A Taste of France in Huntington Beach

DINING OUT

It looks like many casual California cafes, this place on Center

Drive east of Golden West College, but step inside and voila! You’re

in a French bistro along the Champs Elysee facing a display case of

gorgeous pastries in a bright room filled with wicker and

wrought-iron chairs and tables.

Manager/co-owner Ellen Kortiziga, a Croatian, waves you to a seat

and Laura, your French-Canadian server, suggests the lunch special of

the day -- a slice of quiche, green salad, pasta salad and bread

($5.95). It’s a plate overloaded with a generous slice of golden

brown quiche filled with potato slices, lots of mushrooms (that was

our choice, but whatever you’d like) and a wonderful salad of baby

spinach leaves, red-tinged radicchio, frieze and apple slices with

Dijon dressing and a side of cold rotelli pasta.

Another excellent choice is spinach quiche ($5.50), a light pastry

shell filled with pureed spinach with a freshness you really can

taste in a custard of cream and eggs and whiff of onion. It’s thick

and deep and so filling.

Hot French roast coffee ($1.50) in heavy mugs entice you to linger

as you would in Paris and watch walk-ins try to decide between cheese

cake ($1.75), an eclair ($2.50) or the specialty of the house, a

napoleon ($2.50). All the baking is done daily in a nearby building,

as the cafe could not accommodate the large ovens required for

catering orders.

Ten sandwich choices ($4.25 to $5.25) offer lots of variety.

Prosciutto and provolone ($4.95) -- ham that has been salt cured

rather than smoked -- is layered with the mild smoky-flavored cheese

in a big soft-crusted roll beside a pile of greens.

A simple dessert crepe ($2.50) is a marvel as thin as tissue paper

scrolled with chocolate. It’s just right, not too sweet. It’s hard to

achieve the proper lightness of a good crepe, Ellen says. “We are

simple here -- a bistro, not a restaurant.”

But who can pass up a strawberry and custard napoleon ($2.50) made

with layers of crisp puff pastry, one spread with creamy custard and

the other with strawberry jam, and a thin icing of strawberry

preserves? Legend has it napoleons were developed for the royal court

-- it’s easy to believe the chef preparing a unique creation to honor

the Little Corporal’s conquests.

If lunch is going to serve you as a early dinner, consider the

entree of rotisserie chicken on Tuesday and Wednesday ($5.50), tomato

wine chicken ($5.50) Thursday or Italian sausage salad ($4.95)

Friday.

Owners Christopher Rousseaux and Pascal Chedau often return to

France to explore cafes and scout out new recipes. To end our lunch,

chef Jacques Berthelot brought a wonderful dessert -- clafouti, a

small round chocolate cake with a center of soft intense chocolate

custard that is based on a country dessert originally from the

kitchens of Bordeaux.

Taste of France is a cafe that celebrates good French food and

welcomes you to enjoy their special way with crepes, quiches and

napoleons.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have

comments or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail

hbindy@latimes.com.