Fortune Cookie Offers Tasty Mix of East, West

While “East meets West” has usually indicated more of a culture clash than a successful conjoining, the two blend quite neatly at Rancho Bernardo’s admirable Fortune Cookie.

The restaurant’s name, of course, gives away the Chinese orientation of the cuisine, but the table settings and service are both quite Western (and rather formal, at that), so much so that you wouldn’t be terribly surprised were the waiter to suggest salad with blue cheese dressing followed by a steak, baked potato and cheesecake.

Fortune Cookie actually does offer a couple of steaks, albeit given Chinese treatment, and this may be the only Chinese eatery in the county to present a dessert tray. The decor is pleasant and rather elegant, and the style runs both to sprays of orchids on the tables and to carnations presented as favors to women guests.

Daily specials add interest to a standing menu that by itself offers far more than the usual choices, and the quality of preparation and presentation generally seems quite high. As is true of most local Chinese houses, the appetizer list is the weak link in the chain, but there are a few less-usual offerings, including the “Szechuan slaw” (a tasty relish of potently pickled carrots and cabbage) and the vegetable egg rolls, which include rich black mushrooms in the stuffing.

The tiny bao are somewhat miniaturized versions of the steamed dumplings popular everywhere; what makes them different is the special house dip served on the side. Named “Uncle Charlie sauce” after one of the owners, it combines soy sauce with minced garlic and cilantro, and enough garlic to make the eyes pop--it is good, but strong enough to make the bao themselves seem rather tasteless.

The appetizer list also offers minced chicken in lettuce leaves, done here in an oddly tasteless version that was Fortune Cookie’s one notable failure, and paper-wrapped chicken morsels flavored with aromatic vegetables.

The soup list similarly mentions a lot of the usuals, but if they’re always as good as the “triple delight” sizzling rice soup--well, then they’re very good. A superior, superbly flavored broth gave this dish much of its savor, but the array of garnishes was by no means a minor factor. The bowl included ham, chicken, shrimp, black mushrooms and chunks of pan-crisped rice that sizzled when it hit the broth.

It is worthwhile to listen carefully to the waiter’s recitation of the daily specials. One evening’s notable offering was sea scallops prepared salt-and-pepper style, a classic method that requires the bold but knowing use of these basic seasonings. In this case, the scallops looked dry but had been so well cooked that they burst with juices, and the flavor, sharp and a little hot, was perfect.

The Cleopatra chicken ordered as foil to the scallops was notable more for the unusual name than for flavors that approached the tongue in any special manner. A bit of tomato sauce added to the soy and vegetables with which the sliced breast was cooked made this only slightly different from other basic Chinese chicken dishes. Rather more appealing, the Tung-an chicken gave the bird a boost by adding ginger and vinegar to the onions and garlic in the sauce.

If you do want a rather subtly or quietly flavored dish--and a meatless one, at that--the plate of black mushrooms and bok choy cabbage approaches perfection. The flavors are rich and elegant, yet quite light, and mostly, you want more. To spice up a menu that includes this dish, add the pork Hunan, peppery and mildly aggressive, and quite savory in its effects.

The extensive menu encompasses a full range of typical dishes, spends a good of time with seafood (there are several good preparations of whole, seasonal fish) and adds a supplementary section of “customized dishes,” some of which are indeed unusual. Among these is the spicy pork chop sweetened with a teasing taste of honey, the sliced rare beef (a rarity in Chinese restaurants) in an elaborate sauce, and the amusingly named “munchful scallops,” flavored with cilantro and other strong elements.

As mentioned earlier, Fortune Cookie presents a dessert tray. The chocolate tart, luxurious in its blend of five different chocolates, also is stiff and fudge-like. Much more appropriate and appealing, the delicate ginger mousse offers a crisp, sweet taste of the most typical of Chinese flavors, and is ideal at the end of the meal.

Fortune Cookie

16425 Bernardo Center Drive, Rancho Bernardo

Calls: 451-8958

Hours: Lunch and dinner daily

Cost: Entrees $6.20 to $24; dinner for two, including one glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $25 to $65