A touch of class after class

Of all of Santa Barbara's treasures, restaurants take the cake.

Few cities in the world lay claim to as many restaurants per capita as Santa Barbara. So you may be asking yourself, where do the city's restaurants get cooks to fill its kitchens? The answer is the City College School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management. In the hollowed halls of the John Dunn Gourmet Dining Room, located across from the Bookstore, students handcraft the most appetizing and aesthetically pleasing dishes in town.

Thursday evening hounding the alleyways of City College with expert senses, we pounced upon the John Dunn, affectionately known as Dunny's.

My colleagues and I were greeted warmly and ushered to a table situated under dim romantic lighting. We awaited our delicious four-course meals, salivating over the menu. Although the menu may look intimidating, everything is more than pleasing and will satisfy all cravings.

Our server made insightful recommendations for our starters and continued to impress us with her professionalism throughout the meal. We opted for the tomato bread salad, which came beautifully prepared with blue lake green beans, goat cheese and torn basil. All this sandwiched between three generous slices of heirloom tomato. The dish was masterfully paired with Tin Roof's pinot noir rose.

One of my colleagues had the drunken ceviche, which came in a chilled glass piled neatly with mango, papaya, Serrano chilies and tortilla chips. Orange juice and tequila topped off the dish. Our server poured a generous glass of the Lafond Chardonnay Santa Rita, which brought out the sweet flavor of the vine-ripe fruit with ample acidity. Let's just say our friend Pierre has done it again, squeezing liquid so tantalizing one might call it the nectar of the gods.

We also recommend the avocado Clementine tangerine salad, which included watercress tossed with light citrus vinaigrette. The soft hint of sweetness in the tangerine gave the salad a flavorful tang and the Tin Roof pinot noir rose also accompanied the greens. Even this early on in the meal, we were already sold. But the staff continued to impress us with its relentless pursuit at perfection.

Next, we sampled from three to-die-for appetizers. Local tempura squid stuffed with ridgeback shrimp and scallops arrived at our table faster than Colin Powell can point out weapons-grade plutonium plants on a map of the Middle East. The crispy outer layer of the squid gave way to the juicy inner morsel. The dish was served with a Singha beer in a chilled glass. The baby artichokes braised with red wine fused with oven-dried tomato are also a praiseworthy choice. Served with the Mark West pinot noir, a smooth wine, the artichokes were delicate yet hinted at orchards of citrus.

Another salivating option is the roasted red pepper bisque, which our server poured over a hunk of goat cheese gratin. The bisque tasted light and thin, with delicious spices that will definitely clear the sinuses. The temperature was just right and was a perfect pre-taste to the entrée to come.

While our moods shifted with every tip of our wine glasses, the mood in the restaurant was light and pleasant. A quiet aura surrounds Dunny's, reminiscent of a courtroom after yet another obviously guilty celebrity is acquitted of murder. We managed to avoid the annoyance of that one loud person, sitting at the table next to you at the local burger hub downtown, and kept it quiet and simple. Dunny's is perfect for a date you are dying to impress.

For dinner, my colleague had the brick roasted game hen. This scrumptious hen, served with roasted tomato risotto and grain mustard panjus, was an absolute game breaker. Never before has an able-bodied workforce done more with a chicken than besides, maybe, when Americans re-elected Bush.

Another colleague opted for the seared venison loin. The dish is served with an elderberry veal reduction, caramelized pearl onions and Gorgonzola potatoes. A rich meaty cabernet sauvignon by Santa Barbara Winery tied together the meal beautifully.

If you're feeling veggie, go for the purple potato and haricot vert korma. Sweet chutney and a generous portion of garlic naan accompany this entrée as along with a plethora of mushrooms.

For dessert, we enjoyed two twisted hot churros with a leche chocolate dipping sauce and a lemon and blueberry tartlet. The churro was handmade and offered nothing short of crispy, cinnamon heaven. The tartlet was also incredible, with its fresh fruit and flaky crust, we wanted to rob the place blind of them.

You would be hard-pressed to find a restaurant with such perfectly prepared cuisine, picturesque panoramic views and five-star service in this city as the John Dunn Gourmet Dining Room offers. It would be convenient to give Dunny's a good review, being that it's the only place we can now eat on campus. However, we honestly love everything about it.

Each four-course meal will only set you back $25, compared to other gourmet restaurants in town, which could cost you at least $75 per person.

So quit harboring vivid thoughts of your night at the Harbor Restaurant. Don't cry over Sage and Onion. A Palace already exists on campus, and all the king's minions-student cooks­-are armed with paring knives, ready to carve their way into your heart, through your stomach.