Quite often I am asked, "What restaurant are you going to do next month?" Never before have I had such a big response as when I replied with "Café Sevilla." So many people would respond with "Oh, I love that place!" or "I had my first date with my husband there." I only remembered that I had eaten there myself a few times a long time ago and thought it was good. It was definitely time for a revisit.     As I looked around the crowded dining room, I noticed it seemed more romantic than I remembered it. The vaulted ceiling is painted the color of the evening sky with twinkling stars scattered about. It is so beautifully lit as to resemble the natural illumination of the moon. The mood is elegant, intimate, yet surprisingly casual.     Immediately after being seated, we were welcomed and served a basket of delicious French bread with two side dishes: one, an aioli, the other a tomato sauce. What a wonderful treat to nibble on as you peruse the menu — but be careful not to go overboard on the bread as I did.     The menu is six pages long and offers a wide variety of tastes and flavors. There are two pages of small plates: "Tapas Frias" (cold) and "Tapas Calientes" (hot). Many guests sit in the Tapas Bar and have drinks and small-plates only, which is a very traditional way to eat Spanish cuisine. I especially liked the "Champiñones a la Vinagreta" ($4.50), marinated mushrooms with a balsamic vinegar and red onion; the "Pulpo a la Vinagreta" ($4.95), octopus marinated with bell peppers, onions and vinegar; and the "Tortilla Espanola" ($3.95), which is a tart baked with potato, onion and eggs served either hot or cold. For "Tapas Calientes,"

Chef Roman Northcote and Michelle Palmer at Café Sevilla.

I recommend the "Caracol Catalan" ($6.50), which is escargot sauteed in garlic-parsley butter (don’t forget to dip your bread in the leftover butter). The "Calamares fritos" ($5.95) also is a sure favorite — especially if you dip a tiny corner of the fried calamari into the aioli before the accompanying tomato sauce. It’s outrageous.
    If you are not afraid of a little (or a lot of) cheese, definitely order the "Queso Fundido" ($4.95), a blend of imported Spanish manchego and goat cheese baked in a little clay pot and served bubbling hot, ready to be slathered on the bread.
    You will find the entrée selections hard to choose because everything sounds so inviting. The "Paella Valenciana" is not to be missed — a traditional dish of clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp, chorizo and roasted chicken. The paella is served on saffron rice and comes in two serving sizes: single ($18) and for two ($32). If you are going to indulge in a few of the tapas before your entrée, the single portion will be just fine for two. Many wonderful seafood entrees are available as well: "Tuna de Cadiz," pan-seared ahi tuna; "Mero Cantabrico," stuffed seabass; and "Zarzuela de Mariscos," a delicious seafood stew.
    Café Sevilla supplements the myriad seafood entrées with a half-dozen meat and poultry choices, including a "Conejo a la Catalana" ($18.50), which is rabbit baked in a red wine sauce served with saffron rice. The other stand-out is the "Cerdo Asado" ($15.50), roasted pork tenderloin with a spiced red wine and honey sauce.
    Executive Chef Roman Northcote, who recently took over the kitchen, gives the same attention to detail on all of his house-made desserts as he does on the entire menu. He is charismatic, enthusiastic and definitely has brought the food up a level or two. At Café Sevilla the service is professional, portions hearty and prices reasonable. You can’t do much better than that.

—Terryl Gavre

    Palomino Euro Bistro in the Golden Triangle has been open only three months. I already have dined there six times. Although with six different "escorts" (The staff was so good about pretending to not remember me from a few days before with that "other guy"), I found myself ordering the same things on each visit because they were so good the first time. The six dining companions came in handy for two reasons: first, I could tell the same fascinating story about myself six different times, and second, they each ordered different things and I got to taste all of them.

Richard Selleck and Colleen Doulgeropoulis dine at Palomino Euro Bistro.

What makes matters a bit sticky is that Palomino — well there is no other way to say this — is a chain restaurant. OK, I got it out; it’s very hard to admit, but I really like this chain restaurant. You understand my dilemma. After all, I am a food writer; I’m supposed to be snobby, aren’t I?     Then again, Palomino Euro Bistro is not your ordinary chain. Sure, they tend to follow the same interior design features — sleek marble and mahogany surfaces, artful glass chandeliers and expansive open kitchens — but you would only know that if you had been in one of the other Palomino restaurants. I have been in both the Seattle and San Francisco stores and, while they look similar, each restaurant is unique in character. The menus are essentially uniform but regional differences and nightly specials add a sense of surprise and individuality.

