These Malls Aren’t Just for Shopping

There was a time when serious food eaters would never consider eating in a shopping mall. Think that way these days and you’ll miss out on a lot of good food. Southern California’s great ethnic restaurants, often in malls, did a lot to change the old way of thinking. So did St. Estephe, which opened in the early ‘80s in a shopping complex--John Sedlar’s arty Southwest cuisine made you forget there was a supermarket down the way. Now that Sedlar is cooking at Bikini in Santa Monica and St. Estephe has closed, a new fine-dining place has taken over the space. Reed’s, the collaborative efforts of chefs Joe Miller (of Joe’s in Venice) and Brandon Reed, is packed after just two weeks in business.

You can tell this is a chef’s restaurant--the decor is soothing instead of showy, the service professional instead of perky. Not everything on the menu works yet, but there are some good things to eat: corn cakes with smoked salmon and a red pepper coulis, pork tenderloin, ahi “ravioli” (the pasta is prettily draped over the tuna).

Odd ravioli turns up in another new restaurant in a mall, Ciao Chow Express, the newest place from Jivan Tabibian, who owns Remi in Santa Monica on the 3rd Street Promenade. This time Tabibian has set his restaurant in the brand-new Pine Square. And instead of reliable Italian food, Tabibian is experimenting with Asian-Italian fusion cuisine. The dish that works best: Won ton ravioli with tomatoes and basil--think of ravioli with delicate, loose edges. There’s also pizza, which won’t seem too strange to anyone who’s eaten at California Pizza Kitchen, and fried salt-pepper shrimp, a Chinese staple. Some of the other dishes are, you might say, still in the experimental stage.

* Reed’s, 2640 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach, (310) 546-3299. Entrees $12-$15.

* Ciao Chow Express, Pine Square, 245 Pine Ave., Long Beach, (310) 495-9022. Entrees $7.95-$8.95.