Beverly Hills Korean Light

Some of the best cooking of Korea is its rustic food--fiery tofu soups, griddled egg pancakes, hearty barbecue. This is the food that turns up in most of Southern California’s Korean restaurants, places where you leave happy in a cloud of garlic and chile. But at the newest branch of Woo Lae Oak--a modern, marble-filled space in Beverly Hills--the flavors are subtle and light. Shrimp-filled mandu are delicate dumplings in a wonderfully light broth; tender scallops (in the appetizer called “trio of jun “) come wrapped in a mild green chile and fried in a wispy egg coating. Chicken soup, thickened with rice, is subtly flavored with dates, chestnuts, a little garlic and bits of ginseng.

It’s not that the dishes are so different from what you’d find in other Korean restaurants--though pesto-soy-topped broiled striped bass with potato galette is definitely not Korean mom-food--it’s that this kitchen, headed by executive chef Sang Bong Suh with some consulting help from Elmer Azuma (Chabuya, Truffles, Typhoon), has taken the freshness, presentation and lightness of ‘80s cooking and applied them to traditional Korean recipes.

Still, there are some rustic elements here--each table is equipped with a gas-fueled grill for cook-your-own barbecue, and as you approach the restaurant, you’re greeted with the crisp smell of wood smoke from the sleek marble fireplace--a sign of a good meal ahead.

* Woo Lae Oak, 170 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 652-4187. Entrees $9.50 - $18.