THE GOSSIPING GOURMET:White House: Hip place for the hungry

Did you know that the White House is the oldest restaurant in Orange County, and has been open continuously since 1918? Like many other spots in Laguna, it used to be a popular hangout for the old Hollywood set.

Today it’s a hangout for the young O.C. set who spill out of the doors and line the street on Friday and Saturday nights to listen to live music and party hearty. So, if it’s a quiet dinner you’re seeking, perhaps you should go elsewhere on weekend evenings.

The rest of the time, because the bar is a separate room and the live music is not too rowdy, it’s a perfectly pleasant, moderately priced place to dine for brunch, lunch or dinner.

Although renovated several times, pictures of Laguna in the ‘20s still line the walls. The feel of the dining room is reminiscent of a San Francisco fern bar with lots of plants, dark wood and brass rails lining the ramp to the barroom. There is also a small outdoor patio facing Pacific Coast Highway for those who want to catch some rays or the passing scene.

You won’t ever go home hungry from this old Laguna institution. Portions are more than generous.

We began by sharing a giant steamed artichoke that had been cooked with herbs and garlic. A superfluous, sweet vinaigrette had been poured over it detracting rather than enhancing the flavor of the artichoke.

Much better was the excellent tarragon garlic mayonnaise that really made a delicious dip. Other eclectic appetizer choices range from Thai chicken wings, Asian nachos, and sashimi Ahi to Cajun crab cakes, hot spinach-artichoke cheese dip and coconut encrusted chicken strips.

Some of the salads come in appetizer as well as entrée sized portions and chicken or shrimp can be added for an additional charge. Classics include, Caesar, Chinese chicken and Cobb while the coconut shrimp mango avocado is a more creative choice.

If you are in the mood for pasta, there is a spicy penne with jerk chicken, corn, bell peppers and mushrooms in a creamy cilantro pesto. Capellini Lagunaise is shrimp, chunks of chicken breast, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and basil in a light cream sauce.

Vegetarians might enjoy the pasta fresca with mushrooms, spinach tomatoes and basil with olive oil and garlic. We selected the seafood pasta, a giant bowl of capellini, generously strewn with very fresh shrimp, mussels, clams and a plethora of swordfish.

It was tossed with a nicely balanced, tomato, garlic, shallot and white wine sauce. As usual we added some red pepper flakes to amp it up a bit, but that’s just a personal choice. Even without the pasta, there was enough seafood to make a meal by itself.

Seafood lovers can also feast on simple broiled shrimp in lemon butter, ginger wasabi rare ahi or perhaps, sesame encrusted teriyaki salmon with pineapple chunks.

There are eight different preparations for chicken breasts including piccata, teriyaki, mushroom artichoke and Singapore (panko coated with Asian peanut sauce).

The avocado chipotle cumin scented lime breasts sounded good to us. The creamy chipotle lime sauce had none of the smoky hotness of chipotle, the acidity of lime juice nor the discernible flavor of cumin. Instead, there was a mild, creamy, slightly sweet tomato sauce on top of two large overcooked chicken breasts.

Cooking chicken breasts so that they are moist and tender without being too pink on the inside seems to be a formidable challenge for many kitchens these days, due in part to the fact that lots of customers are terrified of eating undercooked chicken for fear of contracting food poisoning. To do a decent job requires strict attention by the cook and, of course, re-heating breasts in sauce will toughen them up.

If chicken is not your thing, there are five steaks to choose from as well as pork chops in an apple chutney Bordelaise sauce, Texas style baby back ribs and a half pound bacon cheese burger with smoked gouda and garlic mayo. The same issue that came up with the chicken comes up again with the hamburger.

For health reasons, The White House cooks their burgers from medium-well to well done only. (You might want to evaluate whether rare meat is more dangerous than the combination of bacon, cheese and mayonnaise).

All entrées come with a choice of mashed potatoes, rice pilaf or shoestring fries but you can ask for vegetables. We had a pleasant assortment of nicely cooked steamed vegetables.

The small selection of desserts leans heavily on cream. Has the city council mandated that every restaurant in Laguna must serve tiramisu? It certainly seems that way. Another ubiquitous choice is crème brulée.

Not in every restaurant is there a chocolate Kahlua cream torte, three layers of flourless chocolate cake interlaced with Kahlua flavored whipped cream, topped and surrounded with ...whipped cream.

Intrigued by the title and encouraged by our waitress, we ordered the banoffee pie: a thin pie crust brushed with caramel, layered with sliced bananas and topped with a mountain of banana flavored cream which reputedly has some chocolate in it, although undetectable to us.

The portion was enormous and quite tasty but simply too much. The “offee” part remains a mystery. On the lighter side is a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This perennial Laguna favorite is also a popular spot for Sunday brunch. Check it out.