    I started all six visits with the "Baked Garlic Plate" ($5.95). If you are a garlic fan you must try it. The garlic is served with a slice of cambozola cheese (another one of my to-die-for favorites) and what I call tomato jam. The "jam" is a sweet tomato sauce that is spread on "vincenzo crisps" (cracker-thin unleavened bread) along with the garlic and cheese. Its smooth sweetness is the startling contrast in this winning threesome of flavors. Another favorite, the "Herb Crusted Portofino Dip" ($8.50), is a baked combination of artichoke hearts, dungeness crab, onion and parmesan. The vincenzo crisps, which are house-made nightly, are the perfect vehicle for this bubbling-hot dip as well.
    Anchovy avoiders should not try the "Whole Leaf Caesar" ($5.50), for although there are no little fishes in clear sight, the dressing is predominantly flavored by them. The romaine leaves are well-coated in dressing and generously topped with shaved parmesan.
    If you like gorgonzola cheese, you will love the "Penne Gorgonzola" ($9.95). I like strong flavors and big contrasts, so the combination of a gorgonzola cheese sauce teamed with black pepper and toasted hazelnuts made my mouth very happy.
    The interplay of flavors in the "Sea Bass with Horseradish Crust" ($16.95) is fabulous. The healthy-sized chunk of bass is topped with a jacket of fresh horseradish and bread crumbs, finished under the broiler, perched on a mattress of creamy polenta and drizzled with chive-infused olive oil. The other "must-do" entrée is the "Lamb Shank" ($19.95). It’s braised to tender perfection, finished in the oven and surrounded with pearl onions, carrots, roasted garlic and mushroom risotto. I’ve had this twice and it was sublime both times.
    If you choose to linger over dessert, my vote is for either the "Apricot and Golden Raisin Bread Pudding" topped with vanilla bean gelato or the "Tiramisu," which is the finest I’ve enjoyed.
    Executive Chef David Judge and his team of "men in white" are conscientious and consistent culinarians who seem happy and dedicated to work within the so-called restraints of this chain restaurant.
    Palomino is owned by Seattle-based Restaurants Unlimited. The eight-unit chain is expanding nationwide and hopes to have 20 stores within three years. Palomino doesn’t want to be viewed as a chain, but rather as your favorite local restaurant that just so happens to be in about 20 places. I can live with that.

— Terryl Gavre

Gulf Coast Grill's Family Connection

K.C. and Gail Jones serve
up 'fusion hick' in style

I have always been a fan of husband-and wife-owned restaurants. When I was in my early 20s, waitressing my way through Los Angeles, I usually fell in love with either a bartender or a handsome waiter. I would dream and scheme about how "our own place" would be — me cooking or running the floor and he pouring drinks and entertaining our friends at the bar. Ha! I soon learned that the reason these fellows were in the restaurant business to begin with was that they were not very motivated and liked a job where they could sleep until noon.      Although my own dream of a "ma and pa" place never materialized (no pa), I can live vicariously through K.C. and Gail Jones, the owners of Gulf Coast Grill. K.C., a self-proclaimed failed screenwriter, and his wife Gail, a former advertising executive (she hated it) and clothing designer (she loved it), have teamed to do what they love and do best — a restaurant.

Executive Chef Victor Jimenez (center) with Gulf Coast owners K.C. and Gail Jones.

     If the name K. C. Jones sounds familiar, it’s because he spent the last eight years in the "Cohn Camp." As vice president of operations for Hard Work Inc. (Dakota, Blue Point, etc.) he assisted in that company’s growth.
     Gulf Coast Grill menu items find influence from the Gulf of Mexico ("Baja Clam Chowder") to the Florida Gulf ("Peel and Eat Shrimp"). The interior restaurant walls are murals with scenes depicting down-home-bluesy New Orleans styled jazz clubs. The dining room is lively and sometimes even a little bit loud (as it should be). K.C. and Gail are trying to create a casual, Southern and fun dinner experience — not fancy dining.
     K.C. and Gail have teamed up with long-time friend and former Dakota Executive Chef Victor Jimenez to offer what they call the very best in "fusion-hick" dining. The stand-outs on the "Snacks and Starters" list are "Darrell's Crab Cakes" ($7.95) served with a honey mustard-mayonnaise, the "Andouille Sausage" and "Smoked Chicken Quesadilla" ($7.95) and the "BBQ Baby Back Riblets" ($8.95). I was so shocked to see "Shrimp and Corn Fritters" for only $4.95 that I had to order them. As "fritters," they were a bit skimpy on the shrimp and corn. They reminded me more of what are known as "jo-jos" or "hush puppies," but the spicy Cajun remoulade that accompanied them was de-lish nonetheless.
     Containing two of my favorites is a section on the menu called "Rice and Noodles." The "Shrimp Tasso Fettuccine" ($14.95) features a generous serving of shrimp with fresh tomatoes, peas and tasso ham in a light mustard cream sauce. The tasso ham adds just enough smoky heat to nicely contradict the sweetness of the peas and tomatoes. The "Jambalaya" ($13.95) is an enormous portion of wonderfully cooked seafood spiced up with chicken, andouille sausage, tasso ham and rice.
     By far the big stand-out on the "Supper" list is the "House-Smoked Rack of Pork" ($15.95). Its a double-cut bone-in slab (and I mean slab) of a pork chop, slathered with a brandied peach chutney and served with the chef's whim-of-the-evening for the accompaniment. That evening my chop was teetering on a pyramid of the house mashed potatoes. The pork was moist, cut like a slice of cake and had delicious flavor.
     Whatever you do, don’t skip the dessert. All are all made in-house and the choice not to be missed is the "Key Lime Cheesecake" ($4.95). Such a clever twist it was on the traditional key lime pie that I couldn’t resist. I took my calories happily; you will too.

— Terryl Gavre