A Bastion Reserved for Good Tastes : At 21 Oceanfront, Kitchen Knows How to Indulge Better Than the Waiters Do

If certain restaurants are viewed as bastions of conservatism, 21 Oceanfront must stand at the head of the class. It’s old-fashioned refinement personified, a restaurant where the patrons have actually dressed for dinner. Male customers wouldn’t think of being seen without their Brooks Brothers suits; the women, in this age of social correctness, often show up wearing furs.

When this restaurant was Rex of Newport, the tawdry elegance and in-your-face luxuries so prominently displayed seemed more whimsical than serious. Owner Rex Chandler was known to be a flamboyant fellow, as anyone who dined at his extravagantly ill-fated Fashion Island restaurant can attest. (Chandler has resurfaced in Hawaii, by the way, where he is now running a restaurant called Black Orchid.)

But under the restaurant’s new management, longtime chef Luis Tzorin’s dishes taste even better than they did before (they were never bad), and a more somber, mature tone prevails.

To be sure, the antique bar is still cheek-to-cheek with two-fisted martini drinkers and doyennes of Newport Beach society and adorned with gilt-framed oil paintings of women in poses that--let’s be discreet--wouldn’t help get them elected to the executive committee of NOW.

And the deluxe appointments positively reek self-conscious excess: damask linens, pewter service plates, fresh roses, a tapestry ceiling, mock gaslight chandeliers and oval-backed red velvet chairs. Even the choice of mineral water is over the top--a Welsh brand named Ty Nant poured from a shapely, vivid blue bottle.

But when you sink down into your circular black leather booth (there are booths on the mezzanine, in the bar and in part of the main dining room), you cannot help but feel relaxed . . . almost narcotized. These booths, with their magnificently high backs, are as comfortable, and as elegantly luxurious, as any you will ever sit in.

Maybe that’s why the tuxedoed waiters and waitresses take their sweet time with you. I have never known menus to arrive in timely fashion here, or the table to be cleared promptly. Maybe that’s how most of the restaurant’s customers like it, but in a restaurant at this price level I’d prefer more vigilant attention.

You’re bound to feel coddled by what comes out of the kitchen, though. Chef Tzorin’s dishes are solidly Continental and mostly familiar, but several carry a subtle creative stamp that is quietly personal.

His refined apple and walnut salad, served with field greens, is a twist--and a definite improvement--on the traditional Waldorf. Another Tzorin signature, ono Belle Alliance , employs this Hawaiian tuna variety in a manner suited to fine poultry, fanned out in scallop-like slices with a sauce of sauteed peppers and Maui onion. Chicken of the sea, indeed.

Fishmonger soup is pretty substantial for a starter course, but it’s one of the best dishes on the menu. The soup is a mini-bouillabaisse: mussels, clams, crab and wonderfully tender chunks of fish in a light, saffrony broth. Seared “black” (meaning spiced) or “blue” (unspiced) sashimi is made with the finest and fattiest tuna around.

Both the Caesar and the hearts of romaine salad are up to snuff, but the 21 salad is even better--it’s a Greek salad, essentially, graced with rings of those wonderful Maui onions.

Maryland blue crab cakes is an appetizer dish that doesn’t benefit from the upper-class treatment. They’re buttery little cakes flecked with red and green peppers--indeed, quite overwhelmed with peppers. Furthermore, Tzorin places them on top of a classic red pepper cream sauce, when what they really need is mustard sauce, Creole remoulade or something with more soulful simplicity.

The menu’s pasta section contains a few workmanlike dishes such as linguine with clams and broiled chicken breast with angel hair pasta, but the heavy-hitter entrees are to be found elsewhere.

The best deal is probably the “crab feast,” a silver plate filled with Alaskan king crab legs that taste as if they were pulled straight from the net, along with terrific shoestring potatoes and the 21 salad.

The prime meats carry heavy price tags and big reps and are worth the price.

Colorado rack of lamb with fresh mango chutney is delicious meat, although a little less convenient to eat than the usual lamb rack because it’s served uncarved. (That’s the tradition here, and apparently the customers like it.) And the ultra-smooth mango chutney is terrific.

The New York steak in a three-peppercorn sauce is a gorgeous piece of beef with a crusty bottom. Like the rack of lamb, it comes with ridiculously rich scalloped potatoes and adroitly cooked, ruffle-cut slices of carrot and zucchini in a spiced butter sauce.

The dessert selection is limited. Sorbets (in exotic flavors such as passion fruit, mango and coconut) come balled up in a tulip glass, and there is an appropriately luxurious creme brulee , obligatory these days in grand luxe establishments. But best of all is probably bananas caramel, a dish of sliced bananas, shaved almonds and white chocolate ice cream that you douse with a buttery caramel sauce. This may be soda fountain stuff, but it’s definitely a dessert made to be eaten with a silver spoon.

21 Oceanfront is very expensive. Appetizers are $6.95 to $10.50. Salads are $4 to $5. Pastas are $$12.95 to $15.95. Main dishes are $15.95 to $38.

21 OCEANFRONT

2100 Oceanfront, Newport Beach.

(714) 675-2566.

Dinner Sunday through Thursday 5:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday till 11 p.m.

All major cards accepted.