RESTAURANT REVIEW : Pedro’s Odd Yet Remarkably Appealing Grill on Vermont

“Where’s Robert Mitchum?” she wanted to know. You do sort of expect some film noir character to shamble wearily out of the shadows at Formerly Luigi’s. It has the air of being worn and full of secrets, like a bar in a ‘40s movie.

Now, Formerly Luigi’s isn’t its real name. The big new sign over the building reads “Pedro’s Grill.” But Pedro has also put up a sign reminding everybody that this used to be Luigi’s. Consequently, old-timers are always coming in and asking for their Luigi.

I don’t know what they must think if they stay and order dinner. Pedro’s menu lists pizzas and pastas, all right, but they’re likely to have squash blossoms or Cajun andouille sausage on them. And the usual vegetables are black beans and cooked jicama.

God knows what this scruffy block of North Vermont has done to deserve it, but it now boasts a “New Southwest-California” restaurant (“Mexican-Central American-Caribbean with Cajun and sometimes even Italian moments” might be a better description) with a chef, Juan Mercado, from Columbia Bar and Grill.

There is a delicious gumbo made with seafood, smoky andouille, the usual gumbo vegetables and the eccentric addition of tomato paste and vinegar.

The pizzas seem to be good--”smoky calzone ,” is an inspiration, filled with andouille, smoked chicken, smoked Gouda and the Catalan almond and red pepper sauce called romesco.

Mostly, though, things are Mexican and the lasting impression is the earthy, bittersweet taste of mild ground peppers. The extreme case is the appetizer called “rare red ancho chiles,” which are ultra-intense chile rellenos. They are made from dried red rather than the usual fresh green poblano chiles, filled with smoked chicken and mozzarella, breaded and served in a dizzy pecan cream sauce.

You can get little Michoacan-style chicken tamales with a sweet chipotle sauce on them, or a quesadilla filled with fried onions and mushrooms as well as cheese, or slices of plantain topped with ground chicken in a tomatillo sauce.

There’s a great roast leg of lamb, served with a rowdy dark-red guajillo pepper sauce. The tender Yucatan chicken comes in a soothing orange juice-based sauce dyed yellow with annatto.

Sometimes, the New Southwest moniker makes sense, as in the case of red pepper fettuccine with chicken, corn kernels and cooked jicama in chipotle cream sauce. That one happens to be very good, but once you get away from Mexico, the kitchen tends to flounder.

I’ve had a pretty stodgy Jamaican appetizer of deep-fried mashed potato balls mixed with shrimp, crab and sweet peppers, and Pedro’s crab cakes, which do taste nicely of crab, are one case where the omnipresent bittersweet pepper sauce totally wipes out what it’s served on.

Altogether, this is an odd and remarkably appealing place. The oddest part of the menu may be the desserts: good creamy flan with a great caramel sauce, decent chocolate-lemon cheesecake and then, unexpectedly, the most brutal chocolate dessert I’ve ever had, a sort of brownie mixed with nuts and chocolate syrup. It has no socially redeeming value at all, just raw chocolate power. Utterly depraved, addict stuff.

What else is there to say about Pedro’s? It has a tiny stage left over from its former days as Luigi’s, but instead of opera arias, the entertainment is piano stylings. It’s the kind of place where there is a full bar but only four wines. Instead of a wine list, the waiter brought us a bottle of each and let us choose. She liked that in a man. I think she’s still there.

Pedro’s Grill, 1739 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; (213) 660-9472. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, for dinner daily. Full bar. Parking lot in rear. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $25 to $55.