A REPORT ON RAPPORT

Rapport, 102 N. Harvard Place, Claremont, (714) 626-4646. Open for dinner Monday-Saturday. Full bar. Adjacent street parking. All major cards. Dinner for two (food only), $40-$60.

Many chefs who have worked under Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison and Spago have gone on to notable successes of their own: Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton, Susan Feniger of City Restaurant, Michael Kirland of La Pasteria, Steve Singer of Beau Nash in Dallas, and John Struer of Majestic Cafe in San Francisco, to name just a few of America’s best young chefs.

Now there is another name to add to this impressive list: Joseph Rapport, chef and owner of the 7-month-old Rapport restaurant in Claremont. Rapport learned much from Puck in his years at Ma Maison, and the simple, earnest style that he has developed is that of a chef who knows exactly what he wants to do. An evening there can be tremendously satisfying.

I invited a vegetarian with an extremely well-trained palate--one I might add, who never has any trouble getting a first-rate meal out of an experienced kitchen--to join me. I didn’t know that she would bring her 2-year-old son, Joshua, along for the experience. She couldn’t find a baby sitter for Josh, and it was easy to see why not.

As soon as we were seated, he started his antics, knocking over a water glass with a devilish exclamation of glee. Our waiter, who had just approached our table, became slightly unhinged. “I hope it won’t interfere with your sense of propriety,” I said to the waiter, “but I don’t think things are going to go too smoothly this evening.” Rapport is clearly not for 2-year-olds. That’s one reason why it’s so good.

The restaurant is modern and spare, and it has an airy look, with a high ceiling, white walls and pink tablecloths. Grays are all about: The carpet and woodwork are a pastel gray, grayish ceramic wall art hangs by every table, and even the menu is printed on gray paper.

Service is polished and efficient. It is of the reverent, understated type that might well be called refined. Unfortunately, this sort of refinement can be shattered by a toddler.

When we had gone through our second basket of chewy sourdough rolls, my friend insisted we try an appetizer of pasta with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli. I wasn’t too thrilled about ordering it, having just read a quote from M.F.K. Fisher, who says that she never eats goat cheese because it’s gritty. My friend won out, however, only to have her son stick his fingers in it the moment it arrived.

The pasta was astounding, Joshua notwithstanding. Rapport uses sun-dried tomatoes in a subtle, pleasing manner and his use of goat cheese is downright brilliant. He blends it gently into a delicate sauce that bathes the pasta. What an improvement over the warm goat cheese salad thrown together in most new restaurants!

Rapport favors light entrees and simple salads. One salad is made of spinach, red cabbage, and walnuts, another of artichoke hearts with tomato. At first, they seem almost too simple . . . but then you taste them. They are wonderful. The only really rich appetizer is a dish of hot curried oysters with cilantro and lime sauce, a Rapport signature and by any odds the best dish he serves. The oysters are coated with spices, a la Prudhomme, and browned, not blackened, in butter. They are then returned to their shells along with an herbed butter sauce.

It is at sauces that Rapport really excels. A New York steak with a red wine and Roquefort sauce melted in the mouth. Sauteed salmon in gamay sauce was even better, the sauce a dark pink that nearly concealed the enoki mushrooms on the salmon. Just as this was served, Joshua executed his coup de grace , spilling my glass of wine. Naturally, it landed on my salmon.

Rapport has put together a fine list of wines by the glass, including an ’84 Robert Stemmler Pinot Noir, a Flora Springs Chardonnay and an ’84 Guenoc Chardonnay, but I believe it was the ’83 Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon that Josh knocked over, inadvertently creating an entirely new sauce.

Actually, fish comprise about two-thirds of the entrees at the restaurant; they are all well prepared. Sea scallops with basil, garlic and tomatoes, and a grilled swordfish with scallion and vermouth, were particularly impressive. In fact, we didn’t have a single complaint about the food until it was time for dessert.

Rapport’s desserts aren’t bad, but they certainly aren’t very exciting. Joshua was finally placated by a plate of cookies, but we adults were a bit disappointed. Three little sorbets had too much sugar and too little flavor. A strawberry cream-cheese tart was far too bland. Rapport’s best desserts are copied from Spago, namely a terrific hot puff pastry apple tart and a hot pecan tart with banana ice cream and caramel sauce.

Rapport is still new, but even now it’s a hard restaurant to find fault with. When Rapport finally has his own well-trained people in the kitchen, the restaurant promises great things.