Decor an Eye-Pleaser but Service Is Spotty : El Chalan’s Peruvian Fare Happily Resurfaces in Pacific Beach

La Jolla had been home for years to the eccentric but commendable El Chalan, which was not only the sole purveyor of Peruvian food in the county but simply a good restaurant.

When it closed more than a year ago, El Chalan seemed gone forever, as are most restaurants that have locked their doors for more than three days in a row.

But El Chalan, most surprisingly, has rematerialized in Pacific Beach as the occupant of new and quite stylish quarters. The menu, a roster of Peruvian specialties tempered somewhat by the management’s interpretation of San Diego tastes, remains virtually unchanged, but the decor, now quite formal and carried out in faint gray, quiet pink and handsome Peruvian coppers, is a definite upgrade and a real eye-pleaser.

Takes Prize for Elegance

In fact, in terms of looks, El Chalan has instantly gained cachet as the most elegant restaurant in Pacific Beach; while it’s true that there is not that much competition for the honor, the place is, in any case, quite attractive.

If the service could match the mood, the place would rank even higher on the scale. The service of one visit was, in fact, quite acceptable, but the second time around the staff seemed determined to be almost insulting in its carelessly offhand approach to dealing with a party of guests.

On this occasion, the waiter declined to mention that meals included the choice of soup or salad and was simply going to bring salads, by far the inferior option. Another server took utensils used for the first course off soiled plates and replaced them on the table, an offensive move that happens all too frequently but should never be tolerated, and was almost astonishing in a place that dresses its servers in black tie.

To add insult to injury, the entrees arrived when guests had barely begun the soup course. When asked, “Where do you intend to put these plates?” the server nonchalantly indicated that they would easily fit next to the diners’ elbows. Later, there was a rush to remove these same plates before a slower guest had finished his meal. Nothing spoils an otherwise enjoyable outing like lousy service.

The cooking, however, tends to turn up the corners of one’s mouth just as much as the service may send them in the opposite direction. The Peruvian preparations are interesting, and sufficiently different from related South American dishes to be well worth leisurely and repeated explorations of the menu.

If the seasonings, especially in those dishes that call for peppery heat, often seem moderated to suit American sensibilities, the flavors nonetheless come through strongly, and the cooking, for all its robust qualities, ultimately seems rather delicate.

Gastronomic Leitmotif

The appetizer list begins with fish and shrimp ceviches, done quite stylishly here, and the use of lime juice (the pickling agent that chemically cooks the otherwise raw seafood) is moderated so that the dish is refreshing rather than overwhelmingly astringent. A mound of freshly pickled onion slices, a gastronomic leitmotif in the menu, adds a special note to the ceviche.

Not surprisingly, potatoes, which came to the United States from Peru via Ireland, appear on the appetizer list. (A bit of boiled sweet potato accompanies the ceviche; its function, as a restrained arbitrator of strong flavors, is exactly the same as the boiled potatoes Scandinavians habitually offer with pickled herring.) The papas a la huancaina , a very homey sort of dish, treats cold boiled potatoes to a rich cream sauce that hints agreeably, in its aftertaste, at the presence of cayenne.

This is probably as good a dish as any if one is bound and determined to sample the Peruvian equivalent of soul food. But the rather more elegant papa rellena may find a wider following; this consists of a potato dough, shaped like an egg around a hashed filling of chopped beef, green olives, onions and other ingredients, which is deep-fried and served warm under a topping of pickled onions.

Among other starter choices are a nice rendition of fried squid, cut into small bites and dipped in batter rather than crumbs; clams baked in garlic butter or Parmesan sauce; and chicken livers sauteed with a good bit of mixed garlic and a good bit of skill.

As mentioned, meals include choice of soup or salad, and the soups make by far the better choice, since the small salads are at best perfunctory assemblages of indifferent greens. Recent soup offerings included a fine, lightly creamed shrimp concoction based on rich stock heated with a touch of cayenne, and a well-done onion soup that put any number of the town’s supposedly French onion soups to shame.

A Suave Sherry Sauce

The entree list touches all the meat, fowl and seafood bases, with the notable exception of a fiery chicken specialty, one of the Peruvian national dishes, that El Chalan unsuccessfully attempted to serve at its former location. But the list does offer arroz con pato , the traditional mix of marinated duck cooked with rice, peas and seasonings; chicken breast in a suave sherry and mushroom sauce; and grilled chicken breast finished with a cheese-enriched cream sauce.

Among stronger meats, the menu offers a grilled fillet of lamb that had an interesting, almost buttery flavor, although it was overall less appealing than the seco de cordero , or slices from the lamb leg cooked in a strong, remarkably pungent cilantro sauce. The meat was tender and the flavor rich, but anyone with a low tolerance for cilantro would be ill-advised to order this dish.

The beef heading features some relatively sophisticated selections, such as the lomo a lo macho , or filet mignon topped with mushrooms, bell peppers and ham, and another fillet in sherry sauce. The lomo saltado , or steak sauteed with tomatoes, onions and small hot peppers, sounds more in the robust Latin mood.

The house version of breaded steak, which is an institution in Latin cooking, was rather unsettling in its apparent lack of breading; the server offered the assurance that an absolute minimum of breading (indeed, so little as to be invisible to the naked eye) is the Peruvian tradition. The steak was covered with a great deal of minced garlic, however, and, if it seemed unworthy of its apanado (“breaded”) billing, it had a good flavor in any case.

A full half of the menu is given over to seafood, cooked variously with strong, Provencal-type sauces of tomato, peppers, garlic and onions and with lighter moistenings of herbed butter or mild cream sauces. A nicely crusted, grilled fillet of fish that the menu advertised as dressed with a garlic sauce was in fact innocent of sauce, the marinated onions mentioned above serving as its chief flavor accent.

A much heartier dish, the camaron saltado , combined large shrimp with tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic in an unctuous butter sauce that sparkled with cayenne. Untried but heartily recommended by the waiter was the langosta a la crema , or lobster baked in a semi-Thermidor method. It was a little difficult to determine if the waiter’s recommendation was based on the fact that it was the costliest offering, because he did, when asked, admit that the dish was made with frozen lobster.

This would not be a Latin restaurant if the dessert list failed to offer flan, in this case thick, rich wedges cut from a great round of custard. There is also a homemade cookie that one eats with knife and fork; it is a crumbly, rich confection that seems, in the end, rather a superior sort of peanut butter cookie.

EL CHALAN

1050 Garnet Ave.

459-7707

Dinner served nightly Credit cards accepted Dinner for two, including a modest bottle of wine, tax and tip, $40 to $70.