Tantalizing Tastes of Past Months Make Memories to Savor : BACK FOR SECONDS

I won’t say I haven’t eaten well during the past several months, but recent dining trends in Orange County and nationally have moved kitchens away from smashing individual effort. In a sluggish economy, the money is in volume, which explains why Wolfgang Puck is looking to his pizza cafe concept and why top chefs everywhere are concentrating on spiffy mall locations and franchise consulting jobs.

This may also explain why my latest “best dishes” list is perhaps less compelling than past ones, seen annually at this time.

Italian food is everywhere at the moment, as are good concept restaurants such as La Salsa, Benita’s Frites and Sfuzzi, places where I did some of my most enjoyable eating in recent months. And thank heaven for those small ethnic cafes, which provide welcome relief to the sameness in great numbers of our restaurants.

So once again, with no particular rhyme, reason or order, a list of favorite foods:

Hot white chocolate and raspberry souffle: With all the good things executive chef John Sharpe prepares at his eclectic, exuberant Topaz Cafe, it seems a bit odd to single out a dessert as his crowning achievement. Thing is, though, this is the one dish--a puffy, elegant cloud of rich dessert flavors--that I keep coming back to in my fantasies.

Eaten at lunch, it’s enough to make you swoon for the rest of the afternoon.

Topaz Cafe, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. (714) 835-2002. Hot white chocolate and raspberry souffle, $5.95.

Pizza quattro formaggi: Steven Singer is another corporate genius; indeed, the 20 Sfuzzi locations nationwide all abound with his upscale Italian creations.

In Costa Mesa, head chef Susan Kaitz puts out wonderful pizzas, all of which are served on porous earthenware platters that keep the thin crusts appealingly crisp. Her four-cheese pizza ( quattro formaggi ) isn’t available every day, but when it is on special, it is a knockout, literally drooling thin rivulets of pungent imported cheeses.

Sfuzzi, Triangle Square Mall, 1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 548-9500. Pizza quattro formaggi, $8.95.

Champon: Ramen is the garlicky, carbo-happy staple of the average Japanese businessman’s diet--long, thin noodles slurped up from huge bowls.

Champon is the characteristic dish of Nagasaki: a Portuguese inspired bowlful of salted Ramen noodles with shrimp, pork, squid, vegetables and squiggly fish cakes.

Ebisu Ramen’s version tastes exactly like one you would eat in Nagasaki. The only difference is the price; here, about half what you’d pay in Japan.

Ebisu Ramen, 18924-A Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley. (714) 964-5993. Champon, $5.75.

Pork chops glazed with balsamic vinegar: Laguna’s elegant and pricey Sorrento Grille has built a reputation on simple, sumptuous Italian dishes made from high-quality ingredients. The restaurant’s thick pork chops glazed with a light coating of balsamic vinegar have a faintly sweet, wistfully herbal flavor, and the porcini-infused mashed potatoes they sit on are sheer heaven.

The only thing this dish will lighten, though, is your wallet.

Sorrento Grille, 370 Gleneyre St., Laguna Beach. (714) 494-8686. Pork chops glazed with balsamic vinegar, $21.95.

Jujeh shekemi: You won’t find jujeh shekemi on the menu at Bahar, a Corona del Mar Persian restaurant, but if you’re lucky, you’ll persuade co-manager Sohila Rastegar to venture into the kitchen and prepare some for you. (It’s been known to happen.)

This festive dish is basically chicken stuffed with walnuts, raisins and barberries, a specialty from northern Iran near the Caspian Sea. It’s the one chicken dish I know of that combines meat, fruit and nuts with consummate skill.

Bahar, 2640 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. (714) 640-1515. Jujeh shekemi, $12.95.

Chicharrones en chile rojo: Everything, from the thick, pulpy juices to the fragrant, fluffy rice, is terrific at Ivan Calderon’s Taco Mesa, a Costa Mesa food stand where Mexican cuisine scales new heights here in Orange County. But the homey chicharrones en chile rojo, a dish from dieter’s hell, shows Calderon’s true colors.

It’s stewed bits of pork skin in a smoky red sauce, about as far from Mexican hamburger stand food as you can get.

And it is delicious.

Taco Mesa, 647 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. (714) 642-0629. Chicharrones en chile rojo, $4.95.

Kitfo: Michael Belay broke new ground last spring when he opened Ras Dashen, the county’s first Ethiopian restaurant.

Ethiopian cuisine is one of the cooking world’s true oddities: highly spiced dishes eaten on injera, a spongy millet bread.

Kitfo is similar to steak tartare : buttery, hand-chopped beef with spices that render it the color of dark stained wood. But be warned, the dish is fairly hot, from a mixture of chilies, rue seed, caraway, cardamom and ginger, calling cards of the east African kitchen.

Ras Dashen, 12549 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove. (714) 638-4260. Kitfo, $5.99.

Oak-grilled artichoke: Seal Beach isn’t a restaurant town, but a winemaker named Walt Babcock would like you to think of it as one.

