COX: Chef Patrick’s Restaurant

Filet Mignon at Chef Patrick’s Restaurant in Guerneville. (Scott Manchester / The Press Democrat)

Patrick Wong bills his food as California-French, but that just scratches the surface of what’s going on at Chef Patrick’s, his restaurant in Guerneville.

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He’s Vietnamese, so there’s a Southeast Asian accent to his French cooking. Vietnam was a French colony from the late 18th century until 1954, when the country won its independence, and so the French influence runs deep there. Chef Wong also trained in France, which accounts for his pretty presentations. What’s really the most French about Chef Patrick’s entrees are the beef dishes that come with old-fashioned, robust, intensely flavored, meaty, wine reduction sauces — classic French cooking from before the mid-1970s, when the focus shifted to less filling foods.

Calling Chef Patrick’s menu California-French suggests a fusion of these two cuisines, but that’s not the case. About the only menu items that could be construed as California cuisine were a Sonoma baby greens salad and Crab Cakes ($10.95 **). While the two cakes were small, salty, stuffed with filler and bland, an accompanying cracking-fresh winter greens salad dressed in tangy vinaigrette rescued the plate.

And billing this menu as California-French risks ignoring its heavy Italian influence. Of the nine entrees on the printed menu, four are Italian: fettucini Alfredo, vegetarian capellini, prawns angel hair pesto, and prawns risotto.

Among the appetizers, there’s the very Italian Caesar Salad (7.95 **½), here made not just from a few inner leaves of romaine, but the whole inner head, the leaves still held together by the white core. It was given a thick and creamy dressing rather than a classic Caesar dressing, but it was tasty and welcome fare. Also available, a salad that the menu calls “Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella Cheese,” the very definition of a Caprese salad from Italy’s Campania region.

So. Lots of Italian, some French, and not much California, all nicely put together by a talented Vietnamese chef.

There are nightly specials to augment the printed menu. On a recent night, the specials included monkfish, scallops and a filet mignon adorned with Brie cheese and chocolate shavings. If you’re in the mood for filet but don’t want chocolate near your beef, the regular Filet Mignon ($25.95 ***½) is superb, tender, seared so there’s a crustiness to the surface, and covered with a glistening merlot reduction sauce, with mashed potatoes, nicely steamed carrots and leeks, plus peeled asparagus tips (a nice touch) to finish the plate.

Southeast Asian Beef Ragu

Also, the specials board lists a cultural mash-up called Southeast Asian Beef Ragu ($25.95 ***½), which was the best beef stew you can imagine. It was loaded with tender chunks of braised beef, carrots, thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, onions, all held together by a dark, rich lemongrass and tomato sauce. I hope Chef Patrick keeps this on his regular menu, because if you go, and you like beef stew, you’ll flip for this dish.

You need red wine to go with all this beefiness. The wine list is modest at 24 selections (20 of them by the glass), including the 2009 Chateau St. Jean Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon for $39, a 2009 Ferrari-Carano Merlot for $45, and a 2007 Buena Vista Pinot Noir for $54. Corkage is $10.