While a growing number of San Diegans are frequenting the major hotels around town to dine at their signature restaurants, fewer have discovered the upscale dining rooms offered by the city’s posh resorts.

At Vivace in Carlsbad’s Four Seasons Resort or El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, for instance, diners are rewarded with outstanding fare crafted by seasoned chefs – if they’re willing to shell out some extra cash, spiff up their threads and drive outside the confines of metro dining zones.

Such is the case at Adobe El Restaurante, in the tucked-away Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa. The sprawling property was the site of a thoroughbred horse ranch in the 1940s, and today captures the Spanish-influenced architectural style of that era accurately enough that you’d never guess it was built only three years ago.

An elegant rancho-inspired lobby and lushly landscaped courtyards lead you to Adobe’s stately dining room, appointed with potted palms, dark wood ceiling beams and paned glass doors that open to a long patio. However, the boxy glass chandeliers casting not-so-subtle light fit oddly into this hacienda of yesteryear.

Chef Jesse Frost’s menu dallies through Spain, France and India, with fresh and colorful California twists. “We try to please everyone,” Frost said, referring to a clientele that brings in everyone from pharmaceutical execs and the La Jolla riche, to everyday foodies and occasional dignitaries like the presidents of Guatemala and Columbia. (During our visit, we were told that the governor of Washington state happened to be supping just one table away from us.)

Although Adobe El Restaurante has a commendable meat and fish menu, the wine list sorely lacks the label exclusivity you’d expect in highbrow resort restaurants such as this. My dinner companion, a respected oenophile, took one look at the list and termed it “a Southern wine and spirits portfolio” – all mass-production wines and without their vintages printed alongside. I succumbed to a so-so Rutherford cabernet, while he took heart in a frisky La Jóya cocktail made with Patron, Lemoncello and fresh orange juice.

Our dinner kicked off with fresh assorted breads and a very good spread consisting of artichokes and Manchengo cheese. Then came a couple of complex appetizers, such as Seared Bison Tenderloin restrained in flavor by an accompanying slab of pork belly that’s cured in-house with brown sugar reduction and cooked confit style. Rising through the bacony essence of the pork was cracked pepper and a sauce hiding juniper berries, which explained the whisper of gin that my companion thought was used. White asparagus with a drizzling of vichyssoise added further busyness to this ambitious, yet stimulating starter course.

The restaurant’s chef uses sumptuous diver scallops in a takeoff of marmitako, a simple fisherman’s dish common to the Basque regions of northern Spain, made usually with tuna, bonito or sometimes pork belly, and stewed in tomatoes and broth. Intricate diversions prevailed in this version, with the scallops lightly dressed in piquillo pepper jelly and served over a bed of firm corn, fried capers and bits of crawfish. A savory, caramelized onion tart was placed alongside, with the overall result staying miraculously harmonious.

My companion’s entrée, Veal Payard, offered two thick pieces of meat that needed no pounding out as so many chefs do on less-tender cuts. These were silky soft with the delectable texture of prime filet mignon. And they meshed wonderfully with a French-style morel mushroom sauce the color of caramel. Creamy risotto and lemon-caper emulsion were the dish’s spunky highlights.

I took the route to India (sort of) with Tandoori Chicken paired incongruously with Southern-style hush puppies that I found grainy and underwhelming. The seared bird, however, was excellent. Frost marinates the chicken for two days in yogurt and citrus, which permeates every piece to the core with juicy, sour flavors. At the bottom of the bowl-like dish were pinto beans spiked with toasted curry spice and bound in a thick vegetable purée that the chef prefers using in lieu of cream or butter.

Our favorite side dishes, available à la carte, were greaseless Garbanzo Fries and Three Cheese Orichiette – little pasta ears coated in nutty-tasting melted curds with a speck of earthy white truffle oil to boot. A melange of “winter vegetables” with herbs and butter arrived overcooked.

Frost overhauls the menu about four times a year and surprises guests with inventively abstruse recipes that one wouldn’t expect from the restaurant’s seemingly conservative atmosphere. Other entrées currently on the menu are Oven Roasted Salmon in pomegranate gastrique, Proscuitto Wrapped Halibut with pickled lotus root and a bouillabaisse packed with double the amount of fish and seafood that you’d find in any French cookbook.

Service is highly attentive, if not ingratiating. And the dessert list is indicative of today’s fine-dining scene: chocolate “bombe” or lava cake, trio of sorbets, crème brulée, artisan cheeses, et al.

Adobe El Restaurante affords locals a serene and insular dining experience that’s perfect for special occasions, or when you simply feel the need for a little extra meal pampering in resort surroundings.