RESTAURANT REVIEW : Continental Fare in Guise of a Fish House, but It Works

Sea bass in the bouillabaisse? Sacre bleu!

But what’s sacrilege in Marseille plays pretty well in Woodland Hills, particularly when the rest of the dish’s ingredients--from the piquant roux to the fat little mussels barely hanging on to their shells--are so skillfully blended.

We’re talking about the Seashell, an old war horse of a restaurant that has recently been remodeled to resemble a plant box with a nautical motif. It’s really quite elegant now, with its wood paneling, rustic furniture and lush plants. Dim, romantic light radiates down from exotically macabre blowfish lanterns; colorful seashell lanterns that look as if they were bought at an aquarium gift shop provide a little extra wattage. A few more props and the place would look like a theme ride at Disneyland.

One of the owners, Christian Desmet, is a Frenchman from Tours, and he has seen to it that the menu has plenty of the flavors of his homeland. The Seashell is basically a Continental restaurant thinly disguised as a fish house, with nearly every dish gussied-up with herbs or creamy sauces. The thing is, the dishes just about always work, because this kitchen is rock solid.

That’s lucky for all concerned, because prices here can be a bit stiff, especially for a restaurant not exactly on the culinary cutting edge. Most entrees are in the $20 range.

A good starting place would be the scampi du chef, a bubbling dish of well-cooked shrimp in a buttery sauce dosed with garlic, shallots and tarragon. It’s wonderful to share, and the sauce goes like a dream with the hot house bread. The rest of the appetizers, such as mushrooms Monaco (stuffed mushrooms in a slightly tired garlic sauce) and the pate maison (made from pork, veal and a bit of truffle), can’t even begin to compete.

Soup or salad, which are included in the price of an entree, make a good case for the up-market prices here. The salad is a mixture of baby greens with a delicate julienne of carrot and turnip, and the house vinaigrette with fresh herbs is delightful. The soups are equally good. I tasted three: an elegant cream of watercress; a salty onion soup gratinee made with rich stock; and a hearty pistou, a sort of Provencal version of minestrone with the vegetables minced fine.

Bouillabaisse might be the big draw here, but the dish I’d come back for again and again would be the mussels poulette, which are steamed New Zealand mussels in a sauce of white wine reduced with shallots and a touch of cream. The mussels are cooked just right, and the sauce makes the often unwieldy green lip mussels seem as tender as the tiny moules of southwest France. And here I’d thought I didn’t like New Zealand mussels.

Now about that bouillabaisse. It is a towering dish: a saffron-rich broth abundantly filled with shellfish, with garlic croutons and the classic red pepper-dosed garlic mayonnaise (aioli) spooned up from side dishes. And it’s impressively served, in a ceramic crock with a dome-shaped cover.

They will add halibut upon request (subject to availability), but basically you can expect that sacrilegious sea bass with crab legs, clams, mussels and fat prawns--in other words, an Italian cioppino gone French. Purists might shudder, and I have to confess I’d have preferred the traditional Mediterranean fish--weever and rockfish and the rest--that make an authentic bouillabaisse. I also have to confess that I didn’t leave more than a few drops of sacrilege in my dish.

Those who do not cotton to shellfish need not fear, because there is plenty of other seafood to choose sfrom. Rex sole Veronique, a silly dish of whole grapes in buerre blanc sauce atop a snow-white trio of tiny sole filets, is about as good as you have a right to expect. Salmon sorrel, with a light, almost sweet, cream sauce balancing the tart herb, is a more intelligent choice, as is the whitefish mustard in its rich, tangy sauce.

Actually all the sauces at the Seashell are good, so good that a non-oceanic dish--chicken green peppercorn--becomes a compelling choice here. (You can also ask for the green peppercorn sauce on roast duckling, a crisp half-duck roasted slowly in the oven.) It’s a velvety, robust sauce, with lots of Madagascar peppercorns floating around in it. A pity it’s too strong for fish.

There are a few desserts, all made in the restaurant, and the most attractive ones usually sell out early. The Napoleon, almost two feet long when it is brought from the kitchen, is usually the first to go, and with good reason--The crust is crisp and the filling, light and frothy. Tarte tatin, the caramelized apple tart, is soft and buttery here, as is the invariable house variation on chocolate mousse. I had chocolate banana mousse, a combination that no Frenchman would recognize.

A sacrilege, perhaps--bananas in the chocolate mousse. Well, I forgive them.

Recommended dishes; scampi du chef, $9.50, mussels poulette, $21.50, bouillabaisse du pecheur, $23.50, chicken green peppercorn, $16.50.

The Seashell, 19723 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 884-6500. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday; dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking. All major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $40 to $75. Sunday through Thursday, there is a twilight dinner special, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., for $12.95.