Melrose Place: Very A-Museing

It’s too bad there’s no Brandon Burger at the new Melrose Place--that would make it yet another “90210” spinoff. And so far, the restaurant isn’t hip enough to attract the TV apartment-dwellers of “Melrose Place.” The art is too perky by half, and last week business was so slow that at one point the staff, apparently bored, gathered before the counter of the open kitchen to observe what seemed to be the inaugural use of a new sausage machine--it was as if they were medical students watching brain surgery for the first time.

The place has some things going for it. It’s in the old Metropolis space, made famous as the singles bar in “Moonlighting,” and the chef, Vaughn Allen, comes from the very hip Restaurant Muse (he also cooked briefly at Beverly Hills’ Asylum).

Many of Allen’s dishes from Muse are on the Melrose Place menu. His ahi ceviche has been recast as ahi tartare; his duck egg rolls are still sauced with Thai tea syrup and a tropical fruit frappe; he still makes black bean soup, and he still sends out plates with lots of garnishes.

Like his food at Muse, Allen’s Melrose Place food can be uneven. “Yukon” potato chips with caviar and creme fraiche seem like slumber party snacks for the “90210” crowd, and the mixed rotisserie pizza with grilled lamb, duck, chicken and vegetables is not an idea whose time has come. But salmon with chive-sake butter and mixed caviar was perfectly cooked--nicely rare inside and crisped on the outside. Also, there’s a decent cup of Jake.

Melrose Place, 650 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 657-2227. Pasta and entrees $11 to $21.