Coral Reef Chooses a Rocky Site

And then there are the doomed locations, the spaces that seem to contain a different restaurant each time you drive by.

The space on the corner of Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue and Colorado Boulevard would at first appear to be anything but doomed. It’s a beautiful room, with a beautiful ocean view, steps away from the very successful Ivy at the Shore where the beautiful people eat. But as you approach the place, signs of the spot’s last victims appear, literally, on the building--the restaurants Opera and Regatta may be gone but their logos remain.

On a huge white banner unfurled across the front of the place, the name of the newest occupant, Coral Reef Restaurant and Bar, is optimistically emblazoned in red. Coral Reef hopes to break the spell of the place with a slightly retro approach: Hits from the ‘70s blast out of the sound system, and hits from the mid-’80s are pumped out of the kitchen.

The menu is immense. There’s a lengthy list of shellfish starters--raw oysters and clams, oyster shooters, crab cakes, baked champagne scallops and leeks. Salads come with tofu, broccoli and almonds or spicy Brazilian shrimp. A similar theme runs through the pasta, chicken and meat dishes. Many items are described as “wild and spicy.”

Things are bit rough on the edges now. But if Coral Reef works the way it’s supposed to, you can find a favorite dish on the recession-friendly menu, sit on the restaurant’s pretty patio with a glass of white wine and watch the changing light over the ocean as the sun sets over Malibu. If luck is with it, Coral Reef will stick around long after it gets itself a permanent sign.

* Coral Reef Restaurant and Bar, 1551 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 393-9224. Main courses $6.95 to $15.95.