Restaurants : THE GREATEST OF EASE : Russell Jackson’s Adventurous Cooking: a High- Wire Act That Doesn’t Always Need a Net

Whenever a touted independent film comes to town, I feel I should rush out and see it, doing my part to make sure it gets a good showing the first weeks it’s in the theaters. I feel the same way about Russell’s. The economic climate is such that few new restaurants venture from the predictable path. But behind the stoves at Russell’s is a young chef who is daring more--and daring it on a shoestring. Not everything works all of the time, but I’d much rather eat at a restaurant where the chef has lots of ideas and a real love of cooking than at a place where the kitchen sleepwalks through the same tired menu.

Russell Jackson is just 30, but he’s already put in at least 15 years in professional kitchens, starting out at McDonald’s and pizza joints and moving on to cook everything from regional Mexican and classical French, nouvelle cuisine, new American cooking and even Japanese. His career includes stints at the original Border Grill, Rebecca’s and the Hard Rock Cafe, among others. At Russell’s, just north of the Beverly Center, he’s drawn on all this experience to create a very personal, eclectic menu.

For the moment, the only sign on the restaurant is a white banner with the initial R written large. The place is quite minimalist: two narrow storefronts furnished with white-clothed tables, simple black chairs, geometric sconces and a single tree in the window. The silverware is aligned at a precise, eccentric angle. First, a waiter in an ikat-dyed vest presents three large broadsheets: the wine list, the beer list and the soda-pop selection. When the dinner menu comes, it reads “night” and groups dishes under openers, greens, soup, middles, meat, poultry, fish and desserts--even that is somewhat different. The service, however, is uneven. One night our waiter was warm and attentive; on the next occasion a different waiter seemed to forget all about us.

I loved the appetizer of tender goat cheese and a flavorful caponata of Mediterranean vegetables cooked down almost to a jam and layered with fragile pastry leaves to make a savory Napoleon. Fiery Fresno chiles stuffed with dusky mushrooms, dipped in pastry flour and fried, were terrific with a sauce laced with hazelnuts. House-cured salmon gravlax is paired with a sweet yam cake instead of the usual corn cake. Panzotti, stuffed half-moons of pasta came in a dark chile sauce so intricately spiced it was difficult to taste the duck filling. The galantine of Chilean sea bass was a pretty dish: rounds of snowy white fish in a slick of green basil oil with a fuchsia cabbage salad in the middle. The taste of the fish was so delicate it was virtually nonexistent, and the bizarre idea of putting vanilla rice at the heart of each slice of galantine took this promising dish over the top.

Jackson’s salads are lovely, never overdressed, usually interesting variations on a theme. I especially liked the grilled portobello mushroom and artichoke salad drizzled with a light hazelnut vinaigrette. That, and the risotto of fresh corn and asparagus, is about as straightforward and simple as Jackson’s cooking gets. He likes to pile on the techniques and revels in complex preparations, such as the lamb. For that, he makes a thick paste of annato seed, roasted garlic, tequila, lime--some 15 ingredients altogether--and marinates the lamb for up to seven days. He then roasts it just enough for the paste to adhere, chars the chops on the grill and serves them with a kind of raised masa -dough biscuit that tastes deliciously of sweet corn.

I enjoyed the duck in a Jack Daniels and whole-seed mustard sauce with a heap of earthy sauteed mushrooms and a molded orange-scented risotto, too. The smoked coletto steak, served sliced, with a pile of fluffy mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, makes a fine supper. Next to all this, the pork chop in Port sauce seemed ordinary. But the salmon, in a shaggy jacket of what appeared to be potato filings, pleasantly surprised me with its lining of chiles.

When it comes to sweets, I get the feeling each of the few desserts is there because Jackson is genuinely enthusiastic about it. The wedge of brownie pie is satisfyingly fudgy and not too sweet; even better is his chocolate “marriage,” a very dark chocolate bread pudding topped with white chocolate and set off with a vanilla-flecked creme anglaise. Order creme brulee , and you may have to call for help to finish the two cupfuls, one ginger, one plain.

Jackson is attempting a high-wire act seven days a week. He doesn’t always pull it off, but he’s got enough good ideas to make him a chef to watch. So many of his friends and fans, in fact, have followed him here that some nights it can feel like a private celebration where party crashers are welcome. At some point in the evening, the cook will come out and introduce himself. And when he asks how your dinner was, you get the feeling he really wants to know.

Russell’s Restaurant, 361 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 659-3996. Open Monday through Friday for lunch, nightly for dinner. Beer and wine. Street and lot parking with valet parking weekends only. Major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $38-$68.