RESTAURANT REVIEW : Where They Get Down to Basix

Christmas shopping in West Hollywood, I run into an acquaintance who asks me to recommend a restaurant.

“I just had lunch at Basix,” I say. “It’s that spin-off of Marix on the corner of Santa Monica and Flores.”

“I know, I know,” she says.

“You’ve eaten there?”

“Only every single day,” she says.

Lucky her. I first stumbled into Basix one rainy night with a friend after a particularly inedible dinner. We hoped to grab a bite of something at least mildly satisfying--a muffin, a sandwich--before heading home.

I had driven by Basix dozens of times and assumed it was another soup-and-sandwich coffee house like so many others that have sprung up all over the city. I was surprised, then, to find a cozy, quietly elegant little cafe with a full menu, an amiable, relaxed West Hollywood crowd, and the ambience of a Paris bistro: marble tables and countertops, dark wicker, antique beveled mirrors, French doors.

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Our fortifying snack turned into a three-course dinner including a smooth, cumin-scented acorn squash soup, thin pizza made with impeccably fresh vegetables and fontina cheese. A beautifully cooked slab of salmon came with crunchy-fresh steamed spinach and mashed red potatoes I’ve longed for ever since. And who could resist the old-fashioned dense gingerbread with a lemon glaze and/or the serious lemon pound cake? The rain kept up, we drank excellent coffees, our young waiter was chipper and witty--there wasn’t a wrong note in the whole experience.

I returned soon, for breakfast. (Basix is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all-day coffee klatching.) During the day, there’s only counter service--table service starts at 5 p.m. for dinner--but the counter crew is surprisingly efficient and unruffled, even with our large, diverse order. Again, the baked goods impressed: specifically the bran and the lemon-ginger muffins. But a folded omelette with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil and a flat omelette with spicy chicken sausage were nothing to complain about. French toast, crisped and buttery and sprinkled with confectioners sugar, made syrup optional.

At lunch, sandwiches come on sturdy-but-soft house-baked rolls. Tuna salad in the tuna “tartine” sandwich is studded with chopped sweet peppers and dressed with a refreshing vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise. Nothing wrong with a plump, juicy turkey burger, either.

Pizzas with paper-thin crusts are a big hit here, and for good reason: not so bready, with a whiff of good wood-fire smokiness, they look like pretty, abstract food paintings and pack a good wallop of flavor. Rock shrimp is paired with chipotle sauce, roasted red peppers with tapenade and goat cheese.

Too bad more restaurants haven’t caught on that good pasta is the basic building block of good pasta dishes; eating Basix’s Gorgonzola chicken fettuccine I admired the sturdy, tasty noodle itself, and then the restrained use of Gorgonzola and inspired addition of arugula. Supple rigatoni baked in a creamy red sauce with fresh vegetables is a perfect cold-weather dish.

There are nightly specials--a turkey “T-bone,” that simple salmon--and otherwise, just two grilled entrees: a vegetable plate and the “Tuscan” chicken, a fabulous rosemary-infused breast topped with a light tomato puree and hanks of grilled red onion.

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There must be a devoted and talented home cook back in that kitchen turning out one terrific item after another: knock-out fat-free chocolate cookies called “clouds”; a sugar-free cherry tart; a numinous fluffy, barely-sweet pumpkin cheesecake . . . and we didn’t get to the layer cakes or other cookies, bars and brownies. . . .

In fact, we had to look hard for any shortcomings. Oh, we ordered the last slice of a pumpkin cake and it was a bit dry and the fruit salad had sat for a few hours. But this is grasping at straws.

Every neighborhood should be so lucky to have such a gem. In fact, Basix’s food is so fresh, inexpensive and well-prepared, it seems effortless--and thus raises the question: Why isn’t every place this good?

* Basix Cafe, 8333 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood . (213) 848-2460. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Beer and wine served. Visa, Master Card and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $18-$37.