RANCHO BERNARDO -- In Spanish, "zocalo" means town gathering spot, and that's just what Zocalo has become since it opened last month in the community of 4S Ranch.

In the four weeks since the 280-seat, "nuevo Latino" restaurant/bar opened in the community's 4S Commons Town Center, capacity crowds have become the norm. Perhaps part of the neighborhood's quick embrace of the restaurant was pent-up demand: Construction delays pushed back Zocalo's planned opening by more than a year.

"It's been an especially long journey, for us and for our neighbors, and we are happy to be finally opening. Judging by the calls and drop-in visits we've received in recent weeks, the community enthusiasm is everything we could have hoped for," said John Azevedo, the Brigantine's regional general manager, in a statement.

Zocalo is the newest addition to the Brigantine family of restaurants, which includes seven Brigantine seafood restaurants, three Miguel's Cocinas, the seaside Steakhouse at Azul La Jolla, Miguelito's in Coronado, and the original Zocalo in Old Town San Diego.

Zocalo (pronounced "ZOH-kuh-lo") is a casual dining restaurant blending the cuisines of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Authentic regional dishes include Jamaican jerk chicken skewers ($8), Argentinean empanadas ($12), honey porter-braised Mexican carnitas ($17) and a sampler plate of ceviches from Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Mexico ($13).

Executive chef Kevin Templeton, who was sous-chef at Azul before taking over the kitchen at Zocalo 4S Ranch, has also peppered the menu with many other dishes that blend nouveau California cuisine with Latin and island spices, fruits and flavors. For example, jumbo shrimp and sea scallop causa with Peruvian potato has a toasted pepita sauce ($26). You can also try guava-glazed pork ribs ($25) or tamarind-chipotle salmon baked in a banana leaf ($25).

And for children (or those with spice-averse palates), there are plenty of milder options, like crispy coconut-macadamia shrimp skewers ($12), blue corn crab cakes ($13), macadamia crusted mahi-mahi ($24) and grilled New York strip steak with cabrales blue cheese sauce ($32).

Steve Floyd, the Brigantine company's corporate chef, said he and his staff had a great time "playing with food" to create the unique Zocalo menu.

"These cultures have so much to offer, and we've tried most of it. In the end, we could only squeeze so much on Zocalo's menu, so we narrowed it down to the things we liked best," Floyd said. "At the heart of it all are premium ingredients … along with bold colors and flavors."

The colorful menu has plenty of competition from the dining room, which bursts with vibrant colors, floral paintings, tropical lighting and two huge, 20-foot, resin-preserved palm trees. The 7,000-square-foot restaurant has a large, U-shaped sports bar, a wood-fired oven, huge wine collection, display kitchen and glassed-in 40-seat private banquet room and plans for an outdoor patio.

Company spokeswoman Deborah Horger said the long-delayed opening of Zocalo in 4S Ranch had to do with getting the restaurant's interior design just right. The plans designed last year by the project's original architect proved to be unworkable, so Brigantine officials made the difficult and costly decision to throw out those renderings and start from scratch with a new architect, Kelly Crain.

Zocalo is now open for dinner only. Lunch service and Sunday brunch will be added in the next month or two.

Zocalo

Where: 4S Commons Town Center, 10514 Craftsman Way, San Diego

Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 5-9:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays

Phone: (858) 924-9200

Web: www.brigantine.com