Rustic Dining for Hollywood Set

When rumors first surfaced about a rustic lodge-style restaurant on the outskirts of Beverly Hills, we were suspicious. It’s true that Hollywood types like to roam around in jeans and Range Rovers, but their eating habitats, especially close to home, are most often white-walled sorts of places, the better to show off big art and big-name stars.

Plus there were production problems--Jackson’s, like many Hollywood projects, was almost two years in the making, and lost its original director, chef Lionel Deniaud, less than a month before opening.

But Jackson’s, for all the hype surrounding it, turns out to be a pleasant, intimate space, where the Western/lodge look is more accessory than obsession. There may be a wagon wheel chandelier and horse tackle hung on a wall, but the booths may be the most important design element, just right for agent-talent huddles.

The food is more big-city cookin’ than Big Sky cuisine. Co-chefs Josiah Citrin and Raphael Lunetta trained under Joachim Splichal at Patina, and the Splichal influence shows. Gnocchi are combined with rabbit and fava beans, tender lamb is served atop vegetable risotto, grilled dorade (sea bass) is sauced with a dense Pinot Noir reduction. It’s not your average lodge cooking, but it tastes pretty good.

* Jackson’s, 8908 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 550-8143. Pasta and entrees $7-$19.