SPOTLIGHT : IF WISHES WERE DISHES : Don’t Let 1994 Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth--Here Are 25 Ways to Pique Your Palate

The earth shook, the treasury crumbled and the world of Orange County restaurants spun slightly out of orbit during Anno Domini 1994.

Let’s face it. This was less than a banner year for restaurants, not only in Orange County, but in all of in Southern California.

A national magazine featured a story about how San Francisco has taken back the mantle from Los Angeles as the premier dining town on the West Coast, and for what it’s worth, I concur.

Around here, most of the interesting rumblings continued to come from the far side of the Pacific Rim. First-rate Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian restaurants opened this year, while our best French, Italian and American restaurants plodded along without any major changes. One of our more promising new restaurants, Irvine’s Cassis, has failed to drum up much local business. Meanwhile, formula restaurants like Claim Jumper and Cheesecake Factory, geared to the mass market, pack in the crowds with depressing regularity.

Once again I’ve compiled a list of 25 good dishes experienced during this past year. As always, they are in no particular order.

A large proportion of the dishes represent Asia, but that reflects no bias toward Asian cuisines.

If I have any bias, it is for good, honest flavors. I’ll be out there digging for more of them in 1995.

Count on it.

Tara

The extraordinary Osaka Kappo might have been the Orange County restaurant find of the year, a casual Japanese cafe where a man named Itsuki-san cooks earthy, intensely delicious dishes. Most Japanese chefs simply broil tara (butterfish) in the oven, brushing it lightly with a teriyaki glaze. This fish comes topped with a wispy, lightly browned cloud of egg, hiding Japanese herbs and slices of matsutake, the king of Japanese mushrooms. Extraordinary.

Osaka Kappo, 13861 Newport Ave., Tustin. (714) 730-7051. Tara, $7.95.

Halibut Teriyaki

Talented chef Todd Clore is making a name for himself at Claes Seafood Etc. in the Hotel Laguna. He has made this restaurant, without fanfare, O.C.’s best seafood restaurant. Halibut teriyaki is another dish that pays homage to Japanese cooking techniques. Clore uses a thick filet, studded with white sesame and glazed with a teriyaki sauce that is at once less sweet and more subtle than one a Japanese chef would favor. You won’t leave a grain of the side dish, a rich coconut rice that nearly steals the show.

Claes Seafood Etc., 425 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (714) 494-1151. Halibut teriyaki, $16.

Roast Christmas Goose

You may have to wait until the next holiday season to eat Christmas goose in a local restaurant. But I’m hoping the response to Yankee Tavern’s terrific roast goose will be so enthusiastic, the management will put it on the menu all year long. Goose is richer, denser and gamier than duck. Yankee Tavern’s goose has a crackling skin, delicious meat and sides of red cabbage, stewed apples and good mixed vegetables. I’m already counting the days until next Christmas.

Yankee Tavern, 32441 Street of the Golden Lantern, Laguna Niguel. (714) 240-4994. Roast Christmas goose, $17.50.

Philadelphia Cheesesteak

Cheesesteaks are a religion in the City of Brotherly Love, and Philly transplant Bob Levey is obviously a believer. To make this classic American sandwich, Levey has literally everything--the bread, the meat, even the cheese--flown in from his home town. The effort pays off. Eat your sandwich, stuffed with grilled, ultra-thin slabs of rib eye, grilled onions, marinated sweet peppers and a choice of provolone or white American cheese. Then wash it down with a Frank’s Wishniak black cherry soda, another Philly tradition.

Philly’s Best, 18691 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, (714) 968-2448; also 4250 Barranca Parkway, Irvine, (714) 857-2448. Cheesesteak, $4.79.

Chocolate Thigh Cream

Yep, you read right. Desserts are a specialty with Sean Grovier, head chef at Sunset Grille and Bar. Grovier once did an apprenticeship for the royal court of Denmark, and he is one of the most imaginative dessert makers we have. This dessert proves it. It’s a pate-like confection of crushed macadamias, pecans, cappuccino, amaretto, chocolate, whipped cream and butter. Don’t tell your cardiologist.

Sunset Grille and Bar, 34150 Pacific Coast Highway, Dana Point. (714) 661-5220. Chocolate thigh cream, $4.95.

Martabak

Walk down any major street in Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur, and you’ll see street vendors cooking up a tasty concoction that resembles a rolled up crepe. They call this martabak, an egg-batter pancake filled with spiced ground beef or other savory fillings. Asian Deli, a small Indonesian restaurant in Orange, serves a mean one, cut into eight pieces and topped with a terrific cucumber peanut relish. It makes a perfect midafternoon snack.

Asian Deli, 320 E. Katella Ave., Orange. (714) 532-4588. Martabak, $1.75.

Combo Ribs

If you aren’t familiar with Santa Maria-style barbecue, you’d better head over to Papa’s Western Barbecue in Long Beach. Owner Louie Leppo cooks his meats over red oak embers, without basting, flavored only by natural juices and a marinade of salt, pepper and garlic. Combo ribs gives you pork, beef and baby back pork ribs, a trencherman’s portion. Eat these meats with poquito beans, small round legumes that are a cross between pinto and red beans.

