CALIFORNIA CUISINE

It’s hot! It’s new! And it’s all ours. California cuisine is sweeping the nation, but if you want to try it on home ground, here are a few recently reviewed practitioners of the style. DOWNTOWN GRILL (16925 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 986-6660). Tiled, streamlined, with bare beams and innards exposed, done up in flamingo pink and black, this recent addition to the Valley is a sophisticated grill. This is the latest addition to the Hamburger Hamlet restaurants. Appetizers are cleverly experimental--duck sausage wrapped in grape leaves with Zinfandel sauce, Thai lamb with peppers and ginger. Chicken paillard is a terrific main course, moist and flavorful. Gaucamole is served in a molcajete , the Mexican grinding stone, at the table. The pasta is served in bowls, as done in Italy. The shoestring potatoes are crisp and light, the coffee wonderful, the bread memorable. And give the chocolate pecan pie a try--it’s divine. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner, Mon.-Sat., 6 p.m.-midnight; Sunday, 5:30 p.m.-midnight. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $20-$30.

THE GRILL, BALBOA INN (105 Main St., Balboa, (714) 675-3412). The former site of an undistinguished Mexican restaurant, the elegant, dusty-pink Grill now offers a changing menu of eclectic offerings. Service can be slow, but it’s usually worth the wait: Their appetizers are stunning, and the fettuccine alfredo is a marvel. As for dinners, there’s a real winner of grilled swordfish faintly spiced with cumin and garnished with sweet red onions. A roast squab comes on a bed of homely lentils flavored with fresh thyme and garnished with fried apples. A very good steak comes topped with well-done bacon. Lunch, Mon.-Sun., 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner, Tue.-Sun., 5:30-10:30 p.m. Reservations. All major credit cards. Parking on street. Full bar. Dinner for two, $40-$60.

LALO AND BROTHERS (17237 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 784-8281). Leave Ventura Boulevard and enter a demi-rustic, demi-elegant world of “French-California” cuisine--a spacious, romantic dining room with wood-beamed ceiling, wrought-iron chandeliers, and melon-colored table cloths. The food is interesting: Oysters with green chile pesto and cabbage come stuffed with lobster in beurre blanc. Loin of lamb with wild mushrooms is perfumed with a jolt of Pernod. Even better is a large plate of grilled shrimp in tequila on a lake of orange beurre blanc , set on lovely white tableware. The large shrimp are perfectly cooked, the multi-layered sauce fresh and piquant. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner, Mon.-Sun., 6-11 p.m. Reservations. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Full bar. Dinner for two, $36-$65.

THE PARKWAY GRILL (510 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, (818) 795-1001). Large and open, with a menu that places the restaurant squarely in the New Grill mode. Appetizers include a seafood gumbo borrowed from the Cajuns and black-bean soup from the Southwest. Marinated raw fish nod to the East, while focaccia pays homage to the Mediterranean. Their six pasta dishes offer a variety of shapes, from twisted fusilli in tomato sauce to a strange corn ravioli stuffed with smoked duck in a chili-corn sauce. There’s a lot of meat on the menu: oven-roasted lamb, grilled pork and beef tenderloins, even a New York steak. The menu’s least expensive offering is one of the best--homemade sausage served with a wonderful bean cake. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m-2:30 p.m. Dinner, Mon.-Thur., 6-10 p.m.; Fri. 6-11 p.m.; Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.; Sun., 5:30-10 p.m. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Full bar. Dinner for two, $25-$40.

PASTEL’S BAR AND GRILL (1520 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach, (714) 548-7167). You’d never recognize Pastel’s as a former Chart House: The dark interior has been opened up with windows, the bar has been turned into a “snug” separate from the dining rooms, and the effect now is light and air. Pastel’s offers exotic pizzas and unusual appetizers, and even the grilled meat comes with French wine sauces. The two pastas and five pizzas are pretty good, but this menu’s emphasis is meat: Best of all is the duck that comes in a honey-flavored sauce with slivers of ginger. Paillard of chicken comes with a strong Cabernet wine sauce, the meat topped with a pat of herb butter. Lamb chops come with a rather simple wine sauce and a lurid green pot of lamb jelly. Desserts are really outstanding. Dinner, Tue.-Sun., 5:30-10 p.m. Reservations. All major credit cards. Parking on street. Full bar. Dinner for two, $20-$40.

TREES (440 Heliotrope, Corona del Mar, (714) 673-0910). The prettiest restaurant in Corona del Mar--all rose, peach and pink. Even the food is pretty. The menu shows considerable thought: Veal with chanterelles is splendidly enhanced by a delicate mustard sauce; lamb en croute is graced with a hint of garlic and a subtle Madeira sauce. Specials are Trees’ best bets--among them samaki (smoked yellowfin tuna), served in an angel-hair pasta al olio , with mussels, baby octopus, salmon, and mushrooms. Dinner, Mon.-Sun., 5:30-10 p.m. Late-night menu, 10 p.m.-midnight. All major credit cards. Parking across the street. Full bar. Dinner for two, $50-$65.

WHITE FEATHERS (431 Culver Blvd., Playa del Rey, (213) 301-3060). Take Gladstone’s, strip it down, paint the walls pink, stick some tall green ferns around, put some pastel greeting-card art on the walls--and voila ! you’ve got White Feathers, a cross between, say, Spago and the Charterhouse. The menu also has a familiar ring--”gourmet” pizzas, Mexican grilled chicken, Cajun blackened this and that. Dinner portions are more than ample: Some plates, like the Cajun pan-blackened prime rib with a “rash” of fried onion rings, is downright gigantic. Best to stick with simple dishes here, such as the wonderful oyster and clam-on-the-half-shell appetizers, or something from the mesquite broiler--fresh halibut, swordfish or salmon. Service can be slow, the piped-in pop music overbearing. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner, Mon.-Sat., 6-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-10:30 p.m. Reservations. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Full bar. Dinner for two, $40-$60.