Small Union Bay Cafe Is Select, Imaginative

XXX Union Bay Cafe, 3505 N.E. 45th St. Northwest regional. Dinners ($8 to $16) 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. No lunch. Beer, wine. Major credit cards taken. No smoking. Reservations: 527-8364.

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The Union Bay Cafe, tucked away on a minor commercial block a half-mile east of the University of Washington and a half-mile west of Laurelhurst, is a relative restaurant rarity.

Small, select and imaginative, it has managed to stay in business for almost a decade - growing slowly but steadily - without finding a need to clone itself into another place in Kirkland or Bellevue.

The owner-chef, Mark Manley, took over the restaurant about five years ago from the original founder, an enthusiastic amateur, Cyr Johndro. Manley, however, had a solid kitchen foundation, having worked for almost two years for Saleh Joudeh at Saleh al Lago. He brought in some highly eclectic - but not off-the-wall - concepts.

The menu was intentionally brief back then. It's briefer now. At present there are only three entrees on the standing menu:

A pork loin, a beef pepper steak and lamb rib chops.

But that is deceptive. Everything else is on a nightly ``special'' sheet and this always includes four appetizers, at least three seafood preparations and usually one or two other presentations of meat and/or poultry.

In other words, the Union Bay Cafe (don't confuse it with the Lake Union Cafe on Eastlake) keeps a few comfortable, reliable standbys and focuses on rotating variations nightly.

It works well, even during a tough summer.

Many, many Seattle restaurants took a drubbing during the Goodwill Games, especially those near the UW. Regulars feared getting tied up in traffic jams that seldom materialized.

``Once the Games actually started, the bottom just about fell out. Our regular business just disappeared,'' Manley said. ``I think many of them anticipated a mob scene and decided to go to Beirut for a weekend. But we recovered and things are building steadily again.''

Appetizers are reasonably priced (from $2.75 to $4.95) and, happily, the portions are not overly large. That is, you can eat one and still expect to have room for the rest of dinner.

I'd recommend either the Calamari Saltate ($4.95), which is ringlets of beautifully tender squid sauteed in olive oil with ground almonds - it's served with a mellow roast-garlic aioli - or the Homemade Tortelloni ($4.25).

The latter is made from red bell-pepper pasta stuffed with a mix of ground smoked chicken (Seattle Super Smoke?) ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, and served in a chive-butter sauce.

A seasonal starter: Sauteed Chanterelles ($4.95) are tossed with garlic, sliced leeks and finished with Marsala. The venerable Italian dessert wine lends a sweetness to the mushrooms that is not unpleasant, but somehow suggests that the whole dish might be delightful served over something else, like a grilled veal chop, duck breasts or even a risotto.

The Pepper Steak ($15.95) is the most expensive item on the card - and at that is less expensive than comparable servings almost anywhere else in town. The tenderloin of beef is densely packed with whole and cracked black peppercorns and grilled, then dressed with a sauce of green peppercorns, chopped shallots and veal stock.

The Pork Loin ($12.75) consisted of three generous cuts of meat, simply grilled (see below) and graced with a sauce of sliced fresh plums and chives.

Grilling pork is not as simple as it seems. It takes real touch on the part of the grillardin (Escoffier claimed that chefs are made; grill cooks are born). Pork, once trimmed, is quite lean (much more so than beef) and is easily dried and toughened. These cuts were perfect; moist, tender and flavorful.

The kitchen at the Cafe is staffed by sous chef John Ferry (formerly of the Alexis), Bob Hougland and Matt Lee.

``. . .Who really make the place work,'' Manley said manfully.

Scallops ($14.95) again showed careful handling. The marshmallow-sized East Coast shellfish were perfectly sauteed with fresh fennel, garlic and Pernod. They were completely tender, yet cooked through.

Vegetables are truly outstanding. On recent evenings the entrees were accompanied by slender, pale green wax beans, carrots, baby bok choy and romanesco, a broccoli-cauliflower hybrid. All organic.

Texmati rice (a domestic version of Pakastani Basmati) augmented with crushed hazelnuts completes the dinner arrange-ment.

The wine list is attractive. It is well-selected and fairly priced. One of the house featured reds is a 1988 Rhone-style Washington bottling from the McCrea winery.

They call the wine ``Mariah.'' They do.