French fusion. Asian gourmet. Baja fresh. It’s all cooking south of the border in a city better known for its slapdash street tacos and watered-down margaritas. Yet over the past 10 years, the Zona Rio district of Tijuana has sprouted the kind of stylish restaurants that can soothe the nerves of fearful foragers while appealing to the snobbiest of appetites.

Villa Saverios competes with the best of them. This stunningly designed restaurant and bar was recently introduced to me by a former resident of Tijuana who knows her way around the streets like a San Diego tour guide navigating Old Town. Playing the role of both lunch companion and Spanish interpreter, she requested for me an English menu, which boasts an array of Italian-Mexican cuisine that is fused purposely rather than accidentally. The restaurant also offers a protracted wine list that includes more than 300 labels, many of which reflect an effluence of varietals from Baja’s lesser-known wineries.

Located about 10 minutes from the San Ysidro border, I felt as though we had driven to some aristocratic supper club in Milan. The palatial white-linen dining room, open kitchen and hardwood flooring flows with European-style beauty. French doors separate two additional dining areas. And a subterranean wine room stocked with Cuban cigars provides a cloistered ambience to private parties that really want to let their hair down.

The lunch rush in Tijuana typically begins at 2:00 p.m., although that didn’t stop us from feeding our American-clocked appetites an hour earlier. We began with an order of Gobernor Taquitos – folded tortillas stuffed with shrimp and mozzarella cheese, and served with a fervid habañero salsa. More unique, yet equally delicious were the Chiles Anchos Rellenos. The peppers, ripened to a ruby hue, are filled with cow cheek, almonds and dates and bathed in a beef-wine broth.

My companion’s entrée selection was the end-all in tender meat – a slow cooked beef rib that endured six hours in the oven before the restaurant opened that day. It was coated in a red wine reduction that turns deliciously syrupy during the roasting process. French-cut string beans and olive oil mashed potatoes rounded out this winning dish.

The spirit of Northern Italy was faithfully captured in my Agnolotti Verdi, an arrangement of ranch-cheese ravioli surrounded by asparagus and rustic-style tomato cream sauce. The plate also featured the most memorable dried tomatoes I’ve ever eaten – cherry-red in color and delectably sweet.

Saverios’ recently revised menu reflects a passionate approach to food long made famous by Italians and Mexicans. What is snagged from Baja gets cooked with a Mediterranean proficiency. The Poscado Rocket, for instance, is a Pacific white fish similar to sole, yet served in a smoked tomato broth with mussels and anise. And the locally grown veal is converted into an Italian-style breaded filet and presented with Romano cheese gratin and Roma tomato confit.

Our dessert especially attested to the culinary camaraderie that exists between the two countries. If you can forfeit the usual chocolate confections, I highly recommend the Los Ates con Queso. This lovely and sparse presentation featured Manchego cheese and fresh mozzarella with two small cubes of traditional Mexican ate at opposite ends of the plate. The ates, made with guava and quince, resemble firm jellies that provide a sensational finish to the taste of cheese. American chefs have yet to discover what sexy bedfellows they make.

Other menu items include Grilled Baby Octopus, a popular Breaded Beef Filet, Rack of Lamb, pastas and wood-fired “Pizzetas.” Meal service is formal and attentive, and the number of handsome starched-shirt waiters standing on the sidelines form something of a small army that you just don’t see in San Diego restaurants.

A jaunt to Villa Saverios is an international dining treat that everyone should consider when setting foot in Tijuana. From my passenger seat, the drive appeared relatively easy. We were told that a cab ride from the border runs about $10 to $15 per person each way – not bad when you compare it to the cost of getting to Italy or Spain.