Jack Sprat’s Has Some Surprises

I have to admit, the name put me off: Jack Sprat’s Grille. Since Jack Sprat could eat no fat, I assumed that this was another cafe specializing in low and/or nonfat cooking. I am not fond of fat-phobic restaurants: too often the war on fat ends up vanquishing flavor and texture (have you ever tried to cut fat-free pie crust with a fork?). A visit to Jack Sprat’s, I thought, could wait until my next diet, or until I flunked a cholesterol test.

What changed my mind?

Driving on Pico one day, I saw the striped awning, handsome wood and glass doors, and a crowded room within. It looked airy, simple, popular. So I lured a few friends there for dinner one night, and we were all pleasantly surprised.

First off, as we looked over the menu, the waitress delivered a stack of fresh, warm, no-fat soft pretzels sprinkled with sage and salt. What could be more disarming? We dipped them in hot-and-sweet mustard, and hooted from the heat; then tried a less provoking, grainy deli mustard.

The menu proved to be wider in scope than anticipated. Jack, we knew, could eat no fat, but his wife could eat no lean, and this restaurant is determined to please both sides--and succeeds. Not that the menu is polarized between, say, dry toast and Crisco by the scoop. Rather, it’s balanced. There is Jack’s charbroiled boneless skinless chicken breast, and Jack’s wife’s grilled half-chicken complete with skin and dark meat; there are air-baked French fries and deep-fried French fries--and even the air-baked variety have a little oil, to lend them crunch, flavor and something for the salt to stick to.

If it’s true that some fat-free food suffers from low flavor content (it’s certainly true, for example, that deep-fried French fries do have more taste than the air-baked fries), Jack Sprat’s has come up with a resourceful antidote--or antidotes. With many dishes, the kitchen offers a selection of house-made sauces, salsas and chutneys. The air-baked shoestring fries get a big boost from a dense caramelized red onion ketchup.

The low-fat roasted corn risotto cake, an appetizer, is basically a template for three of the house’s homemade sauces. The cake itself has too much saffron, and therefore a bitter, medicinal edge. But we ate it anyway, needing something to absorb the corn and black bean salsa, the cran-apple ginger chutney, the excellent fiery pineapple salsa. Similarly, grilled tiger shrimp were, in and of themselves, tasteless, but a juicy mango kiwi mint salsa made them somewhat more credible.

A fire-roasted tomato soup is great on these chilly nights: a dense, slightly smoky bright red soup garnished with guacamole, sour cream, multicolored tortilla strips; it doesn’t really need the addition of chicken or shrimp, especially if consumed as an appetizer.

Entrees come with a choice of two side dishes and one sauce. Side dishes include a good, deeply marinated tomato and cucumber salad, carrot puree, French fries, baked potato or a slightly sweet blend of basmati rice, couscous and dried cherries. All of these decisions--which sauces? which sides?--take time, but the staff here is patient and persistently good-natured.

Mrs. Sprat’s chicken, scented with sage, rosemary and garlic, is moist and satisfying--and especially good with that mango salsa. The pork chops are wonderfully tender. No quarrels with the salmon, either. A New York steak, ordered medium rare, comes out well-done. Not only does the waitress cheerfully take the steak back, and replace it with a fresh, rare version, she offers a free dessert for the inconvenience.

Not everything is equally delicious here. Penne arrabbiata has a thick, oddly sweet tomato sauce. The Caesar salad’s opaque white dressing has a slightly chemical aftertaste. And a grilled eggplant wrap is ice-cold within, and unpleasantly slimy.

Mrs. Sprat must have lobbied for the flour-less chocolate cake, which tastes like bittersweet cocoa bound together with butter. I myself like the cool, subtle coconut flan, neither too sweet nor too rich.

* Jack Sprat’s Grille, 10668 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 837-6662. Open for lunch Monday through Friday. Open for brunch Saturday and Sunday. Open for dinner seven days. Beer and wine served. Major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only $16 to $47.