The following are summaries of recent Times...

The following are summaries of recent Times restaurant reviews.

Five Feet Too, in Fashion Island, 1145 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 640-5250 . Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to midnight.

The gentrification of Chinese cuisine reaches new heights of absurdity in this self-consciously chic restaurant, the second effort of owner chef Michael Kang. The restaurant is visually stunning but often comes up short in the taste department: Many dishes are precious and ill conceived. The signature deep-fried catfish is excellent, and some imaginative dishes work well. Curried beef spring rolls are delightful. Kung pao three, with chicken, scallops and shrimp, is too. Desserts also are fine. Pity they don’t serve humble pie.

Capers, 34150 Coast Highway, Dana Point. (714) 661-3983. Open daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 10 p.m.

A bright new seafood restaurant occupying the site of the former Dana Trader, Capers has a beachy, casual air well suited to the location. The food isn’t half bad when the kitchen plays it straight, but the kitchen tries too hard to be creative, often with disastrous results. There is a noble, garlicky Caesar, not for wimps, some fair broiled fish and several good shrimp dishes. Be wary of the ill-conceived attempts at nouvelle , especially anything with the horrid lime dipping sauce, coconut batter--or capers, the restaurant’s signature condiment.

Ten Hu, 315 S. Magnolia Ave., Anaheim. (714) 826-9910. Open Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays till 10.

Ten Hu doesn’t compare with Chinese restaurants in Chinatown or the San Gabriel Valley, but that shouldn’t put you off a visit. Just remember that the steamed fish might be frozen. Winter melon soup with shredded chicken is a masterwork, and the Sichuan shrimps are particularly fine. It’s primarily a seafood restaurant but you may do just as well with the non-seafood items, such as the Peking spareribs or the mouth watering rice noodle dishes. Stay away from the retro-Chinese standbys like chop suey and egg foo young. They’re awful.

Salud, 17401 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach. (714) 842-1194. Open Sundays through Thursdays 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays till midnight.

Salud, a new high concept Mexican restaurant from Larry Cano, has an outlandish design that looks like a set Roger Corman might have used for a movie on Aztec discomania. All the trendy Mexican buttons are pushed: hand shaken margaritas, 80’s chiles, blue corn. Avoid the usualMeximush and head for soups, grilled meats and desserts. Pozole verde is hominy and shredded chicken in broth, and it’s great. So is Ibarra chocolate bread pudding, little cubes of fudge soaked bread in a tequila orange cream sauce. Prices are reasonable.