GOOD FISHING AT SHIRO

Restaurant Shiro, 1505 Mission St., South Pasadena, (818) 799-4774. Open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Beer and wine. Street parking. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $30-$45.

Last week in Monterey, I ate in a restaurant that all the foodies love. (In the latest Zagat guide for San Francisco, it rates 26 points, the same as Campton Place and Chez Panisse.)

As a first course, I ordered lobster ravioli in a cream-drenched sauce. As I tasted the overstuffed, oversauced little packets, I kept thinking to myself, “If only these were as good as the Chinese ravioli filled with shrimp and salmon mousse that I ate at Restaurant Shiro a couple of days ago.”

The foodies haven’t gotten to Restaurant Shiro yet. They may never get there. The location is just too unlikely. Shiro occupies a storefront on a sleepy street in South Pasadena; if you park around the corner, you pass a photography studio (pictures of weddings in the window) and a couple of unprepossessing stores. The restaurant itself is not much to look at; the room is simply painted and sparsely decorated, allowing you to focus on the open kitchen in the back. But the high ceilings keep it from being noisy, the pleasant service keeps it from seeming spare--and the good food keeps people coming back. And come back they do: Shiro is only a few weeks old, but it already has a following.

And no wonder. Chef Hideo Yamashiro (formerly of Cafe Jacoulet) has a very light touch. Those Chinese ravioli (they are made with won-ton wrappers) are a perfect example of his art. There is just enough salmon to flavor the mousse, but also enough shrimp to give it that delightfully chewy texture you get only from shellfish. There is balance too in the ratio of filling to pasta. This is a chef who knows precisely what he is doing; when he ladles that fine creamy basil sauce (fennel on another night) over the pasta, there is just enough to coat each little packet, but not enough to fill up the plate.

I was equally impressed with the other appetizers. A seafood salad was absolutely stunning, the generous portion of mussels, clams, shrimps and octopus lightly tossed with a fresh herb dressing. Tuna sashimi had been lovingly arranged between slices of avocado and then topped with limes. Asparagus were precisely laid out, decorated with tomato and topped with a hazelnut sauce. And although I have no great affection for those great big New Zealand green-lipped mussels, I loved them here, each one napped with a delicious saffron sauce. I couldn’t stop eating them.

The menu (which changes nightly) is focused on fish; with the exception of char-broiled chicken, virtually every entree began its life in the water. The variety here comes not only from the different kinds of fish but also in the way that each is treated. A whole catfish (which was on the menu on each of my visits) was a generous and appealing dish with a decidedly Asian accent. The fish had been scored and then gently deep-fried in the Chinese manner so that the flesh was still delicate and creamy; it was served with a Japanese ponzu sauce. Sea bass was quite a contrast; it was sauteed with shiitake mushrooms and then served in a simple French white wine cream sauce. Shrimps displayed an altogether different orientation; with their spicy garlic and chile sauce, they had a distinctly Latino flavor.

Much of the cooking can only be called Californian. John Dory was sauteed with mint and ginger, grilled salmon arrived in a basil and tomato sauce, and yellowtail came covered in a sassy sesame seed and mustard coating. So far, I haven’t had a dish I didn’t like, although I do wish that the poor fish were not plunked onto those searingly hot plates. The plates are not merely threatening (touch them at your peril), but they actually overcook the fish before you have time to finish.

This is light food. The accompaniments are sparse and entirely vegetarian. A few circles of carrot, a couple of squiggles of squash and no starch. You will definitely have room for dessert. The waitress will probably tell you to order the raspberry creme brulee , and if I were you, I’d take her advice.

You can, in fact, take her advice on all of the food. One of the things that makes Restaurant Shiro so pleasant is the feeling that you can trust the people who work here. When the waitress suggests a dish, you sense that she really likes it. And why should she lie? This, after all, is a neighborhood restaurant, and they expect to be seeing you again.

And they probably will. For even though this restaurant may not be in your neighborhood, one meal at Restaurant Shiro may make you wish your neighborhood were nearer.