It’s a Corker

What is it about Santa Barbara? it’s more beautiful than the Cote d’Azur. It’s blessed with a wealth of great ingredients--everything from those gorgeous local spot prawns, mussels and sea urchin roe to extraordinary produce that would be the envy of any place in the country. It’s also in a region that produces some of California’s most distinguished wines.

Yet it has only a handful of restaurants enticing enough to warrant a special trip. And for all that, it’s not the posh hotel dining rooms or the Mediterranean or California cuisine restaurants that stand out. The one that evokes the most passionate response year after year is La Super Rica--terrific, but basically a taco shack.

Here’s a downtown Santa Barbara restaurant to try. Bouchon is on Victoria Street, just off busy State Street, and only a couple of doors down from that sweet Italian ristorante Olio e Limone. Bouchon, of course, means cork, and this engaging 2-year-old restaurant is devoted to the idea of Santa Barbara “wine country cuisine,” a fancy way to describe cooking that shows off the local wines.

It’s a charming small restaurant where twinkly blue lights are twined around tree trunks in front, and two knee-high fountains on either side of the entrance gurgle a welcome. On a balmy summer night, it’s lovely to sit in the tented patio room in front in the wavering light from a flotilla of fat candles. The restaurant interior looks like a well-loved, lived-in space. At the back, the open kitchen is framed in copper.

To take advantage of local ingredients, Bouchon’s menus are rigorously seasonal. Four times a year, chef Charles Fredericks rolls out his new menu. For the three or so months each menu is in effect, he basically cooks just that. The good news is that you won’t have to listen to your waiter recite an interminable list of specials. On the other hand, if you eat at Bouchon often, you might find yourself hoping for a few more specials to catch your interest.

His summer menu offers a lovely plate of house-smoked local albacore “carpaccio.” The seared fish is served in blood-rare slices garnished with baby arugula, shaved Parmigiano and a vinaigrette sparked with crushed mustard seeds. The punch of the mustard works wonderfully against the velvety smoked albacore and peppery arugula. In an accompanying salad, Santa Barbara County “field” greens are tossed in a mirin-ginger vinaigrette.

Those same field greens appear in Fredericks’ eccentric version of the Tuscan bread salad, panzanella, which is roughly equal parts torn bread, tomatoes, sweet onion, cucumbers and basil leaves tossed with olive oil and red-wine vinegar. Along with tomatoes, Fredericks’ has Blue Lake green beans, hard croutons and goat cheese, which tends to weigh down the salad. The balsamic dressing only adds to the effect. Why he calls it a panzanella is beyond me. On the other hand, his four-onion French soup is one of the best onion soups I’ve had in Southern California. The broth is sweet and beefy, the crouton generously laced with Gruyere that strings when you take a bite. It’s not a particularly summery dish, but it would be just the thing to have on a damp winter night.

Fredericks gets beautiful local fish, such as Pacific wild salmon or Santa Barbara Channel white sea bass. The rapini, nutty wild rice and roasted shallots that he serves with his horseradish-seared wild salmon nicely complement the fish, though the cranberry-Pinot Noir reduction could be subtler so as not to overwhelm the nuances of this glorious piece of fish. The pan-roasted sea bass is delicious enough on its own. Why perch it awkwardly on top of arugula capellini? Just the oddly named bursted tomato beurre blanc with lemon basil that it’s served with would have been enough.

Fredericks is brimming with ideas. I think, though, that many dishes would make a stronger impression if he didn’t try to cram so many ideas and flavors onto one plate. This is true of his appetizer of pan-seared foie gras. Juices from the liver, topped with a peach compote, soak into a toasted brioche “pallet” fenced in by a blackberry-Zinfandel essence. It’s foie gras as summer pudding. There’s just too much going on, and too much of it is sweet. Tempura squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese are interesting on their own, so the charred tomato ragout is a distraction. The equivalent of a jammy, overripe wine, the ragout covers the delicacy of the squash blossoms.

My favorite dish here doesn’t have much to do with local tradition or ingredients. It’s the tender and rosy molasses-glazed pork tenderloin. I’m really taken with the spunky red beans and rice with tasso lardons that come with it. Grilled marinated lamb sirloin is good, too, enhanced by sage gnocchi and seared broccoli. A little less Sangiovese sauce would make it even better. Steak fiorentina arrives as a dauntingly large charred chop that’s grilled to a perfect medium rare, with a few garlic cloves on top, and accompanied by little roast potatoes and deliciously bitter braised escarole. The aged balsamic, however, has the same effect on these wonderful rustic flavors as shaking Worcestershire sauce over the top. And it isn’t especially wine-friendly either.

The service has been warm and professional at each of several meals I’ve had at Bouchon. Servers are well-versed on the menu and are not afraid to make suggestions. They also know the wine list. Bouchon offers 50 wines by the glass from a comprehensive collection of Central Coast vineyards, along with scores of international selections. Since Bouchon doesn’t have the luxury of an attached wine shop, as does the nearby and better-known Wine Cask, this wine list represents a considerable commitment for a small restaurant.

Come dessert, try the fine chocolate souffle cake, baked to order. Inside is a hot, wicked lava of dark, dark chocolate. Tarte tatin comes out of the oven warm and buttery. Clafoutis isn’t really batter cake but puff pastry stuffed with vanilla custard and berries, and it’s not too sweet.

With Bouchon, owner Mitchell Sjerven and chef Fredericks have created a genial and relaxed restaurant that celebrates the impressive seafood, produce and wines of the Central Coast.

ambience: Inviting small restaurant with tented patio room looking onto a quiet street, and a private “cork” room for private parties. service: Warm and attentive. Best dishes: Four-onion French soup, smoked albacore carpaccio, horseradish-seared Pacific wild salmon, grilled marinated lamb sirloin, molasses-glazed pork tenderloin, chocolate souffle cake. Appetizers, $6 to 18. Main courses, $18 to $29. Corkage, $21.Wine picks: 1998 Fiddlehead Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley; 1997 Andrew Murray “Hillside Reserve” Syrah, Santa Ynez Valley. facts: Dinner every night. Lot parking.

Bouchon Santa Barbara

9 W. Victoria St.,

Santa Barbara,

(805) 730-1160

CUISINE: California wine country

RATING: e 1/2

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. eeee: Outstanding on every level. eee: Excellent. ee: Very good. e: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.