His peerless seafood house, Walt’s Wharf, is easily the best restaurant here, though, oddly, the best dish the restaurant serves isn’t seafood. It is, rather, a sensational oak-grilled artichoke served simply with a Worcestershire-mayonnaise dip, great eating when combined with the restaurant’s good sourdough bread and a glass of (what else?) Babcock Chardonnay.

Walt’s Wharf, 201 Main St., Seal Beach. (310) 598-4433. Oak-grilled artichoke, $5.50.

Granita di espresso: Pino Luongo is one of New York City’s most celebrated restaurateurs, proprietor of such spots as Le Madri and Coco Pazzo, two of that city’s best known Italian restaurants.

Lucky for us, he doesn’t just love New York.

Luongo’s wonderful Piccola Cucina may be Orange County’s best Italian restaurant. The shaved ice that Italians call granita is wonderfully refreshing, and Piccola Cucina’s is fabulous, a grainy, intense sorbet layered with thick gobs of panna , unsweetened whipped cream.

Piccola Cucina, 3333 Bristol St., No. 3001, Costa Mesa. (714) 556-5844. Granita di espresso, $4.50.

Banh beo Tay Thuong: The remarkable Tran family is responsible for Hue Rendez-Vous, one of Little Saigon’s few restaurants serving the exotic fare of central Vietnam.

Ban beo are tiny, chewy, rice flour crepes as prepared in a village named Tay Thuong. You get a dozen or so--diaphanous things topped with pork cracklings and shrimp paste--served on tiny saucers. The crepes are so thin they are nearly invisible, but the dish is one you will never forget.

Hue Rendez-Vous, 15562 Brookhurst St., Westminster. (714) 775-7192. Banh beo Tay Thuong, $3.25.

Roast chicken: Who doesn’t love good roast chicken, crisp skin and soft meat falling off the bone when you give it a good push?

La Salsa, a chain of taquerias that has recently opened a sit-down restaurant in Triangle Square, has the roasters positioned right near the door, so you can smell the birds cooking as you walk by.

This is great chicken that drips spices and oozes flavor. It’s certainly the best chicken I’ve had in many months.

La Salsa, Triangle Square, 1807 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 646-0397. Roast chicken, $6.95 (half), $4.95 (quarter).

Torshi: Persian food, as it is presented in the restaurants around here, is mostly a series of kabobs and rice. Alborz in Laguna Hills goes the competition one better by serving stews and casseroles that nearly rival good home cooking.

But it is the remarkable torshi , tart pickled vegetables, that really make an impression here. Alborz’ version, which cuts the richness of the entrees, typically includes carrots, onions and cauliflower. For the intrepid, sometimes there is also pickled garlic, individual cloves that penetrate to the very heart.

Alborz, 25381 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Hills. (714) 472-0064. Torshi, $3.

Clam fritters: Who woulda thunk it? Top quality New England-style cooking in La Habra.

Ken Golden, that’s who.

This Cape Cod-born chef dazzles diners with Orange County’s best clam chowder, great pot roast and even Indian pudding, a molasses and cornmeal dessert.

Clam fritters are simple, crunchy, silver dollar-size griddle cakes made from an eggy batter and permeated with fresh chopped clams. You eat them with a creamy homemade tartar sauce that puts commercial sauces to shame.

Bay Colony, 115 N. Harbor Blvd., La Habra. (714) 525-8288. Clam fritters, $5.95.

Club sandwich: Bob Burns is a bastion of California/Continental-style cooking, the sort of dark, clubby place where you still encounter Cobb salad, sauteed calf’s liver and Black Angus beef.

My favorite thing to eat here is the club sandwich, a symphony of terrific, meaty applewood-smoked bacon, Bibb lettuce, grilled chicken and sliced avocado, all punctuated in grand style by a delicate tarragon mayonnaise.

Simply stated, it is the perfect lunch.

Bob Burns, 881 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 644-2030. Club sandwich, $7.95.

Lasagnette all’Emiliana: The oddly situated Da Vinci (in Santa Ana’s Bluebird Inn) is surely one of the county’s most accomplished and surprising Italian restaurants. Owner Layla Boyajian had the daring to import two young Italian chefs, Roberto Borsani from Bergamo and Alberto Gianti from Milan, and her passion has paid dividends.

This rich lasagna consists of nine layers of homemade noodles made with lots of whole egg, a toothsome ragu of veal and a thick Bechamel sauce. Don’t even think about it if you want a light meal.

Da Vinci, 2222 E. 1st. St., Santa Ana. (714) 285-1130. Lasagnette all’Emiliana, $9.75.

Banh mi and bo kho: Don’t be fooled by the exotic names; these two items are really nothing more than beef stew and chewy fresh rolls, translated into Vietnamese.

Song Long is a wonderful little crossover cafe combining the foods of Vietnam and France; it’s a place where you can eat shrimp paste or orange duck.

The beef stew is loaded with chunks of soft beef and steamed potato; the rolls are baked fresh daily in the cafe, and the price is a steal.

