Quality Quietly Served

Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie “Sleepy Hollow” made me think of another headless legend. That would be the story of Judith, the 15th century Englishwoman who was not dissuaded from marrying her true love by the mere fact that her parents had chopped off her head, which she carried to the altar under her arm.

Judith is the symbol of the Quiet Woman. This Corona del Mar landmark restaurant, which has been around since 1965 (now under the aegis of its third owner), leads a quiet, low-profile life itself. But come any night and you’ll find the 52-seat room completely full.

The place has a dark, clubby feel; all seating is at booths. Large potted ferns inhabit the corners and the walls are crowded with interesting art, including a wooden sign from a British pub named the Maid of Chatham.

It’s the good taste of owner Lynne Anthony-Campbell that fuels this business, though. That and the healthy mesquite fire, where most of the food is cooked. You wouldn’t quite say the Quiet Woman is a steak house, but Angus beef is definitely the heart of the menu.

You can, however, get grilled fresh fish too. There also are some interesting pastas, not to mention a spate of delicious soups and several creative salads. The place also makes sumptuous pies, including Toll House pie and a rich, mousse-like pumpkin pie.

Anthony-Campbell takes wine seriously, as you can tell from the well-chosen cellar list of rare California wines that complement the main wine list. Nor does her $15 corkage fee seem unreasonable.

There is one wrinkle to this policy that I personally find silly, though. One evening, a friend brought along a bottle of a wine not on either list. We were told about the corkage fee and the waiter brought ordinary wine glasses. We asked for larger glasses, since we felt that bowl-shaped glasses would promote the enjoyment of the wine we had chosen. It turned out that the corkage fee would be $20 for such glasses (which, by the way, were not an expensive stemware).

That said, the Quiet Woman succeeds on nearly all fronts from the moment you’re seated, when they bring a basket of hot garlic cheese bread you’ll find hard to stop eating. Then you can order roasted garlic, a huge bulb served with crisp toast and a hunk of baked Brie. Another good appetizer is the well-pounded, lightly breaded fried calamari steak served with two good sauces--a tangy cocktail sauce and a creamy tartar sauce. It is as tender a calamari dish as I’ve tasted anywhere.

There are excellent salads, too. With the entree, you get what is a fairly ordinary mixed green in itself, but along with it appears an old-time Lazy Susan full of garnishes: bacon, cheese, mushrooms, bean sprouts and giant croutons. So much for ordinary.

For $3 extra, you can have Ma’s salad, a terrific mix of greens, crumbled blue cheese, red onions, ripe tomatoes and an intelligent vinaigrette. For that same $3 you could also get the house Caesar salad, but I wouldn’t bother. This Caesar has too much grated cheese and a weak-kneed dressing that won’t please many Caesar lovers.

The homemade soups I’ve tried have been excellent. My favorite might be the seafood bisque, coral-hued, redolent of sherry and chock full of fish (probably swordfish or sea bass). The muscular beef barley also hits the spot, as does the lentil bean soup, which was so good that once I ordered seconds.

Likewise, the grilled entrees all shine. Baseball steak is a thick-cut center top sirloin, beautifully blackened around the edges. My London broil, marinated in Worcestershire and probably a touch of lemon juice, had a nice, beefy flavor, though this cut is a trifle tough.

With swordfish, you get a thick center cut glistening with freshness, full of the charred, almost medicinal flavor of wood grilling in every bite. The Atlantic salmon, a nice chunk of fish served fragrant and moist, couldn’t have been better.

Our waitress strongly suggested rack of lamb, and I was glad to take her up on it. This is six chops of firm-fleshed, tender lamb.

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The items that aren’t grilled on mesquite also are dependable. Roast chicken, rubbed with lemon, sage and butter, is meltingly tender with crisp skin and a sweet, lingering perfume. One pasta I quite like is California pasta: linguine with black beans, chopped tomatoes and a sprinkling of goat cheese. The Santa Fe pasta, tossed with mesquite chicken and chipotle peppers in a sweet corn cream sauce, is too rich for me--especially since I wouldn’t consider leaving here without having dessert.

This time of year you’ll usually find pumpkin pie with a flaky crust, a smooth, rich filling and about an inch and a half of fresh whipped cream on top. That homely dish known as apple brown betty also is good; it’s a bowl of baked apple topped with lots of crumbly, buttery streusel and whipped cream. And the restaurant’s famous Toll House pie is just wonderful. Picture a wedge of a nutty, fudgy homemade chocolate chip cookie right from the oven, with some vanilla bean ice cream on it.

I’d say it was a dessert that lived up to its hype. But if you hear any hype about this restaurant, I’ll be surprised.

The Quiet Woman is expensive. Starters are $5 to $10.25. Entrees are $13.25 to $39.

BE THERE

The Quiet Woman, 3224 Pacific Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. (949) 640-7440. Lunch 11:30-2:30 Monday-Friday. Dinner 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. All major cards.