RESTAURANT REVIEW : Tastes Change but St. Moritz Stays Same

“The St. Moritz?” said my friend. “I thought that place closed years ago.”

How misinformed can one be. This charming garden restaurant, a chunk of Swiss/Continental Gemutlichkeit on a modest stretch of Ventura Boulevard, is nowhere near to being closed. Original owner Wolfgang Braun did sell out to chef Steve Applegate and partner Manny Slali last year, and that may have fueled some rumors, but many of Braun’s recipes and much of his customer base remain, and the restaurant appears reasonably healthy in its 18th year of operation.

Now, if only this style of food would come back into fashion. The St. Moritz was in its heyday in the ‘70s, when everyone was eating Caesar salad, Chateaubriand and chocolate souffle. People eagerly squeezed into the clubby front dining room’s narrow red leather booths, or ambled out onto the beautiful garden patio to dine amid the restaurant’s jungle of plants and ferns.

You don’t have to queue for tables any longer, but that’s hardly due to inconsistency. Dining at St. Moritz for the first time in 15 years, I felt as if nothing, save my own tastes, had changed.

Chef Applegate has a different angle. “Our food is much lighter than it was a year ago,” he says earnestly. Maybe. But before you even receive a menu here, you are greeted by a small plate of hot cheese fritters--heavy, grainy discs that portend the richness of the foods to come.

In fact, the only “light” appetizer on this menu would be Bundnerfleisch --air-dried beef sliced paper-thin, tasting like smoky prosciutto. Shrimp Pernod combines two wonderful tastes, briny shrimp cut with the perfumed subtlety of anise, but this kitchen wouldn’t dream of letting well enough alone. The tastes are all but smothered by thick cream and fresh sliced mushroom, the base of a swooningly indulgent sauce.

Escargot noisette and crab-filled mushrooms “Diablo” are equally recidivist, in the culinary sense. The escargots are baked in artichoke bottoms, then doused with a rich garlic herb butter. The Diablo mushrooms positively buckle under a ponderous stuffing assertively flavored with mustard; their crusty cheese toppings crackle. Notice that entrees come with a choice of soup--such as an unctuous, full-flavored pinto bean--or a standard-issue dinner salad, which should be clue enough that these rich appetizers are probably meant to be shared.

When you’re at the salad stage of the meal, by the way, you might consider that for $5.50 extra you can have a salad that’s more than a salad. It’s one of the great dinosaurs of the Los Angeles dining scene: a Caesar salad mixed at table side with confident expertise by (count ‘em) two waitresses. (Only fair--it takes two or more diners to order the Caesar.) And this salad--creamy, anchovy-rich and lemon-pungent, each leaf coated with Worcestershire and mustard-flavored egg yolk--is definitely one for the ages.

As chef Applegate says, main courses have indeed been scaled down a bit, with less gravy and more ingredients. And Mexican white shrimp is a dish you wouldn’t have found here during the ‘70s--a festive saute made with tequila, cilantro, pico de gallo and artichoke. However, that’s the one major departure on this menu. For the rest, St. Moritz is still basically St. Moritz.

Think of emince of veal Zurichoise as a kind of wealthy man’s stew, with Chablis wine, mushrooms and cream acting as unwitting accomplices. I’m big on this one because of the crisp rosti potatoes that accompany it on the plate. Then, there are those old standbys steak Chateaubriand and cheese fondue, dishes that have changed precisely zero since the ‘70s. Both are served for two people only and are rather pricey, at $23.50 and $20 per person, respectively.

Chateaubriand is (surprise) the restaurant’s No. 1 seller, so I guess the demise of red meat also has been greatly exaggerated. And the fondue, a rare item these days, is made from a blend of Gruyere, six other cheeses and Kirschwasser, hence the hefty price. You can have your good, lightly breaded Wiener schnitzel plain or a la Holstein, with egg, anchovy and capers, the way I ate mine.

It would be wishful thinking to imagine things let up when it is time for dessert. One of the Valley’s best chocolate souffles awaits you, as well as the dense bread pudding (call it an eggy chocolate mousse) that the restaurant calls Swiss pudding pie, and the almost frothy--by comparison--lemon mousse, which you spoon from a cocktail glass.

I like this last one best, but for selfish reasons. I stopped eating those other desserts years ago.

Suggested dishes: Bundnerteller, $6.50; Caesar salad, for two or more, $7.50 per person a la carte, $5.50 per person with dinners; Wiener schnitzel a la Holstein, $19; Mexican white shrimp, $21; chocolate souffle, $6.50.

St. Moritz, 11720 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 980-1122. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, till 10 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Full bar. Valet parking. Major cards accepted. Dinner for two, $45 to $78.