You won't be surprised that Charlie Ayers, chef and owner of Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto's Town and Country Village, once cooked for Google. The restaurant evokes a cafeteria - it's open all the time, serves a mix of cuisines and diners sit at a communal table.

But this is a cafeteria reimagined for 2010, with fresh local ingredients; creative cookery; and plenty of brown rice, vegetables and other healthful ingredients.

The restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, has a casual atmosphere that feels a bit like a home kitchen. The dining area sports bare-wood beams, hardwood floors and metal chairs; the communal table resembles a butcher block, and lamps are fashioned from milk jugs and milk bottles. Two counters provide seating for solo diners or pairs. Market A Go Go, adjacent to the restaurant, sells salads, sandwiches and snacks to go.

The extensive menu travels around the world, with pizzas, udon, tacos, tzatziki burgers, creme brulee and duck adobo. Many of the dishes are creative reinterpretations of classics; sometimes they sing, but other times they faltered or lacked cohesion.

Among the appetizers, lamb meatballs ($8.50) are a hit, with their slightly gamy flavor, airy texture and lightly spicy tomato sauce. But the mushroom arepas ($9) disappointed. Rather than the thick Colombian tortillas that are typical, this version brought bland silver-dollar pancakes sandwiching cremini mushrooms, cheese and a ketchup-like sauce.

Entrees also varied. The Boho salad ($10), an unusual combination of butter-soft roast pork, sweet beets, crisply fresh spinach and thin onion rings, is excellent - rich, sweet, earthy and crunchy. Duck adobo ($17) featured the meaty fowl in a bowl with brown rice and broccolini, which stand up to the robust vinegar-tamari sauce. On the other hand, the chicken breast cutlet ($15), topped with a lovely hazelnut oil-enhanced frisee salad, was dry.

Highlights include such side dishes as crisp spice-dusted garlic fries ($6.50); and butternut chilijack ($6), featuring fresh corn, nutty butternut squash, jalapenos, cilantro and pepper jack cheese that meld into a satisfying dish.

Desserts were also mixed. Bread pudding ($7) with sour cherries, cold and nearly tasteless, seemed as if it had been sitting around too long. But one night's berry galette special ($8) featured buttery pastry oozing with strawberries and raspberries and their juices.

Brunch, served until 3 p.m. on weekends, offers much of the standard fare, including buckwheat pancakes ($9); the baking soda flavor was noticeable, although the real maple syrup is lovely. Blue Max ($12), a successful reinterpretation of eggs Florentine, uses hash browns instead of English muffins, adding mushrooms and Swiss cheese. Be sure to order a side of bacon ($3) - it's thick-cut and deliciously smoky.

A wine list of California labels offers affordable bottles and glasses; soju cocktails ($7), especially the cosmo, offer a fine alternative, especially when paired with spicy dishes.

Service is well choreographed; over the course of four visits, everything arrived when we needed it. But the two times I sat at the counter, servers were overly attentive, too eager to get our order and ask how everything was.

While the dishes didn't always come together at Calafia, when they do, they can be delicious. And fresh, healthful ingredients are always welcome.

E-mail comments to food@sfchronicle.com, and go to sfgate.com/food for comprehensive Bay Area restaurant reviews and listings.

This article appeared on page E - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle