RESTAURANT REVIEW : Tribeca--for the Sun, for the Pasta

These days, the south side of Sunset Plaza resembles nothing so much as a continuous outdoor cafe with a pan-European clientele. “Oh my!” a young Dutch woman cries out as she spots a friend at Tribeca City Pizza. “When did you come to America?”

Tribeca City Pizza is the newest of the plaza’s cafes, on the easternmost end. Its patio is distinguished from that of the neighboring Chin Chin by a thin rail and by Tribeca’s surprisingly comfortable wrought-iron chairs, the backs of which look like a haywire cartoon of a chair back or a measure of madcap music.

Inside, there’s a small dining room with more of those chairs, small wooden tables and prettily painted wall sconces that match the servers’ vests. Behind the counter is an open kitchen, crowned by a huge wood-veneered hood.

The menu at Tribeca City Pizza is only faintly reminiscent of its parent restaurant, the Beverly Hills Tribeca.

“Tribeca,” ruminates the man at the next table. “Wasn’t that a spot for a while?”

We recognized the former spot’s signature crab cakes and blackened meatloaf--only here, on the Strip, it’s a blackened turkey loaf with the same luscious cilantro gravy. This Tribeca, however, is no upscale dinner house. It’s a pizza place.

The bread basket holds a thick round of focaccia--or is it a special sponge made of bread matter? Taste would indicate the latter.

On the other hand, the Cobb salad is one of the best I’ve had, a perfect balance of pre-tossed chopped goods--bacon, avocado, egg, blue cheese, lettuce. And the Caesar salad is perfectly respectable. Japanese clam chowder is a palatable, slightly thick, curry-yellow miso soup with julienned raw vegetables and a few fresh clams.

The pizza, baked in a gas oven, has a thin crust that’s puffy around the rim, with toppings that try too hard. The Fra Diavolo pizza with roasted garlic, mozzarella, pepperoncini, red pepper and chopped-up chicken is a peppy, compelling little pie, its crust sturdy and well-cooked. But the vegetarian pizza I had was a mess of chopped-up grilled vegetables and cheese on thin, sodden dough. The sesame-crust pizza also suffered from a soggy crust, and worse--the grayness and blandness of the fresh tuna chunks were not enhanced either by the basil pesto or by the excessive amount of dull, smoked gouda on top.

It’s better to stick with pasta here. Linguine with feta cheese and tomatoes has a good, spicy kick, and the corkscrew pasta with cilantro, avocado and crunchy rock shrimp is full of pleasing textures.

The entrees, while boasting none of the subtleties of the parent restaurant, are decent and filling, especially a nice slab of grilled salmon served under a heap of tomato-basil concasse . Grilled marinated chicken is also tasty. Both come with buttery mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes that taste precisely like boiled potatoes. Oh well.

The service is young, often forgetful and adequate at best. But most people come here to sit in the sun among the beautiful people.

Where else (beside the cafes next door) can one see women dressed in bustiers, Chanel jackets and suede mega-heels; men drenched in Paco Rabanne; conversationalists fluent in Spanish, French, Italian and industry slang; a cluster of male models; a procession of Bentleys, Aston Martins, Rolls-Royces, and Michele Pfeiffer . . . all in the course of one lunch?

Tribeca City Pizza, 8616 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 659-9692. Lunch and dinner seven days. Beer and wine. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $28 to $60.