Papa’s Western Barbecue, 5305 Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach. (310) 597- 4212. Combo ribs, $13.95.

Sea Bass With Thyme Crust

Pascal and Mimi Olhats opened their epicerie, literally “spice market,” to fill a void. Here is a place where one can buy imported cheeses, French wines, breads from La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles, pates, prepared foods and other critical elements of a fine French meal. You can order Pascal’s signature dish, sea bass with a thyme bread crumb crust, next door in his restaurant. But for less than half that price, you can go next door, take one home and feast in private comfort.

Pascal Epicerie and Wine, 1000 Bristol St., Newport Beach. (714) 261-9041. Sea bass with thyme crust, $7.95.

Polenta Con Gamberi

The ambitious Il Fornaio is impressive, a huge, neoclassical palace that attracts power lunchers, the Performing Arts elite and Italophiles from all around. Not everything is perfect here, but polenta con gamberi is one thing that is. It’s a soft, soupy polenta (Italian cornmeal) flavored by a powerful shrimp broth and topped with a pile of exquisitely grilled shrimp. Few of our restaurant do justice to this staple of northern Italy. This restaurant does it proud.

Il Fornaio Gastronomia Italia, 18051 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. (714) 261-1444. Polenta con gamberi, $7.95.

Mixed Barbecue Plate

Sam Woo B.B.Q. is an authentic Cantonese barbecue restaurant, complete with hanging duck, chopped chickens and pork products you never even knew existed. The menu lists a staggering 223 dishes, but none are better than the mixed barbecue plate, which changes daily. A typical example; sweet-edged char siu (barbecued pork) cut into strips; roast pig, skin on; crisp roasted duck, in pieces; and a helping of ruddy sliced cuttlefish, everything redolent of star anise, ginger and more Chinese barbecue spice magic.

Sam Woo B.B.Q., 15333 Culver Drive, Irvine. (714) 262-0888. Mixed barbecue plate, $11.95.

Gnocchi Gorgonzola

The best barometer for pastas at an Italian restaurant is gnocchi. When they are good, usually everything else is. Mangia Mangia is a small pasta joint in Huntington beach with a large local following. Chef-owner Pietro Cefalu makes his gnocchi--small, pearl-shaped dumplings--almost entirely out of potato flour, with a bit of semolina thrown in for binder. They float up to your mouth, complemented by a creamy, pungent gorgonzola sauce.

Mangia Mangia, 16709 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. (714) 841-8887. Gnocchi gorgonzola, $10.95.

Pommes Dauphine

Byron Gemmell’s pommes dauphine might have been the single most wonderful thing I tasted in all of 1994. These are merely golden puffs of pureed potato, pan sauteed and served, if you like, with a bit of sour cream. Gemmell serves them exclusively as a side dish, with neoclassical French preparations such as duck with green peppercorn sauce and poached salmon in parsley sauce. But if you’re nice, he may have the waiter bring you an extra plate of them.

Cassis, 2636 Dupont Drive, Irvine. (714) 476-3092. Pommes dauphine, $4.

Coconut-Date Rice Pudding

Dexter’s is a funky, artsy little space that I’d call the quintessential Laguna restaurant. Chef Scott Savoy cooks in a baseball cap, and his food is quite original. After plowing through one of his multilayered entrees, top off a meal with one of the most luxuriant desserts I’ve ever tasted. Coconut-date rice pudding is thick and creamy, like an Indian khir. Finely shredded coconut and crystallized date take the dessert to a spiritual plane.

Dexter’s, 2892 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (714) 497-8912. Coconut-date rice pudding, $4.

Somen

On hot, muggy summer days, Japanese slurp down endless quantities of somen-- long, squiggly noodles, eaten cold, piled on a bamboo mat. Yoshimi Soba is Orange County’s most accomplished Japanese noodle shop, a modest Anaheim storefront with a Japanese character sign. Eat your somen with a terrific dipping sauce embellished with green onion and wasabi (green horseradish). They refresh the palate, and magically, sate the appetite too.

Yoshimi Soba, 10424 Knott St., Anaheim. (714) 761-8750. Somen, $4.50.

Peking Duck

Jack Mau’s China Palace is a hokey, tropical-themed establishment on a heavily tourist-visited stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. What a surprise it is to discover that Mau’s kitchen is dead serious. Just try Peking duck here and see if you don’t agree. This is a big, gorgeous bird, presented whole at your table, carved up and then served in three courses, from pancakes to soup. Because you don’t need to order the duck in advance, Mau sells a dozen on a busy evening. The number ought to be higher.

China Palace, 2800 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach. (714) 631-8031. Peking duck, $26.

Meze

Zov Karmardian is of Armenian descent. Her restaurant, Zov’s Bistro, is a skillful blend of France, California and the Near East. I cannot imagine starting a meal here without ordering her meze , a fabulous appetizer plate that sells for less than $5. It’s a generous assortment of ripe olives, feta cheese, pickled turnips, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, the eggplant dip called baba ghannouj , walnut caviar and kubba, light meatballs in a cracked wheat crust. Wow!

