Delights [ Restaurant Profile ] Taste of the Sun December 2006

by Dan Shafer
Photos by R. Byrne

A glorious piece of the Mediterranean in Pacific Grove, Fandango Restaurant offers original cuisine in an authentic setting. Co-owner Pierre Bain’s continental flair brings international acclaim.

Step off quaint 17th Street in Pacific Grove into the narrow entryway of Fandango and you instantly feel transported to a Mediterranean villa. Everything about this place — the colors, the décor, the aroma, the elegance and the charm of maitre d’, Michael — is redolent of the south coast of France or Spain or Italy.

And that’s before you taste any of the truly amazing array of items that grace the menu of one of the Monterey Peninsula’s indisputably fine restaurants.

For your appetizer, select from traditional Spanish tapas, a delectable Melon con Prosciutto di Parma featuring imported Italian ham, a terrine of Foie Gras, or any of a half-dozen other regional specialties, all different as the countries from which they originate.

While you’ll find Fandango’s onion soup Gratinée to be authentic and delicious, you may prefer to sample the unique and robust Veloute Boula Boula, a soup of peas and consommé with a dash of sherry.

Choosing a main course from the uncomplicated but elegant menu is the kind of enjoyable task you may wish to linger over as you sample a wine from one of the best-stocked cellars on the Peninsula. Executive Chef Pedro de la Cruz has perfected two dozen dishes, several of which, if not unique, are certainly prepared with a distinct flair you won’t find at any other restaurant in the area.

It’s difficult to choose a favorite or even a signature dish at Fandango, but locals who dine there regularly seem to gravitate to the Paella and rack of lamb Fandango, Couscous Algerois, Cassoulet Maison, and Osso Bucco Fandango. The Paella is wonderfully aromatic and uniquely served — the rice, seafood, spicy sausages, chicken, peas, green onions, and red and green bell peppers are delivered to your table in a skillet.

The Couscous brings a distinctive North African flavor to the party, with its semolina simmered with lamb and vegetable stew. Add an overtone of the Tunisian red pepper sauce known as harrisa and a few other North African spices, and you find yourself enjoying a dish with a real flair.

If you still have room after eating one of these wonderfully satisfying main courses, Fandango will not disappoint. Choose from the traditional Chocolate Mousse or either of two specialties of the house — a light and refreshing Vacherin Glacé Marquise that features vanilla ice cream and meringue with a hot chocolate sauce, or the Profiterole au Chocolat (a mouth-watering variation on the cream puff).

Of course, just to keep things interesting, Chef de la Cruz prepares specials in most if not all categories every evening, so you’re well advised to keep your initial menu choices tentative until your server describes the fresh alternatives.

Like the cuisine, prices are unusually varied. Whether you’re on a budget or a lavish expense account, you’ll find something to suit your wallet at Fandango.

Fandango has been in business in Pacific Grove for 23 years, the last 20 of them under the ownership of Bain and his business partner, self-described high-technology maverick CEO Alan Shugart. Shugart is one of the best-known and most respected of Silicon Valley’s businessmen, having founded Shugart Technologies as one of the first companies in the business of designing and building disk drives. He’s since been involved in numerous other high-tech businesses in Silicon Valley.

Shugart and Bain met when the tech whiz moved to Pebble Beach in the early 1980s and became a regular at the world-famous Club XIX at the Lodge at Pebble Beach where Bain was the general manager. The two men and their wives — Rita Shugart and Marietta Bain — became fast friends and within a couple of years a long-dormant dream Shugart had had to own his own restaurant became a shared vision with Bain.

In the book, Fandango, which Shugart wrote after the restaurant had been established, he reports how the business got started. After Bain had left his job at Club XIX and located what he thought was a good restaurant property, the two couples were having dinner.

“I asked Pierre how much it would take to start the process,” Shugart recalls in the book. “He said, ‘About $200,000.’ I turned to Rita and asked, ‘Have you got a checkbook with you?’ She did. On the spot, I wrote out a check to Pierre for that amount.”

Bain may have seemed historically ordained to own a restaurant. He was born in the Hotel Bain in Comps-sur-Artuby, France. It was the inn his family had operated since 1737.  George Washington was five years old when the Bains opened their business.

During the past 20 years, Fandango has earned a great many accolades. It is one of a mere half dozen restaurants on the Peninsula to have earned the prestigious DIRONA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) award. Fewer than 800 restaurants in the country can boast that honor. (Ironically, Bain’s most recent former employer, Club XIX, is among them.)

The restaurant features five separate rooms, all of which can be reserved for private parties and banquets for parties as small as eight or as large as 50. °