Restaurant Review : Kosher Meets French at Mosai que

The idea for Mosai que on West 3rd Street is brilliant: a French Provencal restaurant with a kosher kitchen. It’s brilliant because the two defining concepts actually meld quite easily. Kosher law requires that meat and dairy not be served at the same meal; that fish have fins and scales (no shellfish) and meat come from animals with cloven hoofs who chew their cuds (no pork).

And while Provencal food isn’t by nature necessarily kosher--most bouillabaisse recipes call for shellfish, for example--the reliance on olive oil, rather than butter, and the emphasis on fresh fish, lamb and fresh vegetables makes this cooking from the South of France extremely adaptable to kosher requirements.

Mosai que inhabits a lovely walled courtyard attached to a converted home--the former site of the short-lived Bougainvillea, an eclectic California restaurant with British overtones. Gone are Bougainvillea’s riotous flower murals; Mosai que’s walls are a cheery mustard yellow paved with art posters.

Inside the house, there are two cozy dining rooms with low ceilings. Outside, there’s a covered, heated patio with a red canvas roof and a wide, open courtyard where water trickles in a wall fountain profusely tiled in colorful mosaics.

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On a weekday night, Mosai que is bustling. Waiters edge through tightly packed tables. The large family gathering to our right chats about various films, while the table of producers behind us stews over the details of making one. Under those low ceilings, laughter booms. An adorable little boy in a velvet yarmulke runs around the large table handing out French fries to his family.

This restaurant is so close to actualizing a good idea, so on the verge of being a great crossover hit, it’s hard to admit that the food needs some work. Sometimes sauces are too murky from too many herbs. Other times, the concept of a dish isn’t clear. There’s no reason why more of this food isn’t downright delicious. Certainly, the moderately high prices (entrees $14 to $24) led me to expect more than what I got.

Vegetables stuffed with bread crumbs, herbs and chopped vegetables look like children’s baubles in a tomato sauce sea: an upright zucchini cylinder, a round red potato, a small disc of grainy polenta--too bad it’s all so bland.

The waiter confidently announces that tonight’s grilled wild mushroom plate contains Portobellos and oyster mushrooms. We receive chewy shiitake, domestic mushrooms and a few slices of Portobello stems, all stewed in a dark, murky sauce.

Three small toast ovals float atop a strong, thick Provencal fish soup: one with tapenade, one with saffron-rich rouille, one with garlic mayonnaise. The soup itself, however, tastes like yesterday’s bouillabaisse: cooked-down and fishy.

Servings tend to be on the generous side: A good portion of mild, unexceptional gravlax is scattered with black caviar. A huge bowl of penne and chicken breast in a spicy tomato sauce could have fed two people.

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Marinated in lemon and herbs, grilled chicken is moist and tasty. Best of all are its accompanying French fries: unpeeled, seemingly hand cut, full of flavor--we understand why that little boy was so eager to share them.

Kefta (delicious spiced ground beef) and chicken brochettes are removed from their formidable skewers at the table, a procedure that provides a few moments of dramatic tension. These meats are served on vast dunes of the driest couscous imaginable, couscous that is so dry, an entire gravy boat of thin sauce can’t begin to moisten it: “A plateful of desert,” said the person who tried to eat it.

Desserts, on the other hand, might be the most successful items here. Apple tarte tatin, made with large chunks of good, tart fruit, rests in a pool of caramel sauce beside a tuft of surprisingly light and inoffensive non-dairy “chantilly cream.” Dairy-free creme Anglaise is cool, innocuous sauce for a decent apricot tart. The only dairy-free dessert with a slightly unpleasant ersatz tinge is the creme brulee with its odd, scrambled egg texture and strong, overly sweet orange flavor.

* Mosai que , 8164 W. 3rd St . (213) 951-1133. Open for lunch Sundays through Fridays. Open for dinner Saturdays through Thursdays. Sunday brunch. Beer and wine served. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only , $35-$77.