Zov’s Bistro, 17440 E. 17th St., Tustin. (714) 838-8855. Meze, $4.95.

Viennese Ice Coffee

Everyone knows the name Wolfgang Puck these days. He’s probably the most famous chef in America. Wolfgang Puck Cafe in South Coast Plaza serves a distillation of the good dishes that made his reputation at Spago, his West Hollywood restaurant. But the best thing on the menu here is not a Puck creation at all. Rather, it’s a simple Viennese fact of life: espresso, thick whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. I could drink one every afternoon.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. (714) 546-9653. Viennese ice coffee, $4.50.

Jack Shrimp

Jack Jasper is Jack Shrimp, in the Newport Beach production. He’s the brother of one of the creative forces behind Killer Shrimp of Marina del Rey and Studio City, from which this concept derives. Imagine a dish of eight to 10 huge, plump Gulf shrimp, bobbing up and down in a rich piquant sauce that Jasper simmers from early morning to late afternoon. Have the shrimp with pasta, rice, or the simplest way, with sourdough bread. It’s a, er, killer.

Jack Shrimp, 2400 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach. (714) 650-5577. Jack Shrimp, $9.95 to $11.95.

Guacamole

Chef John Sharpe wouldn’t divulge the recipe for his secret salsa, so I guess I’ll just have to head back to his Saddlerock Ranch for another bout with the stuff. This dip is a classic version, mashed up Hass avocados, chopped tomato and the salsa, made at your table by the friendly staff. It’s the very best thing to eat at this family-themed restaurant, and you get enough to feed a family of four.

Saddlerock Ranch, 3966 Barranca Parkway, Irvine. (714) 262-0864. Guacamole, $5.95.

Steak Tartare

What could be less politically correct than the beleaguered steak tartare ? Not only is it red meat, it is raw red meat. The elegant Nieuport 17 isn’t accommodating any trends. The restaurant serves a proper steak tartare, top grade minced sirloin, capers, onions, egg and a dash of Worcestershire, punctuated by buttered grilled toasts. Come Sunday evening, and follow the tartare with chef Lane’s famous Southern Fried chicken.

Nieuport 17, 13051 Newport Ave., Tustin. (714) 731-5130. Steak tartare, $8.50.

Breakfast Treats

The chic, sleek Haute Cakes is a gem at breakfast. Bring a friend, or two, and order the outrageous garlic poppy seed bagel, a perfect cinnamon custard Danish, old-fashioned buttermilk pancakes served with a splash of pure Vermont maple syrup, or the haute scramble--eggs, spinach, tomato, leek and goat cheese. Great cappuccinos, terrific potatoes. They even hand press apples for their murky, refreshing homemade juice.

Haute Cakes, 1807 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 642-4114. Breakfasts, $3 to $5.25.

Soft Tofu

Soft tofu with oysters and beef is served bubbling hot in a dolsot, a Korean kettle made of cast iron. It’s the Dish of the Year. Anyone who hasn’t eaten soft tofu, silk filtered and smoother than glass, hasn’t really eaten tofu. These little squares of soybean curd are astounding, as well as nutritious, digestible and low calorie. Soft Tofu Restaurant will make your tofu in a spicy broth--plain, with beef, with oysters, or my choice, with both oysters and beef. The seven or eight accompanying side dishes, panch’an in Korean, are also delightful.

Soft Tofu Restaurant, 9542 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove. (714) 539-4511. Soft tofu, $4.99 to $6.99.

Double-Baked Rye Bread

Arnie’s Manhattan opened a small deli in Newport’s MacArthur Square this year. At last there is a serviceable pastrami sandwich in Orange County. What makes the sandwich is something they call double-baked rye bread, meaning that the bread is baked elsewhere, then given an additional turn in the deli’s own oven to ensure a thick, chewy crust. Have the bread with any sandwich, or have a basket with the restaurant’s fine goulash soup. It’s good plain, too.

Arnie’s Manhattan, 1660-B Dove St., Newport Beach. (714) 252-8646. Sandwiches, $4.59 to $6.99.

Walnut Torte

Few among us go to health food restaurants in order to pig out on rich desserts. I’m one of those people. The newly opened Last Mango in Newport has a great, creamy orange muscat cheesecake and a fine apple oatmeal crisp, but both are upstaged by the walnut torte. Imagine an impossibly heavy, nutty suspension of nuts, syrup and sugar with a streusel topping and a hearty, graham flour crust. I feel better already.

The Last Mango in Newport, 2900 Newport Beach Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 723-5778. Walnut torte, $4.50.

Stuffed Chicken

A Palestinian woman, Shadra Issa, prepares great Middle Eastern cuisine in her small Jerusalem Restaurant and Bakery, along with a variety of tempting pastries. Stuffed chicken isn’t always on the menu, but she makes it at least once a week. This splendid recipe calls for pine nuts, ground beef, almonds and cardamom, along with rice (the stuffing’s base) and fresh chicken. Don’t miss Issa’s ghreibeh, a grainy, white cookie that melts in the mouth.

Jerusalem Cafe and Bakery, 808 S. Brookhurst St., Anaheim. (714) 991-7500. Stuffed chicken, $7.99.