When the Old Spaghetti Factory sold off its copious bric-a-brac to a nostalgic public last year, the proprietors immediately began creating a radically new dining concept that would bid farewell to pasta and meatballs and send customers’ imaginations packing to places like Greece, Spain, France and northern Italy.

Dussini Mediterranean Bistro is the darling test pilot of Old Spaghetti Factory International, which operates about 40 Spaghetti Factory restaurants around the world from its headquarters in Portland, Ore. The pulsating rebirth of San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, however, seemed ripe for high-style experimentation and prompted the company to transform the 16,500-square-foot space into a stunningly designed three-level operation at a cost of $5 million. For those who enjoyed the tomatoey scent and clamorous milieu of the Spaghetti Factory over the past 30 years, the end result that is now Dussini leaves them little chance to wax sentimental.

Chef Earl Schryver oversees an all-encompassing Mediterranean menu boasting dishes such as saffron-spiked Bouillabaisse served in copper pots, an uncommon oyster bisque, veal scaloppine accented by marsala, and paella strewn with seafood and Portuguese linguica sausage. Two levels are devoted to feasting, while the third floor features a low-lit, stylish bar lounge with a separate kitchen for casual fare as well as a handsome billiard room appointed with leather chairs and plasma TV screens. Slicing through the layout is a three-story wine cellar harboring labels from the major wine districts of France, plus varietals from Spain, Italy and California.

What my dining companion and I consumed turned out to be a robustly flavored feast using wholesome ingredients at every stop along the way. Good, rustic table bread, for instance, comes with a smashing homemade hummus speckled with parsley, along with black olive tapenade and a pat of sweet cream butter. The tomatoes used in various recipes are all hand peeled. Sea salt is used instead of the iodized stuff. And the chef adheres to using fresh seasonal produce, tapping often into the bounties at local farmers markets.

After some recent menu tweaking, the kitchen added Dungeness Darlings to the appetizer list – chilled segments of crab legs tucked into crisp endive leaves and touched off with streaks of sweet apricot-brandy sauce. Miniature plunks of spicy diced cucumber arranged on the plate added a firecracker burst to the dish.

More straightforward are the Jumbo Asparagus Spears alla Milanese, the familiar Italian-style breading sticking neatly to the spears. Another plate carpeted with melt-in-your-mouth Parma prosciutto and adorned with melon wedges and a few mission figs revealed Schryver’s penchant for keeping the kitchen larder stocked with quality ingredients. My favorite starter, though, was a copper pot filled with tender little neck clams barely attached to their shells. The pool of fabulous broth at the bottom, comprised of white wine, olive oil, garlic and a hint of cream, demanded dunking from the irresistible grilled bread surrounding the pot.

The gazpacho soup is also a must. It’s made with hand-peeled Roma tomatoes liquidized to a perfect semi-coarse consistency, along with finely diced bell pepper and onion. My dinner companion said it’s the best American-made gazpacho he’s had since living in Spain some years ago. Our middle course had us also knifing into a Caesar salad of romaine hearts that the chef referred to as “new age.” Grilled polenta, white anchovies and Kalamata olives in the mix indeed spared it from sinking into today’s hackneyed ilk of Caesars.

From the entrée list, we tried the Spaghetti alla Puttanesca. The traditional use of anchovies that are normally melted into this classic Italian sauce of olive oil, garlic and capers is omitted here, and I missed them. More exquisite was my companion’s Lamb alla Dussini, a vertical arrangement of thick Colorado chops marinated in olive oil, thyme and garlic, and propped up by a heap of pesto-garlic mashed potatoes. The Greek-influenced marinade quells the gaminess of the lamb, which drew no complaints from us.

The flavors from oregano, green olives and lemon-garlic butter made a dramatic statement in the Breast of Chicken alla Greco, a deliciously tangy preparation that didn’t allow me to pull away from it even after my stomach screamed “no more” from everything I devoured in prior courses. And the lightly dressed cannelloni bean salads accompanying our entrées were simple and outstanding, and came with the generous addition of baked garlic cloves.

Everything we ate tasted above board, even if it didn’t fit into the Mediterranean genre of cooking. Lobster Macaroni & Cheese, for example, which I’ve come to abhor in most contemporary restaurants, is made with plain ol’ sharp white cheddar and elbow macaroni. Yet for once I could discern the mild sweetness of the lobster meat through a cheese sauce that was silkier and, thankfully, a little less rich than most. And of desserts, don’t leave without trying Schryver’s cheesecake recipe. It’s made with sour cream and is slow-baked for nearly five hours so that the filling sets as smooth as custard.

Though spanking new inside, the building remains one of the city’s most cherished landmarks, built in 1898 under the direction of famed architect Irving Gill. And judging from a dining room that was full to capacity when we visited and the excellent flavors left in our mouths, Dussini is off to an unmistakably fine start.