RESTAURANT REVIEW:

This is the final article in a four-part series about healthy restaurants in the Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley area.

It was time for a treat. I wanted dinner, a nice dinner — a nice, healthy dinner. Au Lac was the first place that popped into my head.

I had been there before, on a dare, actually. My friend, who was a practicing vegan, challenged me to go in to the place, and I’m not one to back down from a bet.

The food seemed strange to me, but I was younger and my palette not nearly as experienced as it is now.

Unlike the first visit to the Au Luc, this time I was actually looking forward to eating there.

This is as close to fine dining as a vegan is going to get in Orange County. The restaurant is elegant and provides soft, leather booths or padded, comfortable chairs at tables.

The lighting is provided by some recessed bulbs in the ceiling and art deco lights on the wall. The music was a combination of Asian pop and new wave and made the mood of the restaurant very peaceful.

The food adds to the comfort. The menu is both raw and vegan, and each contains a multitude of items. You know you are in trouble when there are six different types of water on the menu. We got the reverse osmosis water, and it was constantly filled by the waiters, who seemed to number in the hundreds by all the attention we got.

We began on the raw menu and picked three appetizers. We ordered the pistachio bread, described as the chef’s favorite. It comes in four cylindrical pieces about a half-inch high and it looks like a warm, soft granola bar. It is filled with several different types of nuts and was good despite its slight dryness.

Next, we got a salmon roll. The roll had pine nuts, cucumbers, coconut meat, red bell peppers, carrots and avocado. This was very good, and the light organic soy sauce for dipping added to the appetizer.

The last was the cream cheese, and it was our favorite. A ball of avocado sits on a basil leaf and flax chip with pesto underneath and is garnished with a strand of fried onion.

It was good, a bit pricey for only three of them, but I would order it again.

We moved onto the vegan menu and while we thought the raw menu was a bit intimidating, this menu was overwhelming.

There were so many choices, and it took us a while to decide what we wanted.

Most people who go to vegetarian or vegan restaurants obsess about how close the food tastes to what it is supposed to be like. I enter an establishment with no such illusions and instead focus on the quality of the soy or tofu and how it was prepared.

The crispy soy fish with ginger sauce did not taste like fish, but it was excellent.

The “skin” was crispy, the soy was tender and flavorful and the ginger sauce that came with it added to the flavor. The sprinkling of cilantro on top of the dish only added to its appeal.

Another dish I sampled was the Vietnamese barbecue vermicelli. It was a mixture of soy meat, with a hint of barbecue and had the appearance of beef, lettuce, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, diced cucumbers and mint. It was flavorful and very filling.

There was no room for dessert, which was too bad, since I have heard raves about the sweets, especially the choconut x-tasy and the piña colada.

Those will have to be saved for another visit, of which I am sure there will be many more of and this time I won’t have to be dared to go inside.

AU LAC

ADDRESS: 16563 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley

PHONE: (714) 418-0658

CUISINE: Vegan and raw

SPECIALTY DISH: The Green Pyramid

ALCOHOL SERVED: none

ENTRÉE PRICE RANGE: $6.95 to $21.95

FAMILY FRIENDLY: Yes

CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED: American Express, Visa and MasterCard

RATING: *** 1/2

JOHN REGER reviews restaurants for the Independent.