RESTAURANT REVIEW : A Great Caesar Saves Studio City’s Wine Bistro

Aman I know refers to the Wine Bistro on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City as “my beloved Wine Bistro.” When we drive past, he’ll point to the green and white striped awnings and squint to see if he recognizes the people waiting for the valet to bring a car around. “Oh, there it is, my beloved Wine Bistro,” he’ll say with great feeling. He no longer goes there, however. “Why not?” I wanted to know.

“I’m not on expense account any more,” he says.

This small, atmospheric bistro has a gleaming, prominent bar, well-worn banquette cushions and rosy light. There’s clear, leaded glass in the windows, etched glass and brass between the booths. It’s very much a bistro of the old school, more private and padded and less clattery than today’s newer, noisier, wide-open varieties. This room is small, close and romantic. The arched roof makes it feel like a fancy train car.

Our waiter at dinner is a saucy fellow; if not an actor-waiter, he’s one better: a waiter playing the part of an actor-waiter. “Ready to order? No? Well, would you like to hear my story?” he says. “No?”

The fare is French bistro fare, also of the old school variety. There is no baby lettuce, no radicchio, no carpaccio. This is steak tartare territory, a realm of dried herbs, green peppercorns, capers and cream. A sizable, varied menu is supplemented by a hefty special board. All told, it’s an ambitious kitchen.

Our mussels a la mariniere came in a white wine shallot and cream sauce. While I was delighted that these were the black mussels and not the green New Zealand rubber bands, I found this particular batch briny and strong-tasting and ate only two. Perhaps I was being fussy, since my friend Dick polished off the rest of them with relish.

Most entrees came with soup or salad. The salads proved to be romaine lettuce topped with a heap of beets. To go with my pasta dish, I had the California red leaves with baked goat cheese croutons, an ordinary red leaf lettuce salad with a mustardy vinaigrette, with little rounds of sourdough roll topped with warm goat cheese and dry herbs--nice enough.

“Paranoid,” our waiter says to me, “is when both of your dining companions are given sharp knives and you aren’t.” Even if I had been the slightest bit paranoid, I would have understood the inequity immediately upon taking a bite of my angel-hair pasta with wild mushrooms, peppers, broccoli and feta cheese: I not only didn’t need a knife to cut this, I didn’t need teeth to chew it. It was definitely not al dente. Also, the toppings were so scant that soon enough I was left with a generous hank of soft, unadorned, overcooked angel-hair gummed up with feta cheese.

Dick’s soft-shell crabs were limp and ordinary, but Jane’s serving of liver was quite lovely, although the sauce it came in was far too salty. Throughout the meal I kept dipping into Jane’s pureed squash spiked with nutmeg--it was the most interesting thing we had to eat.

The desserts were expensive and disappointing--$4.95 bought a low wedge of a rather soggy mirabelle tart; $5.50 bought a slab of very sweet chocolate marquise (a mousse) in vanilla and raspberry sauces.

At lunch, the Wine Bistro seemed brighter and more relaxed and the prices were lower. The service was also less precise--our waitress waited on us intermittently during the course of her own lunch. My friend Julie and I split a Caesar salad and chose entrees from the special board. My yellowtail Louisiana was a travesty: That the fish was overcooked hardly mattered. The blackening was extremely salty, which made the whole serving inedible after a few bites. Julie’s rabbit nicoise was somewhat tastier, although the well-cooked red sauce spiked with large Calamata-style olives didn’t seem quite the right complement to the mild meat. What redeemed the meal--and the whole restaurant--for me was the Caesar salad.

The Wine Bistro makes a great Caesar: fresh, juicy, refreshing, it’s not too cheesy or mustardy or garlicky, the dressing’s not too thick, the romaine is crisp--in a word, it’s perfect.

I’d have to agree with my friend, that his “beloved Wine Bistro” is definitely an expense account restaurant--a place that becomes imminently more acceptable when someone else is paying. On the other hand, the Caesar is only $5.95.

Recommended dish: Caesar salad, $5.95.

The Wine Bistro, 11915 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 766-6233. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday. All major credit cards accepted. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $45 to $70.