The Menu at Erika’s Is Often Too Clever for Its Own Good

There is no Erika at Erika’s. There are walls painted forest green and violet lights in the ceiling. There are mirrored pillars in the middle of the floor and a highly mirrored bar, all full of reflections like visual conundrums. The place feels grand and clever at the same time (though, despite its high ceilings, very slightly cramped).

Erika’s--the name is apparently just meant to suggest exotic sophistication--is part-owned by a one-time child prodigy on the piano who is now an actor, singer, dancer, director, playwright, set designer and I guess all-around performance person, and Erika’s lives for Art. At every meal there is a Fine Arts Dish, part of the money from which goes for arts purposes, such as supporting the Odyssey Theatre.

Clearly, Erika’s wants to be the culinary avant-garde of Pacific Palisades, and it has a chef from the Ritz Cafe and Le Bel Age who seems able to do just about anything well. But it must be said that some of the ideas behind dishes at Erika’s are beyond exotic and sophisticated. They’re positively overwrought, as when a smoked trout salad has a dressing that tastes rather like thin enchilada sauce.

Usually, the problem seems to be a matter of not knowing when to stop. A smoked trout salad has a wonderful curried dressing, plus raisins, plus Granny Smith apple chunks, but then they throw in Cheddar cheese. The sea bass is beautifully cooked, and its light sauce is subtly flavored with vinegar, but along with the fish comes broccoli, pecans and . . . more apple chunks (Granny Smith has a friend in this kitchen). I’ve noticed that people who order this dish tend to push the apples to one side and leave them.

Usually, though, Erika’s has better control of itself. Its mushroom soup, the mushrooms being added at three different stages of cooking, is just slightly rich and has a very clean mushroom flavor. The “tandori” (that’s how it’s spelled here) game hen is quite tender from a yogurt marinade, the soft spicy crust is delicious and it comes with the longest-grained wild rice I’ve ever seen. Erika’s has good taste in its starches and even makes credible couscous.

Once in a while, Erika’s really hits an inspiration. A soup of smoked Gouda cheese and pureed broccoli is both light in texture and devastatingly rich (also smartly dosed with black pepper; Erika’s is into pepper, both black and red). There’s a dish of ahi tuna with an absolutely fascinating flavor of sesame oil and caraway.

Meanwhile, quite a few dishes are basically in the Continental Cuisine ballpark, things like smoked salmon with dill sauce or loin of lamb (on special) in a red wine sauce sweetened with a little port. Even here, though, the artistic temperament occasionally leaps ahead of good sense. Steak comes with a cream and mushroom sauce strongly flavored with Madeira. I’m sorry, the combination of beef, cream and mushrooms is not zoned for the smoke and butterscotch flavor of Madeira.

Somehow you’d expect more desserts than Erika’s offers, but what there is is very good indeed. The creme brulee has a paper-thin burnt sugar crust and is extremely creamy. A thing called a tapioca mousse pie has a crumb crust and a light filling slightly flavored with tapioca, and the whipped cream on top of it is so rich it’s practically butter.

Erika’s: It’s exotic, sophisticated, artistic and only occasionally out of its mind.

Erika’s Restaurant, 15300 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades. (213) 454-3703. Open for lunch and dinner Thursday through Tuesday; Sunday brunch. Full bar. Parking. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $52-$81.