It has an aura about it

Asplendid patio dappled with lovely light. A tinkling stone fountain and flowers abloom. Amazing California live oaks arching overhead.

Are we in heaven? No, this is Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga Canyon.

It’s wonderfully peaceful. There’s no blaring music. No attitude at the door. In fact, there is no door: The maître d’ stand is outside under the trees, and the hostess is happy to seat us on a Saturday night even though our party’s not complete.

At the table, we wait for our friends, who are celebrating their anniversary tonight. From the looks of things, they’re not the only ones; there are lots of special occasions and group toasts. The Inn has a new chef -- Jake Rojas -- with an impressive résumé that includes serving as sous-chef at Joël Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas.

I’m surprised to see one of my favorite small-grower Champagnes on the small wine list -- a non-vintage Camille Savès brut -- and it’s reasonably priced. We order a bottle, asking the server to bring it to the table, quick, before our friends arrive -- we’d like to surprise them. The Champagne arrives in a jiffy, properly set in an ice bucket, and glasses placed all ‘round. The gracious staff really knows how to make an occasion special.

So there are lots of good reasons to dine at the Inn of the Seventh Ray. Alas, the food is not one of them.

A note along the left side of the menu says, “We, at the Inn, believe in giving you the purest of Nature’s foods, energized as a gift from the sun with a dash of esoteric food knowledge and ancient mystery school wisdom. . . . It may just raise your body’s light vibration. . . .” You get the idea. The place, opened in 1975, is more than a little bit new age-y, yet other than a few raw and vegan dishes, the menu proposes appealing-sounding California cuisine.

The white corn velouté soup with Santa Barbara spot prawn doesn’t raise my body’s light vibration -- in fact, it sinks it a bit. There’s lots of cream and salt, but not much corn flavor -- and a sad little prawn floating in the middle. A special “nondairy” lobster bisque has more flavor and body. Grilled Maine diver scallops are rubbery; portobello mushroom -- a scary-looking black disk -- comes stuffed with chalky goat cheese.

Best of all the starters is the seasonal raw chopped salad -- a lovely confetti of uncooked cauliflower, string beans, peppers, carrots, cabbage and more cut in tiny dice and judiciously dressed in a light raw tahini sauce. I’d eat that any day of the week.

Risotto with lobster, served here as a main course, is a disaster. Did the chef use Arborio rice or Uncle Ben’s? It’s such an overcooked mush, who can tell? Pan-seared sockeye salmon arrives overcooked, doused with an overwhelming amount of truffle oil. (We send it back, and it returns perfectly cooked, and the chef comes to the table to make sure it’s OK.)

I order the agave-glazed vegan duck so you don’t have to. If you want to get an idea of what it’s like, buy some seitan, smush it into the shape of a duck breast, cook it, then douse it in something sweet, like maple syrup. Or not.

The best plan, unless you’re a vegan or a raw foodist, is to go for the rack of lamb. Served with mint-flecked quinoa, fig jam and sautéed peaches that you can move to the side of the plate, it’s perfectly cooked, and the meat is top quality. With a nice bottle of Gigondas from the southern Rhône or a Roero from Piedmont, it’s hard not to be happy.

Dessert? Skip it. Your vibrations will thank you.

brenner@latimes.com

--

Inn of the Seventh Ray

Where: 128 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga

When: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; brunch 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays; dinner nightly 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Valet parking.

Price: Dinner appetizers, $9 to $15; main courses, $21 to $37; desserts, $9 to $12. Tasting menus, $55 to $75.

Info: (310) 455-1311; www.innoftheseventhray.com