DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Ryan Delabar, a line cook at Delectables, prepares a meal Tuesday.

Delectables,
533 N. 4th Ave.

Finally, a place on Fourth Avenue where your entrŽe need not be a sandwich and your drink need not be a beer. Delectables offers a full food and drink menu, attentive service and a pleasant ambience without the pretentiousness that accompanies many other restaurants that offer cheese plates, bottles of wine and artwork on the wall.

That's not to say one can't enjoy a sandwich and a beer at Delectables. It is to say Delectables seems to be about options. Their Delightful Salads menu includes an antipasto salad, Greek salad, Waldorf chicken salad and one they call "Tucson's Best Chef Salad," to name a few. I ordered the Chef Salad ($7.50) to see if indeed it was the best. The verdict: very good but probably not the best. Though the salad came with a heaping portion of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and an entire hard-boiled egg, the one marinated artichoke heart and few slices of avocado looked measly in comparison to the abundance of the other salad components. Perhaps the allure of the salad lies with the extensive choices for protein ÷ choose chicken, turkey, tabbouleh, ham, curry almond tuna, Waldorf chicken salad or African tuna salad to top the salad. I got the chicken and tried a dill ranch dressing on the side. The dressing was the first of the truly delectable items I tried at my lunch.

And if you do decide to go the sandwich route, choose from 13 interesting sandwiches like the warm prosciutto and fontinella sandwich ($6.95) or the cold sandwich with white bean hummus, feta, cucumber and red onion ($6.75). Again, Delectables seems to be all about options. Choose from six bread choices, like pita or focaccia and opt for avocado or bacon for an extra buck or even caramelized onions or green chiles for an extra fifty cents.

After sifting through the menu some more, I decided to skip out on the soups made from scratch ($2.75 for a cup and $4.50 for a bowl), appetizers like guacamole, salsa and chips ($5.75) and entrees like chicken and spinach enchiladas ($9.95) or asparagus and leek crepes ($9.75).

Instead, I decided to give their "boards" a try. The large, wooden oval platters provide the perfect dish to share with friends. I tried the Five Cheese Sampler with Fresh Fruit ($8.95) and the "Marinated Roast Beef and Camembert" boards. All the food arrived at once and I felt as if I were royalty attending a lavish feast. This part of the meal, too, tasted absolutely "delectable!"

The genuinely nice waiter did inform me the kitchen was out of brie cheese, so my original order of a brie and artichoke board got canned, though he obligingly offered to switch to camembert, a similar cheese. I declined, as the roast beef board also featured camembert and went with the five cheese plate. While the cheese plate would have probably tasted even better with the brie cheese it was missing, the chef loaded up on more cheddar to make up for the missing cheese. The alluette, havarti and jarlsberg cheeses really danced in my mouth. I've tried all those cheeses before, but I could taste a high-quality flavor that left me picking off the plate even once I was full. The board also featured at least five, hearty slices of French bread, watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew and thinly sliced apples. Try an apple with the cheddar and alluette as a spread for the bread.

The roast beef board impressed me also. Though the size did not measure up to the cheese plate, it still held its own. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth with a red wine, Dijon mustard sauce. A forkful of roast beef and camembert, a soft brie-like cheese, made for the perfect bite. That board also came with a small bed of greens, tomatoes, black olives and cucumbers for veggies and pineapple, cantaloupe and honeydew for fruit.

As if the generous portions couldn't fill me up, I opted to try the raspberry cheesecake for dessert. With a name like Delectables, I assumed the dessert would be out of this world. The server brought over the dessert tray and my dreams of sweet succulence shattered. The tray, kept in a refrigerator, held cr�me brulee, chocolate mousse, carrot cake, the raspberry cheesecake, a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie. All the desserts were wrapped in saran wrap and attacked by condensation so took away from the usual appeal of a dessert tray. Still, the raspberry cheesecake ($4.50) tasted fine, but nothing to write home about.

Stick to the boards and even the salad and your meal should reference the name of this cute restaurant. Take your meal to the next level with something to drink. I welcomed the Black Currant Ice Tea's ($1.75) strong flavor as a refreshing change from the watered-down plain iced teas and even flavored iced teas to which my mouth had been accustomed to accepting. If you don't want to take the non-alcoholic route (herbal teas, black teas, coffees, fountain sodas, sarsparilla or even an orange cream soda), Delectables offers a low-priced bar.

Get a bottle of "Thirst Quenching Whites," "Lip-smacking Reds," or "Dazzling Bubbles" for $14-$32. Have a beer for $2.50-$4. Try the usual domestics Bud, Bud Light or Fat Tire, or venture out and try Red Stripe, Nimbus Nut Brown Ale (a Tucson brew) or other imported beers on the list. Cocktails range from $3 well drinks to $6 for premium liquors.

Delectables' daily drink specials cut the price of the cocktails and with the clever names, you'll never mistake your Martini Mondays for Fiesta Fridays. My favorite, the Sovereign-Remedy Sundays featuring Bloody Marys and Screwdrivers, may come in handy after a visit to Delectables' neighbors the night before.

Delectables can broaden the scope of Fourth Avenue activities. On a Saturday night, go in for Sophisticate Saturdays ($3 cosmopolitans and manhattans), get a bottle of wine and a cheese plate, and for under $30 you've got yourself a fancy schmancy dining setup.

Remember: don't bother to save room for dessert, share a board, try a daily special and check this place out! Bon Appetite!