Peg Wallace: Sea Breeze Cafe

Nestled into a little storefront on Judah Street is a tiny place, full of bold flavors and generous portions. The Sea Breeze Cafe is a real find - quite a surprise on this sleepy strip in the Sunset. I had heard about it from several people: My friend Janet loves the cafe's brunch and an associate, Robbie, raved about his dinner.

I dragged along my friend Brian, who is generally not known for his adventurous palate, but is always an entertaining and enjoyable dining companion. We settled into our table and ordered drinks straightaway. Being that it was a balmy, sunny day in the Avenues, it seemed a perfect day for a light, crisp wine.

The wine list was a pleasant surprise - excellent wines with affordable prices. I opted for the Lamberti Pinot Grigio, a crisp, dry Italian white, a steal at only $5 a glass. Brian chose a Beringer Zinfandel ($6), a hearty zin that was not too heavy to start off the meal. Fresh bread and a crock of sweet butter was immediately dropped on the table.

Glancing around, it's easy to see the Sea Breeze Cafe as a neighborhood spot - the focus is not on the decor, which is sparse yet colorful, but on the food. It was hard for us to pull our eyes off the heaping plates of artistically-styled food at the tables surrounding us to focus on our menus.

At the table to our left, thin slices of avocado were delicately piled on Roma tomatoes, topped with plump poached prawns and drizzled with a shallot, garlic and white wine reduction. Although listed under the appetizers, it looked like a meal in itself ($8).

To our right, we admired the ruby-red ahi tuna, seared and served medium rare over fresh greens and seasonal vegetables, kalamata olives and feta cheese ($12).

As we sipped our wine, we debated about what to order. There were too many temptations and it had me once again wishing that restaurants would offer a sampler plate, so I could have a bite of everything on the menu.

I made the first executive decision and ordered the fried calamari with roasted red pepper aioli ($9.25) to tide us over until menu negotiations came to a close. The fried calamari was a genuinely refreshing experience. Instead of the usual rendition that is more breading than calamari, we had a plateful of tender calamari that had been lightly dusted with flour before making its trip to the deep fryer.

Usually I am the one preying on unsuspecting dining companions and manipulating them into ordering one of the items I had my eye on, so that we can share, but tonight Brian beat me at my own game.

Since I was taking Brian out to dinner to thank him for helping me paint, I watched as he vacillated between the goulash ($13) and the bacon wrapped veal chop, appearing to truly struggle with the decision. I watched for a few minutes, and then agreed to order the veal while he got the goulash.

We also ordered the arugula, Brie and poached pear salad ($8.25) to keep us busy between the calamari and large plates of meat that were coming.

The arugula salad was generous - a large mound of peppery greens served with wedges of creamy Brie and tawny red poached pears. The sweet, succulent pears with a hint of cinnamon stood up well to the assertive arugula.

Dinner arrived and with it our second wine course. I chose a Coyote Creek Pinot Noir ($7), aromatic with lively hints of fruit, and Brian ordered a robust Beaulieu Cabernet Sauvignon ($7).

The veal chop was magnificent in its simplicity, a moist meaty chop, wrapped in a thick slice of crispy bacon. Alongside was a crock of soul-soothing, creamy macaroni and cheese.

Brian's goulash would please purists - a stew of tender beef, slow braised and cooked with potatoes, onions and Hungarian paprika. No sour cream is used in the dish.

Despite the size and heft of what we had already consumed, we forged ahead with dessert. I ordered an orange Muscat dessert wine ($4.50), which on its own would have been dessert and Brian chose the ruby port ($5). The warm chocolate cake ($5.50) was served with sliced bananas, espresso chocolate sauce and topped with a rich chocolate ice cream.

The root beer float ($3.75) was enough for two - a tall clear 16-ounce glass of root beer with a pool of vanilla ice cream on top. I immediately dug my spoon into the ice cream, violating one of the most important rules of root beer float etiquette, according to Brian: starting from the bottom. So, I acquiesced and grabbed my straw.

The Sea Breeze Cafe is not too be missed - warm smiles from the staff, generous portions of perfectly prepared food artistically presented.

The Sea Breeze Cafe
3940 Judah St. (at 45th Avenue)
Phone: 242-6022
Lunch: 11 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.; Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday, 5 p.m. through 9:30 p.m.; Brunch: 8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Credit cards accepted: VISA, MasterCard