A Revamped Vic’s Limits Choices but What Remains Merits Praise

Vic’s opened in late 1986 as one of the most ambitious restaurants in La Jolla.

It was difficult to dislike Vic’s style, which took a grand point of view and encompassed a formal decor, first-class service and a cuisine that emphasized large portions of carefully cooked, top-quality foods.

All this came at a price, however, one so steep that Vic’s deep booths were empty more often than not. Changes were made, including the departure of chef Jim Hill and a scaling back of the menu that allowed the restaurant to decrease prices considerably.

Because these changes failed to generate sufficient business, Vic’s recently underwent yet another metamorphosis and emerged with Jim Hill again in command of the kitchen and a new, even more-abbreviated menu that offers something for everyone--as long as everyone has relatively circumscribed desires. The present, somewhat Spartan list limits itself to prime rib and rotisserie-broiled chicken, augmented by the four or five offerings mentioned on the daily specials sheet.

A Steakhouse Mood

The new menu keeps Vic’s more or less in the original all-American steakhouse mood--except that steak, when it is offered, appears only on the specials list. Appetizers are hearty and simple; the choice includes oysters on the half shell, the redoubtable shrimp cocktail and, in a more conscious bow to San Diego sensibilities, shrimp in garlic butter. If two guests have an inclination to share, they should not be disappointed by the rack of baby back ribs, which cooks slowly to a nice tenderness under a glaze of sweet but sharp barbecue sauce.

All meals include a “spinning bowl” salad, a Gargantuan assortment of greens that the server whirls at the table in a salad bowl set in a larger bowl of crushed ice (this gesture is vaguely hokey, although it does ensure crisp greenery, and is in any case not done in the same spirit of phony elegance as the ridiculous chilled salad forks offered by some establishments). Musky Italian balsamic vinegar flavors the simple vinaigrette dressing--even in a steakhouse, Chef Hill can not resist his attraction to nouvelle niceties--and it suits quite well, although the salad could be moistened more generously. The option of an alternative soup would be welcome, though (in its early days, Vic’s served a marvelous sweet potato soup).

The centerpiece of the new Vic’s is an elaborate French rotisserie, and it is used for the preparation of virtually all the entrees. Lest the standing entree list of prime rib and chicken seem too austere, there is the option of a sampler plate that offers hefty servings of both.

The chicken is the more interesting of the two because it soaks in olive oil spiced with cilantro and chipotle chilies before taking its place on the rotisserie. These flavoring agents add subtle notes to the chicken and give it more interest than the garden-variety bird. The cooking process is carried out with some care, and the flesh takes on that moist, toothsome quality peculiar to spit-roasted fowl.

The prime rib, wheeled to the table on a closed cart and carved to order, also benefits from its sojourn on the rotisserie, and is appropriately tender. This cut of beef enjoys immense popularity, although it really seems much less interesting than steak. But Vic’s spurs it along a bit with well-chosen seasonings, a splash of roasting juices and a spoonful of a particularly sharp and likable horseradish sauce.

Both the chicken and the prime rib are automatically accompanied by mashed potatoes and gravy, another example of absence of choice that makes this menu seem too limited. A baked potato is available at an extra charge; the one sampled was notably undercooked. Other optional side dishes are creamed corn and creamed spinach, both traditional steakhouse fare. The creamed spinach, served in a portion that could have fed four, was nicely done and featured an unusual, sweet flavor accent that tasted as if it were derived from caramelized pearl onions.

Hill is an accomplished chef, and he blossoms on his specials list, which recently included two fish and three meats. Where the standing menu seems almost self-consciously old-fashioned and plain, the specials tend a little toward modern fantasy and international contemporary cuisine--broiled ahi, for example, was bedded on angel hair pasta and finished with a Thai-inspired sauce spiked with sesame, red pepper and ginger. Among the meats, Hill offered filet mignon in a sauce of Stilton cheese and Port wine, a dish that has gained much currency in San Diego in recent years, and broiled wild boar, always a rarity, in Sherry vinegar sauce.

Another special, a rack of lamb in a thoroughly clever sauce of white wine, cream, sorrel and mint, showed the kitchen at the top of its form. Mint commonly seasons lamb, but to make the combination tart with sorrel and smooth with cream is a novel idea, and it made for an almost explosive taste. At $23.95, this dish, like most specials, was costly contrasted with the standing menu, which begins at $8.95 for the basic half chicken and at $14.95 for the smallest cut of prime rib.

The dessert selection practices the same restraint as the rest of the menu, but an extravagant chocolate mousse concoction renders the preceding austerity moot. Surrounded by a chocolate cookie crust, the filling is so buttery as to be phenomenally, even fantastically, rich. A certain sort of chocolate melody seems to run through this dessert that is, in performance, quite seductive.

DAVID NELSON ON RESTAURANTS

* VIC’S

7825 Fay Ave., La Jolla

456-3789

Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly except Sundays.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, including one glass of wine each, tax and tip, $30 to $90.