My luck finding a good meal in Old Town has typically been nil over the years — until I made a long overdue visit to Café Pacifica.

Nestled within a sea of culinary mediocrity, the restaurant offers a treasure chest of seafood specialties that sing the flavors of both Asia and the Mediterranean. An elegant, candlelit atmosphere provides respite from the throngs of fanny pack- toting tourists hunting down wind chimes and tacos nearby. And the adjoining 19th-century El Campo Santo Cemetery, with its wooden crosses straddling the right side of the building, adds a haunting beauty to the landscape.

On “black-out” Wednesdays the dining room is especially quixotic, candles serving as the only source of light. It’s an exercise in conservation that the restaurant began on May 17, 2001, when President Bush presented his energy package to the nation. But owner Frank Busic admits the decision to keep unplugging the interior’s white string lights once a week is based partly on aesthetic variation. Customers love it. And so did we, despite some minor eyestrain when reading the menus.

My dinner companion had crab on the brain and zeroed in on the Grilled Portobello Mushroom. Along with the crab, a warm balsamic tomato sauce made this modest-sized appetizer extra appealing. Fresh crabmeat also graced one of the best, non-salty vegetable soups I’ve ever tasted. And the café’s famous White Clam Chowder, we found, explained what all the hullabaloo was about.

In sharing the Warm Spinach Salad, we both reaffirmed our personal preferences for raw spinach over the wilted variety. Yet the citrus-poppy seed vinaigrette dressing was outstanding — as was the extra thick sourdough bread that chaperoned our first courses.

Fresh fish and seafood comprise about 95 percent of the menu. Entrées such as Pine-Nut Encrusted Chicken Breast and Filet Mignon seem more like gracious courtesies for those who can’t live a day without meat. Basically, you come here to eat what’s plucked from the ocean, or you don’t come at all.

My companion could do nothing but “ooh” and “ah” over her Angel Hair Pasta, which came loaded with a substantial amount of tender rock shrimp. The tomato-basil sauce was perfect — aromatic and simple, yet delightfully non-acidic. This is clearly a well thought-out sauce that doesn’t upstage the delicate savor of the shrimp.

I chose the Three-Herb Crusted Salmon, sweetened up with a tantalizing ginger-plum jus. The filet was exactly to my liking — thick, moist and flaky. And the accompanying wasabi-flavored mashed potatoes were worth the additional carbs despite our prior assault on the bread.

The sea fare includes Linguini with Manila Clams, Griddled Mustard Catfish and Bouillabaisse in Lobster Broth, to name a few. Or from the “Simply Grilled” section you can pair your choice of fish with a variety of enticing sauces such as Sweet Mango, Roasted Garlic, Spicy Black Bean or Papaya-Cilantro. Unless requested otherwise, all of the fish is cooked medium-rare.

For a restaurant that has earned awards by DiRona and the Wine Spectator, you can bet that dessert is rather amazing too. Highly recommended are the crème brulee or a particularly memorable Lemon Key Lime Pie with Ginger Snap Crust, which turned out to be far more exciting and citrusy than the traditional version.

In what appears to be a polite nod to its fiesta-like surroundings, the restaurant has also become known for the “Pomerita,” a pomegranate margarita that we unfortunately overlooked in lieu of the extensive wine list.

But there is always a next time, such as when I receive out of town visitors who can resist the touristy bait planted along historic San Diego Avenue. Café Pacifica, we felt, is the neighborhood’s appreciable catch.