Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Potential for flooding rains. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Potential for flooding rains. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.

In December 2020, during the pandemic, Caprice Cafe decorated its patio with stuffed animals and mannequins.

In December 2020, during the pandemic, Caprice Cafe decorated its patio with stuffed animals and mannequins.

It has been more than 30 years since my first visit to Caprice. The food back then was primarily Lebanese, offering such items as kibbeh, hummus, stuffed grape leaves and schwarma with a wide selection of French inspired desserts.

Nowadays, the menu was chock full of organic dishes, farm fresh vegetables, soups, an array of salads, pizzas and pastas when we visited them at lunchtime. There is an outside patio where we decided to sit, with good air flow. (Will the pandemic ever cease to rule our lives?)

We began with a pair of crab cakes made from shredded Maryland blue crab meat served with micro greens drizzled with a balsamic vinegar, and a pool of what was called Remoulade sauce. The crab cakes were excellent — no filler inside and nicely crisped on the outside. The so-called Remoulade was nothing of the sort. This lemony, garlic-infused mayo with a slight kick in the finish worked well with the crab but lacked most of the ingredients of a New Orleans-style Remoulade sauce (such as Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, capers, sweet paprika, Tabasco, horseradish and finely chopped scallions.)

A true Remoulade has an orangey pink hue, and much more of a kick than was present in this version.

The roast beet salad was a tour de force. Discs of red beets surrounded a mound of greens bathed in a balsamic vinaigrette and topped with sliced avocado, perfectly ripe Humboldt Fog goat cheese and pieces of crushed pistachios. Trout or chicken can be added for an additional $5 to make this an entrée.

The ingredients in the chicken fajita sandwich complimented each other to a T. Butter lettuce, purple onions soaked in vinegar to remove their sharpness, diced poblano chiles, chicken breast meat and avocado slices tied together with an aioli verde (akin to a creamy pesto) was delicious.

Unfortunately, trying to take a bite of one of the halves of the sandwich without losing ingredients onto the plate presented a challenge unless you clutched in both hands and pressed down while biting into it. A simple solution would be to use a thick guacamole (instead of sliced avocado) and press the onions and poblano chiles into it to keep everything else from falling out when the customer bites into the roll. Despite the mechanics, the flavors were delicious and complementary. Superb roasted corn and green beans accompanied the sandwich.

Moving on, we sampled the butternut squash risotto, which turned out to be the most successful item we ordered. Tender, though not creamy, risotto was tossed with soft squash cubes, sliced Brussels sprouts, spiced pecans, sliced mushrooms and fried sage leaves, making for stunning visuals and a bevy of complimentary flavors. Roquefort crumbles usually top the dish, but we asked for it on the side, since Roquefort is such a strong bleu cheese and could easily have overwhelmed the delicacy of the dish. When we make risotto at home, our cheese preference is grated piave, cacciocavallo or parmigiano Reggiano.

Finally, there was the wagyu meatball pizza — a blend of crumbled meat, a drift of marinara sauce (I would have liked more), mozzarella, olive pieces and chive topped a thin crust pie. I asked for additional meat and the whole pizza was covered for an additional $5.

The only problem was that the pizza cutter probably hadn’t been sharpened recently, and the crust hadn’t been cut completely through.

After wrestling with the first piece, and dumping all the meat topping in the process, we sent the pie back to the kitchen for re-cutting. The crust was excellent, by the way, thin and pliable yet with a nice crunchiness on the back end.

The food did take quite a while to come out of the kitchen, probably because we had a reservation at 11:30 when the restaurant opened, and a lot of orders were placed around the same time.

David Cohen is the former co-host of the PBS show “Table for Two.”

Where: 104 E. State St., Redlands.

Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Dinner 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturdays and 4 to 9:30 p.m. Fridays.

Prices: Appetizers $13 to $19, salads $11 to $23, most under $17. Entrées $16 to $25, Loch Duarte salmon filet $35, prime Brandt beef flatiron $40.

Details: Full bar on site. Serving only fresh organic meats (no hormones or antibiotics), fresh fish sourced daily. Outdoor patio dining and indoor atrium seating. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery.

For more information: Visit capricecafe.com or call (909) 793-8787.

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