Opus Too Successful Copy, But Not Perfect

Restaurant review

XX 1/2 Opus Too, 1001 Fairview Ave. N. ($$) Pasta, and mesquite-grilled steaks and seafood. $9.95 to $18.95. Upstairs open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and until 9 p.m. Sunday. Downstairs bar cafe open 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. Sunday brunch served 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., $9.95. Full bar. Major credit cards. Reservations: 292-6787. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Back when St. Vincent de Paul's was an open-air bazaar of discarded washing machines and household surplus, I had friends who furnished their houses entirely in early St. Vincent de Paul.

A few years ago, the place became a victim of Seattle's prosperity. Waterfront real estate on Lake Union became too valuable for a second-hand shop. When upscale restaurants began to spring up as neighbors, it was clear that St. Vincent's could make a heap more money selling real estate than used furniture.

Opus Too, a branch of a successful Portland operation, opened on the old St. Vinnie's site a little more than a year ago, and almost instantly won a following for its good food and laid-back ambience. It's the sort of place where the cooks wear baseball caps in lieu of toques.

Ken Bauer and Chuck Quinn, partners in Charlie's Inc. (Charlie's On Broadway, Fishhouse Charlie's in Edmonds), decided to bring Opus Too to Seattle after they found themselves stopping to eat at the Portland version whenever they were in that city.

The place began in 1972 as Jazz de Opus, a club in Portland's Old Town section, where patrons could lounge on low couches to listen to jazz artists, who stopped over en route from Seattle to San Francisco. It was such a hit that in 1982, it expanded with an adjacent restaurant, Opus Too, that specialized in mesquite-grilled steaks and seafood. Faithful copy

Quinn and Bauer bought the Portland operation in 1989, and followed the restaurant's formula faithfully when they opened Opus Too on Lake Union. The jazz is missing - the space is too tight to allow it - but the view is better here.

Upstairs, in the dimly lighted cafe, tables line a wall of windows overlooking Lake Union. The downstairs bar cafe is a convivial, high-key place to order burgers, hang out with friends over drinks and watch a game on TV. Bargain prices on food and drinks make the downstairs especially popular during double happy hours, from 3 to 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The menu offers some unusual specialties, such as cashew curry salmon and Gorgonzola rib-eye steak, along with a selection of pasta dishes and a range of mesquite-grilled seafood and steaks, any of which can be had with a choice of sauces made fresh by the chef.

We began with an order of crab cakes, and found them thin and light - not characteristics I look for in crab cakes. Two are served as appetizers - a slim offering for the $6.95 price. The beaker of red pepper beurre blanc served with them had a fine balance of flavor that almost - but not quite - made up for the absence of crab flavor in the cakes.

A better appetizer was saganaki - a substantial slab of salty kefalotiri Greek goat cheese, fried quickly and served sizzling. The waitress doused it with warm brandy, touched a match to it and sprang backward with a whispered "Oop-Ah" before she doused the flame with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Fine with slices of crusty bread.

My main-course filet mignon was an excellent cut, kissed with heat at the grill to a perfect medium rare. But the putative lemon caper sauce served at its side had not the slightest hint of lemon. `Sauce with that?'

My husband hit a snag when he ordered Gorgonzola rib-eye steak. "Coated with Cajun seasonings, seared and topped with Gorgonzola cream sauce," he said, salivating at the sound of it.

When it arrived - sans sauce or Cajun spices - the waitress asked, "Would you like a champignon sauce or something with that?"

Where, he asked, was the Gorgonzola cream sauce?

"The chef said that was a blackened steak," she said, as if that explained everything.

After a short interchange, she whisked the steak back to the kitchen, and returned it a few minutes later with a heavy-handed coating of Cajun spices, and the requested sauce. A trifle overcooked by then, but it must be noted that every bite disappeared from the plate.

Desserts, with the exception of apple crisp and burnt cream, come from Valentino's. We split a wedge of key lime mousse pie, and found the light texture and tart taste a perfect foil for the richness of the rest of the meal. Times staff reviewers make visits to restaurants anonymously and unannounced. They pay in full for all food, wines and services. When they interview members of the restaurants' management and staff, they do so only after the meals and the services have been appraised. They do not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.