CHEF TONY ESNAULT and front-of-house whiz Yassmin Sarmadi, who are married, left Los Angeles a few years ago to take up residence in the haute couture Penthouse wing of Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza. The location suits their ambitions. Esnault performs a rigorous, meticulous form of fine dining that’s nearly extinct in America. The cooking is high craftsmanship and the plating is art; you stare, as in a gallery, considering vegetable geometries and the deliberate white space between wheels of chicken roulade and spears of asparagus. The restaurant has one Michelin star, and since the couple has switched to prix fixe at dinner, one senses they want more of them. Tasting menus are occasionally themed around, say, game meats, but the most elegant and uplifting annual meal in Orange County may be the spring dinner at Knife Pleat celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

• 3333 S. Bristol St., Costa Mesa, (714) 266-3388, knifepleat.com