Caprice Leila Ayoub Caprice
104 E. State St. (Orange St.)
Redlands, CA 92373
Map
Cuisine: Eclectic / Contemporary
Tucked into an office building, Caprice surprises with an eclectic menu displaying the chef’s diverse talents.
Openings: Lunch & Dinner Mon.-Sat.
Caprice, Redlands, CA


Caprice Restaurant Review:


This unheralded restaurant features an eclectic menu celebrating flavors from Tangiers to Tokyo, and from Jerusalem to Jakarta. And Lebanese-born chef Leila Ayoub handles it all with an unexpected finesse grounded in classic technique. For starters, she turns out such disparate items as ahi sashimi with yuzu tobiko, Maryland crab cakes, and a colorful beet salad spiked with pistachios and ginger-kumquat vinaigrette. Her deft hand with Italian cuisine shows up in pizzas, eggplant lasagna and creamy risotto with spot prawns, while French sensibilities appear frequently. One may opt for Loch Duart salmon with braised artichokes and corn succotash, Brandt Farm flatiron steak with Roquefort butter, or crispy Berkshire pork chop with mustard sauce. The serious wine cellar offers a vast selection from rare bottles to very affordable ones, with good selections by the glass and a long list of bubbles for special occasions. The dining room, hidden in an office building, has an almost temporary feel to it, although the place has been around for twenty years. But with attractive table settings and flattering evening lighting, it is more than comfortable and even a little romantic.