By Blair Anthony Robinson
brobinson@sacbee.com

Pappardelle with roasted chicken and mushrooms – wide ribbons of pasta cooked just right, brightened with a dash of preserved lemon. Gnocchi with sautéed garlic and pine nuts that complement the subtle flavor of potato.
Steak cooked masterfully – and differently – every night, using various cuts of grass-fed beef from Iowa.
A delicious, large and appropriately show-offy hamburger that starts with superior ground beef and finishes with a condiment mixture of aioli and ketchup.

Risotto so good I didn't notice it was vegetarian, right down to the complex stock made in-house. Seafood, including mussels done three different ways, delivered fresh, after the chef places a call to Mahoney's Seafood on Pier 45 in San Francisco to learn what's good.
Asparagus fresh from the Delta 20 minutes away that is gently peeled, seasoned simply with olive oil and garlic, and then grilled. Really, really good.

Welcome to Ravenous Cafe, squeezed into a narrow storefront in a Pocket-area strip mall about 10 miles from the epicenter of Sacramento's restaurant boom, this new, underdog of a dining room I might never have found without word-of-mouth buzz.
In a room that seats but 27, the food is consistently delicious and absolutely memorable, the work of a chef practically obsessed with finding the freshest seasonal ingredients and then making all the right moves in the kitchen, tiny as it is.
One appetizer alone could draw standing-room-only crowds. It had the four of us at our table thrilled as we sank our teeth into thick slices of Haloumi, a not-so- familiar cheese that had been grilled on a flat iron until it sizzled.
Biting into this slab, through the arugula and then the bread, picking up the textures and complementary flavors of the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tomato confit, then noting the warmth of it all on the palate, inspired one of those ooh-and-ahhh moments, this jolt of awareness that we were eating something special.

I'm guessing it would have been awkward – and potentially ugly – had there been a fifth piece to divvy up. Yes, we were ravenous for more.
Mark Helms, who apprenticed at the Cookery in Fair Oaks years ago under Jean Luc Chassereau and who went on to be executive chef at the well-respected but unfortunately named Tapa the World on J Street, is now restricted in the kitchen only by his imagination and the whims of the seasons.
"We're very simple. It's farm to table," the chef told me.
Days after my visits to Ravenous, the chef's brain proved daunting to pick. Helms speaks quickly and intensely about all kinds of culinary topics, bouncing from one to the next with obvious energy.
When I asked about the cheese for that excellent appetizer, he told me it is handmade and kept in water like mozzarella, but that its consistency is somewhat stiffer.

Then his tone shifted. I began to pick up the obsessive, self-critical component of being a chef, much like a poet who stands at the lectern to do a reading in public and begins editing the work in his head.
Helms confided that he really needs to be making his own cheese at this point and, despite all his other duties, says, "Cheese is going to be my next thing," and that he will probably start this summer.
I wonder when he rests.

At one point, Helms told me he is known for using salt, sometimes to excess (not in any of the dishes I tried). Then he tells me he uses a special Himalayan salt he grinds himself. On and on it goes.
He says he's not the greatest with desserts, though his cheesecake was very good, with a crust that added flavor and texture rather than simply disappearing in the mouth. His chocolate pâté was also good. The time- consuming and finicky (and delicious) macaroons, along with several other desserts, are the work of friends who stop by to help out and share their talents.
The chef's risotto happens to be vegetarian because his buddy's significant other is vegetarian, and the chef likes the challenge of offering meatless dishes beyond the ordinary.

In these ways and more, Ravenous is the very definition of a small, family-run operation doing the kind of farm-to-table cooking that is sweeping the country at the highest levels of the restaurant industry.
Helms is also the kind of restaurateur who put the wine list together with the help of a good friend – the two pulling up chairs in Helms' backyard and tasting wines until they arrived at a balanced list, with only a couple of bottles from Napa and most from more unsung area locales in Amador and Calaveras counties.

