Hungry as a Bear? Quiet the Growling With Lunch From This Cafe

Bear St. Cafe is a big, art-filled space in a pleasant corner of the Crystal Court mall, as pleasant for dining in as out. Its canvas chairs and patio tables give it a Bohemian appeal. Just adjacent to the front door is a mini-market area, filled with such goodies as maple fudge from Vermont, exotic cooking oils, honeys, pastas and a healthy selection of boutique California wines.

The owner is a charming Monegasque woman named Margareth Giauffer, formerly with Piret’s, a branch of which is located across the street in South Coast Plaza. Piret’s trained Giauffer well--too well, in fact. I much prefer the food at Bear St. to anything I have tasted at Piret’s.

Bear St. makes all its own breads and desserts, maintaining a consistently high standard in the process. The cafe specializes in salads, soups and sandwiches--in short, lunch fare, just the sort of stuff you’d want to bring back to the office for a small group. They also have a few hot dishes for dinner, which they’ll be happy to pack up for you in bubble-topped plastic boxes.

The soups come in eight- or 14-ounce insulated cups for $1.80 and $3 respectively; they’re homey recipes, such as thick split pea or chock-full-of-rice chicken. Most of the sandwiches ($5.50) come on crunchy homemade French baguettes. The vegetarian sandwich is a doozer: roasted peppers, eggplant and hunks of runny Brie cheese. A simple smoked turkey sandwich is livened with sliced mozzarella.

One thing not to miss are the pizzas. The crusts are thin and bubbly, and the toppings are imaginative and even exotic. Spinach, walnut and Fontina cheese pizza is a knockout, a topping inspired by Giauffer’s Greek manager. The walnuts are crushed, and the spinach tastes pure, as if it had been pulled from the earth seconds before.

This is an informal place where you order from a Formica-topped counter, flanked on each side by a glass case. One case contains salads: a mild Caesar served with strips of charcoal grilled chicken, a toothsome rice salad with fresh corn and the cafe’s sensational Waldorf, made with oversized chunks of potato, apple and those ubiquitous crushed walnuts.

The other side is the killer: rich gooey desserts on irresistible display. Bear St. lemon torte is smooth, lemony and rich, as good looking as the pans of dense date bars, fudgy, intense brownies and glazed cinnamon rolls. The creamy stuff we won’t even deal with. Who wants to put in an afternoon’s work after a plateful of these temptations?

Good cappuccinos, too, to wake you if you do overindulge.

* BEAR ST. CAFE

Crystal Court, first level, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa.

(714) 751-CAFE.

7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m Sundays.

American Express, MasterCard, Visa.