EATING IN GREAT SPACES

There was a time when you were what you ate. Not any more. Now you are where you eat. And where you eat gets increasingly interesting. These days the architect may be as important as the chef. If you desire to dine in an astonishing space, here are a few of the places to do it.

CARDINI (930 Wilshire Blvd., in the Los Angeles Hilton, (213) 227-3464.) Don’t let the bland lobby fool you: The restaurant looks like a Post-Modern mini-city. Step inside and you are greeted by marble floors, domed ceilings and staggering ultramodern arches and columns. The lighting is perfect. Cardini’s slick design may be more interesting than the main courses, but the restaurant’s pasta is wonderful: Recommended is their dish of black ravioli filled with shrimp and chives. The involtini di melanzane al formaggio, slices of eggplant wrapped around goat cheese, is delightful. Good service, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and the stylishly lit decor help deflect a dinner’s rather high cost. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Fri. 5:30-10 p.m., Sat. 6-10:30 p.m. Reservations. Jackets requested. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $40-$100. CITY RESTAURANT (180 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, (213) 938-2155.) The high ceiling seems to make the walls stretch up forever. There is no carpet, no art, no plants, no flowers. The sole decorative touches are the splashy colors of the plates and serving carts, the bright-red chairs, the gorgeous light that comes in through the single huge window, and the dramatic wall angles. The food itself is inventive, delicious and supremely straightforward. From their own tandoori oven come some of the best Indian dishes in Los Angeles. The Thai melon is a perfect balance of flavors. Nobody can improve on their homely bourgeois French food like lamb tongue vinaigrette or confit of duck. And nobody in town makes better fried clams. Lunch, Mon.-Sat., 11:45 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Sat. 5:45-11:45 p.m., Sun. 5-11 p.m. MC, AE, V. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $40-$60. PERINO’S (4101 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 487-0000.) Think pink. You walk through huge doors into a room where pink banquettes hug pink tables, each bearing a single pink rose. Glittering crystal chandeliers drip pinkly down from the ceiling. This is old-time Los Angeles at its architectural best. Perino’s new owners have brought back this classic restaurant’s old chef and the old captains, who hover over your every move. They have also brought back some of the old menu, which includes some wonderful things like fresh pea soup and some dreary things like endless variations of veal. (A new menu is promised to debut this month.) This kind of luxury is getting hard to find. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., noon-2:30 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Sat., 6-10 p.m. Reservations. All major credits. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $70-$80. REBECCA’S (2025 Pacific Ave., Venice, (213) 306-6266.) People love it, people hate it--but people come to see Rebecca’s, designed by California architect Frank Gehry. Diners not only want to eat, they want to roam about, examining the aqua booths, the tuck-and-roll aqua walls, the enormous fabricated octopus suspended from the ceiling. They want to get up under the crocodiles to see if they’re real. They want to examine the onyx-walled private dining room that hangs over the bar. The food is simple, expensive, and surprisingly good--this is Mexican food made with love and lots of money. Among the best: the seafood cocktails and ceviche, the tamales and the rellenos. There is also a wonderful spit-roasted lamb and very good grilled chicken. Dinner, Mon.-Thur., 6 p.m.-midnight; Fri.-Sat., 6 p.m.-2 a.m. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $40-$70. REMICK’S (18120 Von Karman Ave., Irvine, (714) 553-1305.) Remick’s could scarcely be more beautiful: a white and pastel Victorian fantasia of moldings and balustrades, taffeta wallpaper and ceilings painted with clouds. On the second floor a dark, alluring bar leads to open-air balconies. Other balconies overlook the dining room, where the ceiling soars two stories, almost three if you count the cupola over the spiral staircase. But dining itself can be far less idyllic. The simplest dishes are the best. Beef salad is thick slices of medium rare beefsteak on a green salad. Carpaccio is perfectly fine thin-sliced raw beef sprinkled with oil and Parmesan. The soft-shell crabs are buttery with a little red pepper snap to them, and salmon Troisgros is served in a fine cream sauce with vermouth and sorrel. Lunch, Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner, Sun.-Thur. 6-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 6-11 p.m. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $40-$60. 72 MARKET STREET (Venice, (213) 392-8720.) This is spare and inventive, a modern mix of odd elements--unpainted stucco played off against a granite bar, soaring sky-lighted ceilings pulled toward earth by a chopped-off reinforced column. Owned by actors Tony Bill, Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore (who has been known to sit down at the piano and entertain the crowd), this was one of the first serious restaurants in town to put easygoing dishes like meatloaf on the menu. Salads are simple and tasty, there’s a good grilled veal chop, a decent steak, a simply grilled slab of tuna. Another good bet is the roast rack of lamb, served with fabulously creamy scalloped potatoes. At lunchtime there is a good hamburger. The chili, while not the stuff upon which legends are founded, is hearty, meaty and quite spicy. Lunch, Tue.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Sunday brunch, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner Sun.-Thur. 6-10:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 6-11:30 p.m. Reservations. AE, MC, V. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $50-$65.