San Diego Spotlight : Revamped Pacifica Grill Tones Down Prices, Spices

Pacifica Grill has reinvented itself more times by far than any other San Diego restaurant.

This place seems to have more personas than Shirley Maclaine, more lives than Felix the Cat, and nearly as many faces as Lon Chaney.

Over the years, this consistently trendy eatery on the downtown stretch of Kettner Boulevard has offered a seafood emphasis, Cajun stuff, “grazing,” California cuisine, less-focused contemporary cuisine, Southwestern cuisine, Pacific Rim cuisine, or, in short, virtually every modern cuisine. Pacifica Grill never has attempted contemporary variations on traditional Tibetan fare, but give them time; the Nineties have just begun.

The latest transmogrification actually involves a minor name change, so that the restaurant now styles itself Pacifica Grill & Rotisserie. Since some old favorites from previous menus have been retained, and very few items are cooked on the rotisserie, the name change seems primarily cosmetic. The restaurant’s decor likewise has undergone a successful face-lift; it still looks cool, comfortable and contemporary, but now looks fresh as well.

More interesting and important are the downshift in prices and the accompanying switch to fare a little less exotic--in some cases--than in the past. Grilled veal liver and smoked (on the premises, of course) pork chops and baby back ribs have been added to the entree list and, in a more definite departure, the lunch and dinner menus now offer a hamburger and a dressy club sandwich of grilled shrimp with designer bacon (from a boutique smokehouse) and avocado. Facing facts, Pacifica has added the city’s all-time favorite, New England clam chowder, to a soup list that formerly would have mocked anything quite so banal.

Due to the insistence and, one might say, inspiration of partners Deacon Brown and Kipp Downing, Pacifica Grill and its sister eateries (Pacifica Del Mar and Old Town’s Cafe Pacifica) always have aimed at a certain hipness. This continues with certain whimsies in the decor (such as the framed neckties that line a back hall), with a relatively brief wine list that offers significant depth, and with menu notes such as “in the spirit of conservation, free range water is served upon request.” The comment coyly refers to free-range chicken, the trendy bird of the Eighties; the water in question comes straight from the tap.

The design of the starter list continues to make the option of meal composed solely of openers quite attractive. If the simple green and Caesar salads are a bit more sensible than the greenery plates of the past--the warm spinach salad with grilled lamb and oyster mushrooms continues to display some of the old Pacifica spunk--the appetizers still take untrodden paths.

Treats include garlic-flavored grilled chicken in a radicchio lettuce cup, with a dressing of soy and ginger, and duck fajitas with sun-dried cherries. The crab cakes, if rather tame in seasoning, are composed of nothing but high-quality crab, and the spicy shrimp mix numerous metaphors by resembling both high-tech sopes a la russe and Mexican-style blinis. Served atop small corn pancakes, the shrimp are dressed with a bit of salsa cruda and drizzled with free-form squiggles of sour cream.

It need hardly be mentioned that there are pastas and pizzas, except that these take the house tone and defy tradition; there isn’t a plate of macaroni with tomato sauce to be found. The vegetarian pizza offers a topping of grilled zucchini, eggplant, peppers and red onion, and the pastas range from blue cheese-stuffed ravioli with toasted almond pesto to linguine tossed with vegetables, oil and cheese.

Among entrees, two arrive from the rotisserie, a chicken basted with a soy-brown sugar-pineapple marinade, and duck glazed with a mixture of honey and orange juice. Chutneys and fancy salsas bring life to a number of otherwise simple plates, as in the pork chops with fresh apple chutney and the sea bass with three salsas. The pineapple with the stuffed prawns is sharp but sweet rather than hot, and it brings a pleasant life to the bacon-sheathed grilled shrimp. One evening’s special, a beautifully juicy pork tenderloin , was joined by a rather sumptuous salsa of mangoes and piquant habanera peppers.

Entrees that call for moderation in seasoning receive it, and there is nothing sharp or hot about the braised veal shank in red wine sauce, a restrained cousin of osso bucco that features too mild a sauce but excellent, perfectly braised meat. Caramelized onions dress the grilled veal liver (this is a popular pairing in France), and the grilled rib-eye steak is finished with shiitake mushrooms and brown sauce. The grilled skirt steak, the bargain basement entree at $10.50, gets a bit of dressing up with a garnish of blue cheese and roasted garlic.

Pacifica Grill always has taken a rather extravagant tone with desserts, and despite the down-scaling that has taken place in other departments of the menu, it continues to dish up lavish portions of rich, creamy sweets. The all-time house favorite, creme brulee (which Pacifica Grill single-handedly popularized in San Diego) remains the star of the list, but there are several excellent additions. The apple cobbler, served warm with vanilla bean ice cream and a thick, marvelous bath of caramel sauce, is homey and delicious, but surpassed by the even more rich, more flavorful and more grandly sauced peach bread pudding.

JUST A TASTE

HIGHLIGHTS OF OTHER NELSON REVIEWS

PACHANGA, 314 Fifth Ave., San Diego, 235-4545. As much a nightclub as a restaurant, this newest Gaslamp Quarter establishment offers an exciting mood, live Latin music and a well-prepared menu of typical Mexican dishes. Particular praise goes to the carnitas , or long-cooked cubes of pork; the pollo en la quinta , or chicken sauced with a medley of vegetables, and the well-seasoned carne asada . Desserts are the weak link on the menu, but the “pachanguito” comes off as a decent, Mexicanized version of apple pie. Entrees priced from $5.75 to $10.75. Moderate.

THE BOONDOCKS, 8320 Parkway Drive, La Mesa, 465-3660. Out-of-sight if not truly out-of-the-way, this comfortable, somewhat folksy eatery in the corner of a suburban strip center has the virtue of doing a much better job than is usual with the generic Southern California restaurant menu of prime rib, steaks, Alaskan king crab, shrimp tempura and teriyaki chicken breast. The menu expands widely on these themes to allow for such more complicated and tasty preparations as the Chicago-style pepper steak (buried beneath a saute of mushrooms and chopped bacon), rack of lamb and crab-stuffed shrimp. Yes, it serves rice pilaf, but also offers the unusual Odessa potato, a baked spud seasoned with a bit of vodka and caviar. Entrees $10.95 to $19.95. Moderate to expensive.

LADER’S OF LA MESA, 5654 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa, 463-9919. Although very much a modest, informal neighborhood restaurant, Lader’s offers more than most casual Italian eateries by supplementing the usual spaghetti-pizza-submarine sandwich menu with a secondary list of “gourmet” entrees that extends to such things as cannelloni stuffed with dilled king salmon, fettuccine with a creamed artichoke sauce and chicken in a pungent sauce that includes roasted bell peppers. On occasion, specials include bell peppers stuffed with duck and a pasta called “the Italian handkerchief” that finishes an immense square of veal and cheese-filled dough with a rich, winey mushroom sauce. Portions are large, but the truly hungry may want to nibble on the baked-to-order “cheesy garlic bread” while awaiting the entrees. Entrees $7.95 to $11.95. Moderate.

PACIFICA GRILL & ROTISSERIE, 1202 Kettner Blvd., San Diego, 696-9226, Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly, Pastas and entrees $7.90 to $16.50. Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $35 to $70. Credit cards accepted