During one of our visits to Ravenous Cafe, we especially enjoyed the "Cotes du Calaveras" from Lavender Ridge winery in the Sierra foothills. It's a smooth, fruity red wine blend of syrah, mourvedre and grenache.
If you look at the ratings box adjacent this review, you'll notice Ravenous received four stars for overall quality. That's our highest rating.
This is a good time to explain what that means – starting with what it doesn't. Four stars doesn't mean perfect. It doesn't mean Ravenous would go toe-to-toe with the French Laundry. The food will be nicely plated, but not nice enough to make the cover of Art Culinaire.
Four stars in the Sacramento area means diners will find intelligently planned menus, excellent sourcing of ingredients and cooking that holds its own with the Top 10 restaurants in town.

It's not a decision I make in a vacuum. I lean on my fellow diners. Some are critical; some like practically everything.
We taste and talk and weigh the pros and cons, and we – four or six or eight of us – usually come to an agreement within a half-star of what I finally offer up as the rating. With Ravenous Cafe, it was unanimous.
Four stars means a place like Ravenous is performing at the highest level of what it purports to be – in this case, an intimate, casual dining experience with a small staff that wants to bring in customers and serve them so well that they'll become regulars.
Ravenous wasn't perfect. I thought my otherwise excellent pappardelle was a little heavy on the preserved lemon, though it certainly didn't disqualify the dish.

I think the décor could be refined to somehow make the small space seem warmer and less sterile, and give it more of the owner's personal stamp, but that should emerge in time.
The service was very good. On one occasion, Helms' wife, Susan Vasques, handled our table with warmth and genuine interest. On another night, a different server was superb.
Ravenous Cafe is the kind of place worth seeking out, worth supporting and, if your focus is on our fine dining epicenter downtown, well worth the occasional detour.

RAVENOUS CAFE

7600 Greenhaven Drive, Suite 23, Sacramento (916) 399-9309 or www.RavenousCafe.com
HOURS: Lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday- Sunday; brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
RESERVATIONS: Recommended
OVERALL 4 stars
Consistently first-rate cooking, wonderful ingredients and a friendly, casual neighborhood atmosphere.
SERVICE 3 1/2 stars
Servers include the chef's wife, who is new to the restaurant business but is apparently a quick study.
AMBIENCE 3 stars
With room for only 27 people inside, the place could use a tad more warmth and personality. A planned patio will double the seating just in time for spring.
FOOD 4 stars
Simply and consistently excellent New American cuisine by a chef who cooks what he wants to eat himself.
VALUE 4 stars
Steaks are around $25 but are marvelous. The burger is $11.95 and worth it. Several excellent entrees under $20. Wines are reasonable.
NOTEWORTHY: The menu is seasonal and will change. You haven't lived until you've eaten the chef's grilled Haloumi appetizer.

BEYOND THE MENU

Haloumi cheese: Originated in Cypress and is a mix of goat and sheep milk. Interestingly, it is unlike many cheeses in that it can be grilled and browned without melting and oozing, arriving at the table looking more like a meaty piece of tofu. Ravenous showcases this cheese in a wonderful appetizer.
Bavette: The French name for a flavorful but lesser-known cut of steak, from the flat part of the belly, that also goes by the less-than-flattering name "flap meat." It's gaining in popularity among food buffs. The cut can be challenging for the home cook because it is grainy and tough if not prepared properly. At Ravenous, chef Mark Helms marinates the meat in olive oil, shallots and a touch of honey and soy sauce. After cooking, he slices it across the grain, which makes it tender. Slicing with the grain would make it tough and chewy.
Himalayan salt: Says Helms, who uses it extensively, "That's the purest salt there is. I grate it on a microplane. That salt is older than life itself on this planet. It's really interesting. I'm waiting on two big bricks I can put on my stovetop and cook on them. It would be awesome to cook meat or fish on that."
Asked about the Morton's salt found in the grocery store, Helms replied, "Oh, God. That's iodized salt. You don't want to salt with that fine of a grain to season with. That's terrible salt."