RESTAURANTS : Just Your Basic Cuban-French-Viet Fare

Places Afar is your basic Cuban-French-Vietnamese restaurant set in a shopping mall. Two chefs are in charge of the kitchen--one is Cuban, the other Vietnamese. If you are wondering about the connection, I have a good explanation. The chefs are married.

The Vietnamese dishes here are as good as you’ll find in Little Saigon. Imperial salad is a bowlful of cold, rice noodles and leafy greens with vinegared carrot, crushed peanut, barbecued pork and shrimp, plus Vietnamese egg rolls (crisper and more densely filled than in the rest of Asia).

The restaurant’s five-spice chicken, a large plate of sauteed chicken and winter vegetables, is made with a pungent spice mixture that permeates every bite. You can also get Vietnamese fried rice, beef with mint and chili, and bun bo (beef noodle soup).

Then there are the Cuban dishes--wonderful ham croquettes, for instance, which are crispy, deviled cylinders served with greaseless fried plantain chips and perfect roulades of smoky ham and Emmentaler cheese. Even smokier is the puree of green peas in hot soup form with chicharrones crumbled on top.

Of the Cuban entrees, I sampled the picadillo and the pan de bistec. I can recommend both. Picadillo is ground beef served over rice with plenty of onions, garlic and raisins in a highly seasoned tomato stock. It’s like a sophisticated Sloppy Joe. Pan de bistec (available only at lunch) is thinly sliced brisket on a soft roll with a large heap of grilled onions.

If you come at night, you can choose from a French menu that includes choucroute garni and couscous Mediterranean with orange chili oil. Desserts like cascas , guava paste over white cheese, and a good rice pudding and flan are always available.

Places Afar is inexpensive. Lunch items range from $2.95 to $5.95. Dinners are from $5.95 to $13.95.

PLACES AFAR

25932 Muirlands Blvd., Mission Viejo.

(714) 581-4200

Open Wednesday through Monday for lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted.

As the carriage wheel in the parking lot indicates, a calesa is a horse-drawn carriage used in the Philippines. But Calesa, the restaurant, is a richly luxurious place that wouldn’t look out of place in any first-class hotel in the Philippine capital.

Magnificent lanterns made from a Filipino shell called capiz are suspended over cloth-draped tables and ornate stainless steel carvings are placed throughout the dining room. Waiters wear tuxedoes and flame things at tables with great pomp and ceremony.

The motto here is “Around the World Dining,” and indeed the menu is defiantly eclectic here. Everything from paella to Indonesian sate to pure Continental-style desserts (e.g., baked Alaska) shows up on the menu.

One of the best dishes here is an appetizer called gambas al ajillo , a remnant Filipino favorite from colonial days. It’s a sizzling casserole of golden brown shrimp with lots of minced garlic and crusty, oil-rubbed bread. The Shanghai fried lumpia are good shrimp and pork egg rolls, unfortunately served with a forgettable sweet red sauce that is supposed to be sour.

Chicken tara --grilled cutlets with sticky pineapple and mango chutneys on the side--sounds intriguing, but is so sweet I thought the waiters would come by any minute and flame it for dessert. Better is caldereta , a spicy beef preparation from the little known Philippine province of Pampanga. It’s a dish that doesn’t seem Asian at all--the beef is covered with a thick blanket of sauce made from duck liver paste. I pegged it as a French-Yiddish-Hungarian concoction, but the chef assured me it was purely Pampangan.

Maryland crab cakes with a Mornay sauce on the side aren’t bad at all. But lengua estofado --sliced ox tongue in a red wine sauce with mushrooms and olives--was a big disappointment. It was somewhat salty and hockey-puck tough.

All the old-time hotel desserts are served at Calesa: crepe suzette, baked Alaska, flaming fruit jubilee. You can also get a Filipino meringue confection with several layers of butter cream that taste sort of like silly putty.

Calesa is moderately expensive. Appetizers are $5 to $6.50. Filipino dishes are $12 to $16. House specialties are $12 to $18. The paellas (for two only) are $27.50 and $30.50.

CALESA

2106 Tustin Ave., Santa Ana.

(714) 541-6585

Open for lunch Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner Monday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted.