SHORE BETS

Summer is mere weeks away. Why not head to the beach early, before the crowds, and enjoy a leisurely shoreside meal at one of these recently reviewed restaurants? Alice’s Restaurant (23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu Pier, Malibu, (213) 456-6646). Alice’s, which will move in October, looks pretty much the way it has always looked, easy and rambling. The menu is mostly seafood, beautifully fresh. Calamari is dipped in cracker crumbs for a crisp, succulent finish. Creole remoulade is nicely heated with horseradish, Tabasco and Creole mustard. There is also a good tuna steak made even better with an interesting cactus ratatouille. Some good pastas are offered, including linguine with scallops and masaga (smoked roe). For dessert, you can’t go wrong with the caramel custard. Lunch and dinner daily. MasterCard and Visa. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $30-$60.

Les Anges (100 Channel Road, Santa Monica, (213) 454-1331.) This cozy restaurant gives you the feeling that you have set out to sea and are in the lounge of a large yacht. Oysters, delicately poached in their shells, are served in an elegant bath of Champagne and julienned leeks. There is a unique dish of thin-sliced salmon on a rich soubise of onions, covered with red wine sauce and then quickly placed under the salamander and cooked with extreme speed--it’s brilliant. Sea bass is served in an anchovy butter and garlic sauce, topped with scallions and crushed tomatoes. Vegetables here are rich and absolutely superb--the puree of carrots must be half butter. Desserts are excellent. Dinner Tue.-Sun., brunch Sun. MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. Full bar. Valet parking in gas station across street. Dinner for two, food only, $50-$70.

Malibu Sea Lion, U.S.A. (21150 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, (213) 456-2810). The first thing you see is a huge slab of chocolate cake--big as a telephone book--on display museum style, under a bell jar on a pedestal. This is the first sign that this is a move-’em-in, fill-’em-up, move-’em-out volume business. The salad bar is one of the biggest--100 items, says the menu. And you might not want to miss the “Giant Clay” baked potato; potato waitresses serve it wrapped in a napkin, then whack it with a hammer to break the clay away and, viola, it’s a giant potato. Toppings include American Golden caviar, shrimp, grated cheese, bacon, salsa, and on and on. Entrees are really the best part: grilled salmon, nice and fresh; plain shrimp scampi, grilled, with deliciously garlicky, drawn butter; and tender, meaty, boiled lobster. Best advice for dessert is to skip the chocolate cake and order the gigantic chocolate cookie topped with mounds of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream--it’ll awaken the greedy 5-year-old within. Lunch and dinner, Fri.-Sun. Starting May 23, lunch and dinner daily. MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$50.

The Reel Inn (18661 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, (213) 456-8221). The Reel Inn is funky, easy on the pocketbook and devoted entirely to seafood--in other words, the perfect beach restaurant. The place is dark and nautical, with wood floors, wood-slat booths, and red table cloths. You’ll always know your server’s name because you serve yourself: Place your order at a burger-stand-sort-of window and then loiter until your name is called. The cooking is simple. The choice is limited. Most fish are simply grilled; a few offerings, including the shrimp are sauteed on a griddle. Everything comes with a decent cole slaw and a choice of home-fried potatoes or Cajun-style rice, which has bits of onion, turkey and spicy sausage mixed in and is quite delicious. There are also soft tacos filled with miscellaneous white fish, shredded cheese and lettuce that taste very good. Open for dinner daily. Cash only. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$30.

Simon and Seafort’s (340 Golden Shore, at Catalina Landing, Long Beach. (213) 435-2333). This spacious, deeply carpeted restaurant’s decor is a kind of taxidermic surf and turf, with a mixture of Hemingway and Ralph Lauren. Besides a nice selection of oysters at the oyster bar, there are 25 pure malt whiskeys, 21 kinds of draft and bottle beer and a dazzling array of liquor to choose from. The meals are even better than the drinks--particularly the changing selection of fresh mesquite-grilled fish and the Nebraska-grown aged meats. The New York steak is large, succulent and cooked right to taste. There is also a superb liver-and-onion plate. Save room for dessert and try the burnt cream, a rich custard with a finger-thick crust of caramel, or the sublime coffee-toffee pie (chocolate, coffee and whipped cream set in a walnut and chocolate crust). Yum, yum. Lunch Sun.-Fri. and dinner daily. MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Full bar. Validated parking in parking complex. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$60.