Song Long, 9361 Bolsa Ave., Westminster. (714) 775-3724. Banh mi and bo kho, $4.25.

Confetti oysters: Normally, one doesn’t expect to find good food at a jazz club, but talented Steve Palmer breaks all the rules at Randell’s in Hutton Center, Santa Ana.

Palmer cooks up lots of Cajun- and California-style fare, but these oysters are the one dish I keep coming back to. They are coated in cornmeal and fried crisp, then put back into their shells with a colorful chipotle chili remoulade and sprinkled with diced red and yellow peppers.

Randell’s, Three Hutton Center Drive, Santa Ana. (714) 556-7700. Confetti oysters, $9.95.

Paella: Pepe Santamarina is from northern Spain, but his restaurant, Mascarpone, specializes in Italian cuisine.

Nonetheless, call 24 hours in advance and Santamarina will prepare you his paella , the saffron-flavored rice casserole that is Spain’s national dish.

This is simply great eating, a huge ceramic crock brimming with shellfish, calamari, pork riblets, chorizo, chicken and, of course, the rice. Santamarina even has the perfect wine--Spain’s Arborino--to serve as an accompaniment.

Mascarpone, 1448 E. Katella Ave., Orange. (714) 633-0101. Paella, call for price.

Peking duck: Many of our fancier Chinese restaurants churn out versions of this classic Chinese dish, but none do it better than China Best, a modest, mom-and-pop-style Cypress cafe.

A masterpiece of lacquered skin, lean meat and soft bones, the dish needs to be ordered two days in advance. Chef Hsu Mu-Yen carves the bird and serves it inside crepes with scallions and a pungent plum sauce. At under $20, it is almost a miracle.

China Best, 4758 Lincoln Ave., Cypress. (714) 827-8170. Peking duck, $19.95.

Shelton Farm turkey: Leave it to Hans Prager, proprietor of Newport Beach’s Ritz and Yankee Tavern, to fancy up an American classic to the point that it is actually improved upon.

Shelton Farm turkey is moist and soft, with a flavor somewhere between wild and frozen, as good as you will find in a restaurant. Here, the sliced meat comes on a delicious but light pecan stuffing with fine giblet gravy.

It’s always Thanksgiving in Newport, we guess.

Yankee Tavern, 333 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 675-5333. Shelton Farm turkey, $11.95.

Kubbeh nayya: Kubbeh nayya may be, along with kitfo, reigning monarch of the world’s raw meat dishes. A man named Hassan Hassan serves it up at his Lebanese restaurant in Newport Beach.

The dish is finely ground lamb infused with sweet basil, hot cayenne, cumin seed and cinnamon, all thickened with bulgur wheat. The best way to eat it is on slices of toasted pita bread, with a glass of robust red wine.

Hassan’s, 3325 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 675-4668. Kubbeh nayya, $14.

Hungarian goulash soup: Gulyas, or goulash in English, is really a spicy Hungarian soup made a burnished red through an overwhelming dose of paprika. Arnie’s Manhattan, a Jewish-style deli in Newport Beach, makes the best version I know of, thick, ruddy and chock full of beef and potato.

Eat a bowlful alongside slices of the restaurant’s seeded rye bread and half-sour pickles. It’s deli heaven at bargain basement prices.

Arnie’s Manhattan, 1660-B Dove St., Newport Beach. (714) 252-8646. Hungarian goulash soup, $2 (cup), $3.95 (bowl).

Three amigo beans: All of the tomato-less Santa Maria-style barbecue at the new Johnny D’s in Huntington Beach is terrific--smoky, complex meats that are at once spicy and mysterious. But it is one of the accompaniments, three amigo beans, that really stands out.

The dish is composed of white, kidney and butter beans, slow cooked with vinegar, ginger, coriander and possibly curry powder.

They stay with you, believe me.

Johhny D’s Open Pit Grill, 7320 Center Ave., Huntington Beach. (714) 373- 4372. Three amigo beans, $2.25 (8 oz.), $3.95 (16 oz.).

Belgian fries: Belgians are the real purveyors of the french fry, a snack eaten on every street corner in the country. The fabulous Benita’s Frites serves the Southland’s best fries in paper cones, cholesterol-free potatoes blanched in low-temp oil and then fried to a crackling crisp.

Terrific sauces, however, are what make this concept take off. Choose from more than 20 international toppings: sambala chili, radicchio lemon garlic mayo, peanut curry satay and more.

Benita’s Frites, 245 Pine Ave., Long Beach. (310) 458-2889. Fries, $1.95, $2.95, $3.95.

Muhammara: Tosh’s Mediterranean is the only restaurant in Orange County to offer authentic Turkish dishes, great kabobs, borek (flaky stuffed pastries) and honey-rich desserts.

Muhammara is one of the appetizers here, and it is a real oddity: crushed walnuts mixed with bread crumbs, cayenne pepper and olive oil. It looks and feels like mortar, but it is a great way to start an exotic meal.

Tosh’s Mediterranean, 16871 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach. (714) 842-3315. Muhammara, $3.25.