Chasing Amey

Alta Plaza
2301 Fillmore (at Clay), 922-1444. Open Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday to 11 p.m. Reservations advised. Call in advance for wheelchair access. Parking: fairly easy from Clay northward. Muni via the 22 Fillmore.

Eating out more and enjoying it less, facing too many near-identical exorbitant California-Mediterranean-Asian menus, too many culinary palaces where the decor outshone the food, I'd started to wonder -- was my palate growing flaccid, or were the flavors merely pallid? The question was answered by a couple of meals at Alta Plaza, where a few weeks ago, Amey Shaw, the executive chef for the last four years, became a part-owner.

Shaw emerged like a culinary whirlwind in the summer of '86, when she followed Mark Miller as chef at Berkeley's near-legendary Fourth Street Grill. Arriving from the Claremont's Cal-classic hotel kitchen, she finally had an arena where she could let 'er rip, and she immediately stamped her own image on the Grill with an audacious series of "Chino-Latino" weekend dinners. The term originated in Manhattan, where Chinese-ethnic Cuban fare was enjoying a momentary vogue. Making no attempt to replicate that cuisine, Shaw cooked her own piquant fantasies of what Chino-Latino ought to be -- wild, spicy inventions like deep-fried "Oaxaca Wontons" and "Hot and Sour Roasted Tomatillo-Chile Soup." Even today, I remember her fruity-fiery mole sauce -- but also her weeknight seafood risotto, wherein the power punch came from fresh basil rather than hot chile.

Shaw's odyssey then traversed several other now-vanished eateries -- most notably Bentley's, where she turned out some sublimely spicy Louisiana-style seafood along with tamer (but very tasty) fish dishes. In October 1994, she landed at Alta Plaza. Under her leadership, the restaurant has won a fervent neighborhood following, even if it remains something of a secret to the city at large.

Failing at first to spot the restaurant door some 30 feet uphill on Fillmore, TJ and I entered through the bar, where a live jazz combo plays on weeknights to a spirited young post-work crowd of various genders. The several small dining rooms are layered along a short flight of stairs, with the jazz remaining audible but the chatter growing muted and the crowd growing a little older and gayer as you ascend. Our moods brightened when, along with hot sourdough rolls and warm butter, a server brought iced lemon-water without our even having to ask, much less fight off the usual nudges toward pricey San Pellegrino. The menu, we found, is printed daily, with nine appetizers and nine main courses changing slightly to reflect the day's (and the season's) best available produce and seafood. "I start out talking with George, my man from Summer Fog Farms out in the Richmond District -- we get all our produce from there, it's all organic and marvelous-tasting," Shaw told me, pausing to chat during one of her regular strolls through the dining room. "Today, George told me he'd just harvested sorrel -- a great match for lamb -- so I decided to do the lamb chops with a sorrel sauce. Eventually I hope to use only naturally raised meats and poultry, too -- the flavor is so much better."

We began with some sweet little Wellfleet oysters ($1.90 each) accompanied by a champagne-black pepper mignonette that was light and tangy, rather than overwhelmingly tart -- the first good mignonette I've had in a year or so. Meanwhile, I sipped a splurgy glass of the "featured wine," the big-legged, tropical-flowery 1996 Solitude chardonnay ($9) from Napa's Sangiacomo Vineyard. Ten other wines are available by the glass ($5-10) from a multipage all-California list, with bottles ranging from the low 20s to 10 times that for rare vintages.

At the first bite of white corn salad ($7.25), the movie switched to Technicolor. Elaborating the classic Tex-Mex elotes (corn with lime and chile powder), Shaw played off the sugariness of a modern "supersweet" variety by bathing the kernels in a lime vinaigrette blended with mild ancho chile and torn basil leaves, adding a tingle of fire with strips of roasted pasillas, furnishing puffs of calm with bits of feta and crunch from fried tortilla strips, and then a reprise of sweet-and-tart with ripe toybox tomatoes. "Ah, Amey still cooks like Amey -- such big, bright, exuberant flavors!" I said with relief.

Meanwhile, a generous cylinder of yellowfin tuna tartare ($9) exhibited a subtler piquancy, turning sashimi into a song and dance act. Under a scattering of crunchy black nori strips and black sesame seeds, cubes of superb deep red tuna topped julienned carrot and cucumber, lightly "pickled" in mirin, a sweet Japanese rice wine. Alongside were squiggles of wasabi to add to taste, and sliced jicama and cucumber as palate-cleansers.

After Shaw's mention of the lamb, I had to try it: Double-cut Atkins Ranch rib chops ($22.50) marinated in olive oil and a host of spices (including juniper berries and coriander seed) were grilled crusty on the surface and rare (as ordered) inside. They were so tender, so bursting with juice and flavor, I actually groaned out loud at the first bite, barely restraining myself from going the whole Meg Ryan -- the chops ranked with my lifetime top three lamb dishes.