Haute Grits for Cool Beachgoers

When Robert Gadsby first appeared on the L.A. dining scene late last year, he was cooking in a grown-up restaurant, a sedate Pasadena white-tablecloth joint called Xiomara, where his architectural platings of peppered tuna and beautiful pileups of crab and savoy cabbage fit right in. Now, after his well-publicized breakup with that restaurant’s owner, Gadsby’s gone beach.

He’s cooking at Santa Monica’s World Cafe, a wild-looking place that seems like some sort of undersea club for the surf-chic crowd. Chaos rules on the walls, which hold murals of the deep sea and askew cracked mirrors. In the bar, young, tan beach-dwellers eye each other with approval.

Perhaps sensing that World’s clientele isn’t always in the mood for serious-chef cooking, Gadsby smartly put pizza and pasta on his brand-new dinner menu. And he’s kept the owner’s favorite spinach pancakes with sour cream and caviar.

But he’s also developed a batch of haute-sounding dishes that, if executed right, could thrill the fun-seekers at World. The problem is, Gadsby seems to be underestimating his audience. At dinner last week, his pepper-crusted tuna came with minimal pepper (no crust) and the tuna (always at its best very rare) was cooked all the way through, as if he were afraid his customers wouldn’t understand. And where at Xiomara his food came out looking like delicate sculptures surrounded with painterly drips of sauce, here his food is piled up, but clunky . . . and there seem to be peas on everything, including the pizza. It’s been proved that Gadsby’s cooking can be smart and hip; he just needs to have a little faith in the beach-dude palate.

* World Cafe, 2820 Main St., Santa Monica, (310) 392-1661. Pasta, pizza and entrees $9 to $20.