A new young chef wears the toque

Chef Bijan Risdana and his father, Hamid, are continuing Picayo’s

successful formula, created by former chef Laurent Brazier, of

unpretentious French Mediterranean cuisine served in a relaxed

atmosphere that seems to appeal to Orange County diners.

Many restaurants these days promote a mind-numbing din designed to

make you feel that you are in the hippest spot in town. Their decor

tends to be postmodern industrial or over-the-top exotic. They

feature things such as foamed essence of asparagus served in a test

tube with a straw (yes, we really ate this) and little mounds of

unidentifiable objects on a gigantic and oddly shaped plate requiring

a five-minute explanation by the waiter.

Have no fear, you won’t find that here. This is mostly classic

French and Provencal-style cooking with a few modern touches. The

interior is old-fashioned and somewhat formal, yet still comfortable.

As we drove into the Pavilions’ parking lot and walked past the

cleaners to the entrance, we thought that the location seemed

inauspicious, since one of us had been there earlier in the day, in

cutoffs and a T-shirt, shopping for broccoli and bleach.

However, nice restaurants and strip malls are inextricably

entwined in Southern California. The owner has done everything

possible to mask the 15-seat patio from the street. Once inside, you

forget the mundane location and relax amid the soft colors and crisp

white linens. On one end of the room is a swath of drapery around a

mirrored wall that is the one attempt at glamour, while the rest of

the two sections of the dining area are more modest in style.The

rooms are pleasantly lighted by wall sconces, and the atmosphere is

quiet and conducive to conversation.

As we were about to eat our complimentary o7amuse

f7o7bouchef7, the handsome young chef came over to our table and

said, “Hi, Terry. Hi, Elle. It’s me, Bijan.”

“Are you working here?” we asked.

“Yes, I’m the chef.” We were quite surprised to see this young

man, a former employee of ours who worked the counter at A La Carte.

We were very pleased to see that he had come so far in the food

business.

After he stopped working for us, he went to San Francisco and

became a “life-support engineer” for the Aquarium of the Bay. While

he was away, Bijan’s father began looking for a restaurant to buy and

began negotiations with Laurent Brazier, the chef and owner of

Picayo.

Bijan, who had apparently had enough of fish -- at least in tanks

-- returned to Laguna to pursue a lifelong interest in cooking. He

enrolled in an intensive six-month course at the Laguna Beach

Culinary Arts Institute and in the evening was an apprentice to

Laurent, who six months later felt confident enough in Bijan to hand

over his o7toquef7. The transition appears to have been seamless.

The meal began with a basket of excellent warm olive bread. For

starters, we passed on the lobster bisque, prawn grapefruit salad and

the escargot, in favor of the shrimp, artichoke and mushroom purse.

It was beautifully presented, a gathered and tied filo package

floating in a classic mushroom cream sauce. The flavors married well

except for the shrimp, which was overwhelmed by the earthy flavors,

so we ate it separately.

The special appetizer for the evening was foie gras (sauteed duck

liver). We never pass up the chance to order this dish, no matter

what the preparation. Classically, the rich, buttery flavor of the

delicate liver is counterbalanced with something sweet -- most often

cooked fruit. In this case, it was paired with sauteed spinach, which

offered no contrast to the savory liver, although it was tasty.

Again, we ate the two parts separately. It took a lot of willpower to

pass up the Mediterranean trio of hummus, puree of roasted eggplant

and ratatouille, but we were pleased to see this reflection of the

chef’s heritage on the menu. Several other starters are available,

including mushroom ravioli.

Among the meat entrees were char-grilled lamb chops in

Beaujolais-thyme sauce and rib-eye steak in a caramelized shallot

red-wine sauce, both served with mashed potatoes. For the fish

selections, there was pistachio encrusted halibut, served on a

o7duxelles f7of mushrooms and a filet of sea bass with tomatoes,

onions and black olives.

We chose the sauteed jumbo sea scallops Provencal in a sauce of

butter, garlic, Chardonnay and parsley.

The term “Provencal” leads one to expect a sauce based on tomatoes

and/or garlic with olive oil, but never cream. These nicely crisped

but slightly watery scallops were in a rich cream sauce, albeit a

delicious one. A variation on their regular breast of duck a l’orange

in a Grand Marnier demiglace was served that night in a peach sauce.

When we asked our very pleasant waiter what the difference was, he

said that it was the very same dish with peach schnapps instead of

Grand Marnier. Unfortunately, peach schnapps has very little flavor

and did not impart a peach taste to the well-executed demiglace.

The small dessert selection includes lemon mousse on sponge cake,

creme brulee, assorted sorbets and spiced apple tarte tatin. The

tarte tatin suffered from the fact this is not apple season, so that

the apple half, perched on a puff pastry round, had a mushy texture,

but we ate up every drop of the delicious caramel sauce.

This father-son team is reaching out to the Laguna Beach community

with a locals’ night on Tuesdays, featuring a 25% discount, and an

artists’ night on Thursdays.