A dipping sauce is served in a side cruet (as it should be; it’s rather overpowering).

As for the shrimp fritters, they rest on an artful dribble of peppery red sauce made from pureed cactus pear, but don’t be fooled. They’re really tempura, pure and simple, done with the grace of a samurai.

Among the dishes about to disappear from the menu are such Golden Truffle stalwarts as duck confit and angulas (baby eels), and their old fans should consider ordering them one last time before they go. (As of this writing, you have to phone for them 24 hours in advance.) The eels might feel more at home in Seville than in central Orange County; Greeley serves them in pure Spanish style with olive oil, red pepper and garlic.

Confit of duck is one of his true masterpieces, and I will certainly lament its passing. Confit is meat cooked slowly in its own fat, and this one is the very essence of duck. Greeley puts it to bed on a mattress of bitter greens laced with a balsamic vinaigrette, making one of the most irresistible salads anywhere. It’s going off the menu, apparently, because it just doesn’t sell. Go figure.

It’s not exactly back to basics when it comes to entrees, but many are edged with familiarity. Aged Black Angus New York steak, for example, gets a tried-and-true Roquefort green peppercorn sauce, and the terrific braised lamb shank is no different from what you’d get in any country bistro south of Paris. Gypsy chicken, my personal favorite here, is something you might find in a French inn: chicken roasted simply with fresh herbs such as rosemary and sage, hiding a bed of buttery roasted potatoes that have been sliced thin to absorb the richness.

Still, Greeley cannot resist offering several exotic dishes on the order of Caribbean mixed grill, duck breast with tangerine pink peppercorn sauce and Nassau grouper (that’s a fish) with real Creole sauce. That as well as a host of nightly specials that could come from, well, just about anywhere.

The mixed grill features saucy barbecued chicken, tiger prawns and grilled slices of skirt steak, all set astride a gutsy multiflavored pineapple relish. The duck breast gets a perky red onion marmalade. The grouper, on the other hand, is disappointing. Its Creole sauce tastes like the real article, thanks to plenty of spice, but it has too much oil and tomato for this delicate fish.

The desserts are classic French--pear tart, chocolate torte, clafoutis (custard and fruit pie)--and I’d describe most of them as competent but passionless. The exception is Greeley’s incredible passion fruit souffle (advance orders only). This light, egg-rich souffle, a marvel of technical perfection, is accompanied by a creamy froth flavored with tropical fruit. It’s a dessert that is at once one of the most elegant and intense around. It’s final proof that this man can cook up a storm.

The desserts, by the way, are displayed in the bistro, as is a selection of premium cigars and more than 200 wines. The wines themselves make for one of the area’s most provocative wine lists. Greeley could move the wines out and make room for more tables, but that he doesn’t is indicative of a commitment to joie de vivre that many restaurants seem to lack. Catch the man on a good night and you may end up in orbit with him.

The Golden Truffle is expensive. Appetizers are $3.75 to $9.50. Entrees are $10.75 to $15.95. Specials may run higher than regular menu items.

* THE GOLDEN TRUFFLE

* 1767 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach.

* (714) 645-9858.

* Open for lunch 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, for dinner 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

* All major credit cards accepted.