Café 21 

750 Fifth Ave

Dinner prices: Flatbreads, salads and starters, $6 to $17; entrees, $15 to $29

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

Before expanding from quiet Normal Heights into the core of downtown, Café 21 was one of San Diego’s best-kept secrets. While husband-wife owners Alex and Leyla Javadov procured a brisk neighborhood patronage, they eventually realized that their native Azerbaijani cuisine would make an equally wide splash within the Gaslamp District.

Their kitchens rank as the only places in San Diego serving meals common to the Eurasian republic. Despite numerous contemporary twists, consumers are swooned by humble recipes that traditionally pair meats with fruits while showcasing spices like cardamom, mint, dill and saffron. Nuts, fresh organics and homemade breads enter into the equation as well. Rightfully so, the end results leave you feeling as though you’re eating somewhere between Europe, the Middle East and the Ukraine.

The downtown menu varies slightly from the Normal Heights operation, but the meals stick to their exquisite presentations by incorporating vivid sauces, edible flowers and sleek plate-ware. In a starter of “cristo crepes,” for instance, the delicate pancakes were augmented by festive swirls of apricot and strawberry purees, adding a sweet, jammy pith to the free-range chicken and mozzarella encased within.

Hand-rolled dough resembling pie crust serves as the foundation for flatbreads, thus breathing new life into this ubiquitous appetizer. The tapanade version wows with a juicy crowning of red and yellow tomatoes that are zebra-striped with balsamic glaze and set atop a savory bedding of artichokes, pesto, feta and mozzarella. The portion is substantial, but the light, flakey base makes it doable for two mouths to completely devour.

Before encroaching on a heavier appetizer of fontina cheese fondue, appearing with a pretty bouquet of veggies and edible flowers in the middle, we downed several samplings of house-made sangrias winking at us from glass barrels along an illuminated side wall. The day’s selection included apple-ginger, strawberry-pineapple, fruit punch and traditional. Their flavors weren’t nearly as loud as we expected, but each possessed the refreshing essence of a cool summer breeze.

Salads are big and shareable, as proven with the “baklava crumble” featuring a mound of leafy greens, apple slices and creamy blue cheese. Studding the rim of the metal platter were fingers of baklava loaded with meaty walnuts. Consider it the worldlier sibling to gorgonzola-pear salad.

Leyla is the author of Café 21’s menus, a natural-born cook who also wields a knack for decorating. At the downtown location, she achieves a more rustic feel by appointing the space with heavy wood tables, soft earth tones and shelving stocked with copper cups and eye-grabbing jars of fruit-infused liquors. The homey touches extend even to the sidewalk patio.

Her entrée selections change frequently, although lamb and duck appear consistently in one form or another, often prepared with dried cherries, apricots and various herbs. On this visit, my companion opted instead for a hefty Angus New York steak plated with fat slices of grilled watermelon and what amounted to hundreds of tasty, thin French fries. The presentation was dramatic. The steak, however, was cooked medium-well, missing the mark of my friend’s tricky request that it be cooked “between medium-rare and medium.”

As a longtime fan of Leyla’s Ukranian-style dumplings, such as her dreamy, butter-laced pierogies that sporadically appear in Normal Heights, I made a B-line for the mushroom dumplings. So delicate and tender, it took only a slight press of the fork before spoonfuls of flavorful cremini mushrooms came tumbling out. The dish gains panache from cilantro cream sauce, crispy fried onions and teeny orange flowers on top.

Among the temptations we passed over were prosciutto-wrapped quail, coriander-crusted duck, apricot-braised lamb shank and a flaming filet mignon kabob with pomegranate-wine sauce. The next round of menu changes, we’re told, will occur by mid-summer.

For dessert, we chose a deconstructed blueberry cobbler served piping hot. The dark-purple berries were hidden beneath a floating mantle of pastry dough topped with strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, leaving behind a pond of fruity, creamy liquid that demands you drink it straight from the bowl when nobody’s looking.

Café 21  also serves breakfast and lunch. Judging from past morning and midday visits to Normal Heights, you can be sure to end up with novel, detailed dishes stamped with generous doses of heart and soul.

Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of Secret San Diego (ECW Press), and began writing about food two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. He has since covered the culinary scene extensively for NBC; Pacific San Diego Magazine; San Diego Uptown News; Gay San Diego; Living in Style Magazine and The Gay & Lesbian Times.