Specialty Food Store Becomes Restaurant

XX Truffles, 3701 N.E. 45th Ave. Breakfast, lunch, dinner ($4.50 to $8) 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Beer, wine. Major credit cards. No smoking. No reservations. 522-3016. --------------------------------------------------------------- Truffles and flourishes.

About six weeks ago Truffles became a full-service restaurant. There is little remarkable in that, except that in so doing it ceased to be a full-service specialty food shop.

Truffles of Laurelhurst, once one of Seattle's blue-chip dispensers of fine foods, foreign and domestic, bottled and canned, smoked and salted, fell victim to creeping hard times and to the growing phenomenon of supermarket sophistication.

Doug Courter, a veteran chef, caterer and a former manager at the Grand Central Bakery, is now Truffles' GM. He was candid: "Specialty food shops were especially hard hit by the growth of upscale supermarkets. They couldn't compete. Places like the University Village QFC and good old Larry's Markets became places for destination shopping sprees. I know, because I go to them myself and see a lot of our former customers there."

Courter stayed on at Truffles after a succession of ownership changes. The food shelves that had been the deli's centerpieces came out. Gone were 10 kinds of olive oil and a dozen brands of mustard. New tables and chairs moved in. A hot line (ranges and grills) was installed alongside the existing bakery and deli kitchen.

"The restaurant, the menu and the food are designed for casual, comfortable and family-style enjoyment," Courter said." `"he kind of place you can come in and hang out for hours."

Hangouts are one concept; a Laurelhurst hangout requires a bit more than the ordinary. Truffles appears to be delivering on the requirements.

In addition to the usual array of hot and cold deli sandwiches - including a laudable Reuben made with Boars Head cured corned beef from New York City - there are a minimum of eight hot entrees priced from $6 to $7.65, seven or more deli salads and six or seven desserts made fresh daily.

Breakfasts are popular, with three-egg omelets in the $5 to $6 range, accompanied by slices of melon, pineapple and clusters of grapes alongside excellent pan-roasted red potatoes that appear to have been zipped with sun-dried tomatoes and a touch of cayenne. The light, fluffy Greek omelet, filled with wilted spinach and melted feta, was choice.

The deli salads are available either by the pound, in lunch or dinner-size portions and in a three-salad sampler ($5.35). The sampler is a good, uh, sampling of what the garde manger cooks can do. From a rotating list of 18, I picked the Moroccan Eggplant (smoky and intriguing), the Chicken Curry (with coconut shavings, raisins, nuts, green onions, yogurt and with not quite enough curry bite) and the Tortellini Salad (made with imported dried Amore cheese-filled pasta, and tossed with fire-roasted red-pepper pesto, and spinach-basil pesto with pine nuts). The tortellini literally explodes with flavors.

Hot entrees are served with a choice of soup (three made daily) or the house green salad, which is adequate but nothing special.

Four Cheese Lasagna ($6.50) is the most rich and generous item on the list. Provolone, mozzarella, Parmesan and ricotta cheeses are melted in between layers of pasta and a lively marinara sauce, augmented with spinach, onions, garlic and herbs. It's topped with more red sauce and a creamy bechamel.

Most of the flavors of the dish, however, are locked into the bottom layer of garlic-herbed ricotta. A bit more of it at higher elevations would make the final assembly less bland.

Polenta ($6.50) is a poor peasant porridge being given uncommon emphasis in recent seasons, and the way Truffles does it may explain why. The basic cornmeal is not simply cooked and simply dressed (as it was in most farm kitchens of the past), but infused and simmered with a sun-dried tomato paste, garlic, pepper and aromatic herbs. It is then cut into wedges, toasted and served under an impressive sweet-red-pepper sauce.

I'm not certain what makes the Spanish Pork Stew ($7.25) particularly Spanish, but it's presumably the splash of sherry that finishes off the mix of braised tomatoes, carrots, potato wedges and four or five lean pieces of very tender pork loin. It is served over fettuccine.

Chicken Breast Kalamata ($6.95) looks blacker than its actual grilling time could accomplish, but there's a reason. The breast of chicken (unboned to retain moisture) is marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and rolled in a black olive paste. It's then grilled just long enough to firm up and heat through without drying out. It's served with oven-roasted potatoes.

A salad special that accompanies many of the hot sandwiches is the Wild Rice Andaluse: a blend of the boiled water-grass seed with green peas, apple bits, cucumber, golden raisins, red pepper, almonds and a vinaigrette dressing. I tend to think of wild rice as an overly costly, over-rated product, but this composition works well.

I haven't tried many of the house desserts, but a recent wedge of Tiramisu ($2.25) lacked enough of the liqueur-espresso to give the dessert its characteristic moistness. It more resembled a dense chocolate layer cake.

There are seven bottled beers and a house choice of inexpensive wines ($2.50) by the glass.