Any Way You Say It, Delicias Is Delightful

Serendipity comes in various guises.

In the case of Delicias, the second-best restaurant in Rancho Santa Fe (no small distinction, since the unapproachable Mille Fleurs holds primacy), the fortuitous circumstance simply is the name of the street on which the front door opens.

The good burghers of this glossy village assigned the name Paseo Delicias to the main Rancho Santa Fe thoroughfare long, long before the Parviz family realized that dishing up ample plates of contemporary cuisine might be nearly as good a business as, say, selling estates, antiques or attractive bibelots. That they could name the place Delicias was, as they say in the trade, just the fondant on the eclair.

Delicias is, of course, Spanish, but it is surprising the number of locals who wittingly or otherwise pronounce it “delicious” when describing the fare at the restaurant. With some exceptions, it is easy enough to understand this widespread verbal lapse.

When it opened several years ago, this restaurant provoked at least minor interest because of the participation of superstar chef Wolfgang Puck, who at the time did assist with menus and even dispatched one of his own cooks to supervise the kitchen. But the Puck himself never was put on view, and his association now seems more of a footnote in the ongoing fortunes of a handsome establishment that remains popular--and rather good.

Going notably against the grain of the times, Delicias has raised prices somewhat and, given the size of the crowd present on a recent midweek visit, seems able to get away with it. This might owe to the fact that the menu is contemporary in a user-friendly sort of way: The austerities and weirdnesses of some luxury restaurants largely are lacking, while a willingness exists to pamper guests with the couturier pizzas, tasty fried onion wisps and other minor indulgences that in the past few years have become hallmarks of the high-end trade in Los Angeles.

Delicias is not shy about pricing. You can open with a $5 soup, or with other starters that range as high as $10.50 (for a plate of crisply sauteed oysters with an au courant salsa of sun-dried tomatoes flavored with cumin). Every dusk witnesses the serving forth of a new diurnal soup, recently an unsampled but rather nice-sounding dalliance of white bean and black bean soups ladled side-by-side in the bowl, with a ribbon of sun-dried tomato puree woven through like an adaptable but pungent matchmaker.

If it sounds as if sun-dried tomatoes make as many appearances as a determined ham on amateur night, they do. Emblematic of the cuisine of the 1980s, they remain trendy in certain circles--circles that obviously encompass Delicias--and appear here on the angel hair pasta and on the grilled chicken. Tomatoes enjoy quite a vogue generally at Delicias; a charred tomato salsa accompanies the pepper-coated grilled tuna, and grilled marinated tomatoes garnish the sauteed escolar, a particularly mild and appealing fish, in grain mustard sauce. This last entree was sampled and found utterly satisfying.

Nearly as pleasing, the “Chinese” duck with ginger and pear sauce attempts to copy the lacquer-like skin of Peking duck, and comes reasonably close; the flesh certainly is moist and succulent. On the minus side, the flavors of pear and ginger were not discernible, but the rich sauce included watercress and pomegranate seeds, the colors of which (intended or otherwise) contributed a seasonal note to the plate.

The entree list also includes grilled salmon with onion marmalade, a sage-flavored veal chop with brandied forest mushroom sauce and grilled lamb chops with rosemary-flavored natural juices and artichoke mousse. The daily specials can be quite as interesting, however, and recently included a grilled slice of veal draped over a mushroom-potato puree, and a trio of fish medallions in papaya-mango vinaigrette. Among daily starters, the crab cake salad was superb, a pair of crisp cakes (composed of 99% crab and 1% seasoning, with not a trace of filler in evidence) bedded on choice baby greens that had been tossed with Chardonnay vinaigrette and shredded sorrel.

The dessert tray offers primarily catered items, a surprising lapse in a restaurant of this pretension, but the homemade creme brulee is beautifully glazed and creamy, and bears a cargo of fresh berries as a bonus. This is a good one to share, provided your dinner partner can be expected to spoon up no more than half.

Delicias

6106 Paseo Delicias, Rancho Santa Fe

Calls: 756-8000

Hours: Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly

Cost: Pastas and entrees $15 to $25; dinner for two, including a moderate bottle of wine, tax and tip, about $70 to $120