Some locals prefer to stick to the tried and true--the meat-and-potatoes kind of menus. But for those who like a little adventure, the South Bay certainly serves up a long list of wild and exotic foods to please even the most fickle of palates.

So, where do adventurous diners go? Here are a few places the trendy triers have been frequenting lately.

Santana Row in the Rose Garden neighborhood is a whole world unto itself; crossing the street can be like crossing the border. No two restaurants are alike, and the variety of food represents nearly every culture under the sun.

Joe Cirone, manager of Thea Mediterranean Cuisine, says it's like that on purpose. Santana Row's management has a non-competition clause that doesn't allow restaurants to overlap, he says, adding that the management does a great job ensuring diversity and promoting each restaurant.

"It works. We've got some food-savvy people around here--real world travelers," he says.

Cirone says, because of that, when Thea opened at Santana Row last May, its owners knew they had to offer something different and decided to fuse Greek and Turkish cuisine. Today, Thea attracts diners who seem to appreciate the menu's creativity.

"Our customer base is not at all what we expected. We have a lot of Middle Eastern clientele, Persian, Eastern Asian, Indian, Eastern European and even Soviet," he says.

There are a few menu items he says seem to "freak out" the diners, including the cerkez tavuu, which he describes as a puree of cold, forced chicken, yogurt and chickpeas, made into a dip for pita bread.

Another such dish is the kiymali pide, Turkish flat bread topped with ground lamb, crushed tomatoes, parsley and arugula.

"It's very lamb-y," he says. "We really have to explain to people who've never had it before what it's like."

Despite some of Thea's anomalies, or maybe because of them, the restaurant has become an attraction for adventurous diners.

"I'd say half of the customers who come in know exactly what they want because they've had this kind of food before. But even so, it's a twist on the home recipes they're used to, and they're surprised to see this kind of food being served in California," Cirone says.

For restaurant fans who like to blend multiple cultures into a single dish, Elements on Almaden Expressway is a wise place to dine. Vietnamese owner Tristan Huy Trinh has always been strongly influenced by French cuisine.

"When I was growing up, we had a lot of French people in my country," he says. "Also, many people in my family were educated in France and brought recipes back with them."

So when it came time to design the menu for his restaurant, he decided to take the best of both worlds and merge them for interesting and nontraditional creations.

"I really wanted to start something different, as well as offer a kind of high-end food at more affordable prices, so more people could enjoy it. I like to go out and eat, and I've noticed that good food tends to be costly," he says.

Trinh calls his cuisine a cross between Euro-Asian and French. He might pair an Asian entrée with a European-style side dish, and then add his own unique flavor. He says customers seem to be delighted with his unusual twist on traditional foods.

One of Elements' most popular dishes is tea-smoked duck.

He says it gives the hint of a traditional Chinese dish because the Chinese often smoke their duck, but at Elements he does it differently by smoking it in tea leaves and then serving it with European-style potatoes au gratin. However, Trinh also prepares potatoes differently, serving them with a layer of taro root and sweet potatoes, topped with a cranberry and nectarine reduction sauce.

"Asian cuisine would never serve duck with potatoes au gratin, but I wanted to blend cuisine from the two cultures," says Trinh. "And the customers really love it."

Another popular dish is his grilled beef with asparagus and shrimp, topped with a grapefruit accent sauce.

"You just have to see it and taste it to know what it is; it's really hard to describe, and it's not traditional at all," he says. "We're slowly building a reputation; we've received a lot of support. Vietnamese customers will come in here because they know I'm Vietnamese, and after they've tried the food, they'll say, 'I can't believe you are cooking Vietnamese food like this; it's great!' And then, we'll have a couple from Paris come in and say, 'I can't believe you are cooking French food like this; this is incredible.'"

Blowfish Sushi, also at Santana Row, is a hotspot for diners looking to try exotic and new foods. When its owners included the phrase "To Die For" after their name, they weren't kidding.

Blowfish Sushi is one of only seven U.S. restaurants licensed to serve blowfish and pufferfish. Why? They're dangerously poisonous.

The story in the front of Blowfish's menu reads:

"Six centuries ago, on the shores of Honshu, a man fished a blowfish out of the sea. It looked like a pincushion. It stank like the harbor. And yet, for some reason, he ate it. He died. His friend ate it, and he died. And this went on and on. For centuries, people ate it, and people died. For a while there, the eating/dying thing even became a national pastime. So what, you ask, would make people indulge in such a dangerous habit after all those years of dying? Well, have you ever tasted blowfish?"

Blowfish Sushi general manager Andy Mirabell thinks there's a bit of urban legend to the whole thing.

"The blowfish in itself has become more of a novelty. Some people say you get a tingling in your mouth when you eat it, although I think a lot of it is just the hype," he says.

However, the part about blowfish being fatally poisonous isn't.

"There's a big risk factor," Mirabell says, explaining the reason only seven restaurants can serve it is because the chefs who cut and serve it have to be specially trained and licensed.

"If the chef were to cut it the wrong way and accidentally come into contact with the liver ... well, that's the poisonous part."

Mirabell says part of the mystery surrounding the deadly delicacy stems from its rarity.

"Pufferfish, or fugu, is not something you can even order directly from a fish vendor. Mostly, they're caught by accident, and then, if you have a really good relationship with your vendor, which we do, you can get it," Mirabell says. "But we only really get it in a few months out of the year, usually around late November."

Whether diners come for the poisonous fish or not, Blowfish has many other exotic dishes that keep the place filled in the evenings.

Mirabell says Blowfish is known for its creative fusion appetizers. One of the most popular dishes is the ritsu roll, which features two types of tuna, avocado, tobiko and nori in a light tempura batter, flash- fried and served in a martini glass with citrus ponzu sauce.

Blowfish is also known for its presentation. The sashimi combination it serves in the evening is brought out in a big red bowl filled with dry ice and hot water, which causes smoke to bubble up around the fish.

The unique atmosphere offers pulsating DJ music, countless screens that play streaming Japanimation and a sake lounge.

Cirone's advice: Take advantage of what the South Bay has to offer in the way of dining out--with an adventurous flare.

"You can't always eat steak and fries," he says. "You need to try something new. It's fun."

Elements, 6944 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, 408.927.8773.

'Thea Mediterranean' Cuisine and Blowfish Sushi To Die For are located in the Santana Row shopping center, San Jose.
For more information, call Thea at 408.260. 1444 and Blowfish at 408.345.FUGU.