Fine Food Fast at FRESH!

FRESH! Cafe and Patisserie joins the ranks of pleasant alternatives to run-of-the-mill breakfasts and conventional lunches in downtown Laguna Beach, an area fast becoming the most interesting culinary destination in Orange County.

Owner Sam Sahli likes to think of his fare as “gourmet food at fast-food prices,” and you won’t get much argument from his happy customers. The cafe is housed in the Collection, a somewhat yuppified

complex that appears to literally hang out over PCH a few blocks south of Broadway. The Collection is already home to the ultra-hip Fahrenheit 451 bookstore and the classy Aegean Cafe, a Greek restaurant. Now, from a foodie’s standpoint, you have a third reason to visit.

Patrons of FRESH! Cafe have the option of sitting at one of the tiny tables squeezed against the wall or outside on a large patio intended to be shared by all the mall merchants. But the cafe functions better as a takeout, despite a pretense of atmosphere provided by paintings from the adjacent Pacific Edge Gallery and the constant fragrance of espresso.

Breakfast is wonderful, thanks to an array of freshly baked muffins, good cinnamon twists and special preparations. Try a chocolate raspberry empanada, light flaky pastry filled with a thin layer of raspberry puree and bittersweet chocolate, a perfect companion for one of the cafe’s seriously frothy cappucci nos. (Espresso is from Illy, a European coffee company.)

For a fuller breakfast, there are dishes such as The Mess, a very French-tasting duck sausage scrambled with tomato, pepper and eggs; a beautifully presented grilled scone served with a fanned-out pear and two hunks of goat cheese (the combination is ethereal) and an eccentric granola topped with a beautiful array of fresh fruit. (I say eccentric because this granola, made on the premises, tastes strongly of peanut butter.)

The lunch dishes--mainly soups, salads and sandwiches--are not exactly surprising, but they definitely are distinctive. How about an artichoke heart, provolone cheese and tomato sandwich on fresh-baked foccaccia? Or something with the cunning name of Thai Cobb salad (wish I’d thought of that), an engaging melange of exotic greens, sun-dried tomatoes, white meat chicken, roasted peanuts and a piquant sesame-oil based dressing?

Soups tend to be hearty and disproportionately large, such as the elbow-macaroni-rich vegetarian minestrone or the chicken corn chowder with big chunks of red skinned potatoes. Fresh albacore tuna comes on squaw bread with a side of pasta salad. More conventional eaters can be content with ham, turkey or roast beef sandwiches, or the dreaded veggie burger, which I did not taste.

The management is environmentally minded. All of items are packaged to go in biodegradable polystyrene or paper containers. Soups, for example, come in fortified paper cups much like large coffee cups.

What this means is that these hot foods are not meant to travel far, so take your picnic basket and a large towel. Hey, the beach is just across the street, remember.

FRESH! CAFE

AND PATISSERIE

540 S. Coast Highway, No. 108, Laguna Beach.

(714) 497-0140.

Open daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

MasterCard and Visa accepted.