Chitra: A Nice Blend on Westside

“Our cooking is French-Thai,” explains the dignified young maitre d’ at Chitra, a new restaurant on Little Santa Monica in Beverly Hills. “It’s really French or Continental cuisine with Thai spices. It’s something the chef has created. Nobody else is doing it.” Certainly not in Beverly Hills, where there are now so many Italian restaurants, I expect to see the tricolore hoisted over the city hall any day now. Chitra is a welcome change of cuisine.

In a cheerful room with sea-blue chairs and fresh carnations on every table, you can indulge in delicious Bangkok crab cakes in a subtle coriander-spiked black bean sauce, charred lamb salad garnished with fresh mint, or grilled prawns with oyster mushroom and Thai herbs in a puree of sweet peppers and basil. When you order duck, the breast comes roasted rare, the leg baked with Thai spices and glazed with tamarind. Instead of the fiery, sugary cuisine of countless Thai restaurants, Chitra truly is something new--toned down, delicately spiced and cooked with finesse.

“We don’t have to worry about the chef leaving,” says the maitre d’, scooping steamed rice from an ornate lidded container, “because this is entirely a family restaurant. It’s my father, Thanu Senivong, in the kitchen. I’m running the dining room. That’s my cousin over there. My aunt and uncle work here, too.” And each one of them comes by at some point in the evening to make sure everything is fine. Do you have any questions? Do you need more rice? Another Thai beer?

No restaurant in town takes better care of its customers.

* Chitra, 9634 Little Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 247 - 8639. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sundays for brunch. Take-out, too. Major credit cards accepted. Parking on the street or in public lot. Appetizers $5-$9; entrees $13-$21.