IF IT’S ALICE’S, HONESTY DOES TOO LIVE HERE

Alice’s Restaurant, 23000 Pacific Coast Highway (Malibu Pier), Malibu. Open daily, 5 to 10 p.m., Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Valet parking. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Reservations advised: (213) 456-6646. Dinner for two: $25 to $56 (food only).

There is a restaurant I went to recently (not Alice’s) which I would like to say nice things about. But I cannot. It has a lot going for it--including ambition--and some important things going against it--also including ambition. There are new owners who have planed down to bare walls and a trim look. There is entertainment in the bar--a pleasant somebody on our night, who sang well but is not another Ella Fitzgerald, as promised.

Therein lies the weakness. She tried hard to be Ella--but she couldn’t live up to the promise. The restaurant also tries hard to be another bright light on the contemporary Los Angeles scene, but does not understand either the principles or the practice. Promises were first-class; prices were first-class. The food was not. We left feeling both sorry and angry.

The next night we went to Alice’s Restaurant on the Malibu Pier, another restaurant making not quite as sharp a turn to new ways. We left happy.

Alice has done no more than hire a new chef. That he is Andre Guerrero was our reason for going. He is of the Philippine family of Guerreros who have made the Cafe Le Monde in Glendale a fascinating composite of Philippine, French, California and several other ways of cooking.

Heretofore, Alice’s has been notable only for its location--on the pier, with ocean all around. The custom of places blessed with a view is to rely on the blue water to obscure the lack of a blue ribbon in the kitchen.

But Robert Yuro and Peter Palazzo, deciding it would be nice to become a place people would come to because of what it was instead of where it was, wisely concluded that a good chef was the essential first step. Not redecorating. Not changing the somewhat corny look to something sleek and modern. Not raising the prices. Just serving good food. Very sound thinking that probably worked better than they anticipated.

Alice’s looks pretty much the way it has always looked since the day it began as an offshoot of the trendy Alice’s in Westwood. It is easy and rambling, the color of driftwood, with some doubtful elegancies, such as pots of artificial flowers in the chandelier. Never a goal for pilgrimage, it would now rate an easy one-star as good in the neighborhood. Maybe two--Malibu is a pretty nice detour.

Guerrero’s menu is mostly seafood, as seems proper. But it is seafood with his own cadences. The calamari is dipped in cracker crumbs, for instance, for a better, crisper finish. Creole remoulade, nicely heated with horseradish, Tabasco and Creole mustard, is a spirited dip. A good tuna steak is made better with an interesting cactus ratatouille. He demonstrates that New Zealand mussels and cream need not stay married for life. The mussels were considerably brightened by a jalapeno-and-sesame vinaigrette, cooled with cucumbers and cilantro.

These excursions from the usual are Philippine only to the extent that Filipino food was influenced by the French, the Chinese, the Spanish, the Malayans, the Indians and the Indonesians--with a little Creole obviously not beyond curiosity. The interpolations are personal, well founded, purely Guerrero, and therefore in sync with the best of California.

His dishes can also conform. A special of sturgeon one night was demurely dressed in a quite proper French beurre blanc . Lobster in a salad with papaya, avocado and radicchio; mango and ginger in the vinaigrette was bright, but unstartling on a contemporary menu. Grilled salmon with a sweet red pepper sauce is quite within the canon, although its accompanying miniature ratatouille was a bit of individuality.

There are good pastas offered, both on the regular menu and among the specials. Linguine with scallops and masaga (smoked roe) of one night was splendid.

The innovations would make no sense, of course, if they were not also sensible, and if the basic ingredients and preparation were not proper. They are. All the seafood we encountered was beautifully fresh and carefully brought to a succulent finish. Desserts are competently made, without perhaps the challenge of other dishes, but not to be scorned. There is a caramel custard, based on the long boiling down of milk to a rich and quite different texture.

Guerrero also planned the wine list, offering an excellent selection at fair prices. Service is fine, both friendly and efficient. Alice has come home.

The differences between Restaurant One-- whose name I do not mention because I only went there once--and Alice’s are essentially simple. They are based on honesty and ability. Restaurant One has woefully overestimated its ability to produce the dishes as promised. I suppose it is possible for management to believe an excellence is there that would justify the prices, but that would indicate they never should have entered the business. If they do know what they’re doing--they are being dishonest.

On the other hand, Alice’s does not promise more than it can deliver. If anything, except for a somewhat garish sign in front, the approach is so low-keyed that the general excellence is a surprise, especially to the skeptical who do not believe in signs. Nor does it attempt what it cannot do. In other words, it is an honest restaurant.