RESTAURANT REVIEW : Creative Dishes Redeem Mostly Ordinary Menu : Many selections lack originality at Mexicali Cocina and Cantina, but tortilla soup, salads and <i> carne asada </i> make a meal there worthwhile.

The new Mexicali Cocina and Cantina may be the only Mexican restaurant on the Boulevard where CDs of Hootie and the Blowfish are heard with regularity. Though the menu isn’t nearly as cutting edge, an occasional stab at creativity serves to liven up what is otherwise competent, but cliched Cal-Mex fare.

The classically designed, rectangular room features a handsome, darkly stained wood slat floor, long booths upholstered in brown Leatherette and flan-colored walls. Some of you will nod your heads in recognition once you learn that the former occupant was the French Pavilion, a Ventura Boulevard landmark for over 35 years. The new owners have completely renovated the space, putting in an elegant bar, twirling overhead fans and photographs of the then-underpopulated San Fernando Valley during the first half of the century.

One other distinguishing feature is a team of young, outgoing servers, none of whom hesitate to advertise their desire to break into “the industry.”

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You don’t have to be a casting director to like the hearty, well-spiced tortilla soup or the chile-laden, if overly minced ceviche. I’m refusing my option on queso fundido, though, and mentally reworking the “bravo chiles.” Queso fundido comes bubbling in a white casserole dish, a molten lava of three or four cheeses oozing under an unappetizing layer of oil. Bravo chiles are mildly hot green peppers overstuffed with cheese (this time the culprit is Jack), and crisply fried in a nice cornmeal batter. Save the side crock of avocado cilantro as a dipping sauce for main dishes. It is delicious.

Salads are a vast improvement over the appetizers. A fine “rotisserie Cobb” soars on such good ingredients as juicy white meat rotisserie chicken, ripe avocado, crisp bacon, blue cheese and chopped egg. And the kitchen shows proper restraint with these elements. A traditional Caesar is muscular and creamy. Chopped vegetable salad, a mix of garden vegetables with a sweet and pungent honey mustard jalapen~o vinaigrette, tastes as if a bit of summer has been added at the last moment.

The best main dishes are carne asada and ahi tuna tostada. The asada works because of the best possible reason: This is simply a great piece of steak, a grilled rib eye served with roasted corn relish and a subtle ancho chili butter. The tuna tostada is disarmingly plain, a tuna steak on a crisp corn disk, drizzled with green and white sauces.

I might be more enthusiastic about the restaurant if staples like tacos, tamales and burritos had more soul, or if side dishes like beans, rice and tortillas had more flavor. The one exception is the house black beans, which are nicely stewed, redolent of cumin. But enchilada suprema, despite the innovative use of goat cheese, is just a big tasteless mess. And on two occasions, Mexicali rice was inexcusably overcooked, the grains of rice caked together rather than fluffy.

When it’s time for dessert, be sure to try the smooth and rich chocolate flan or the crumbly, homemade three-berry pie.

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Mexicali Cocina and Cantina.

* WHERE: 12161 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

* FYI: Lunch daily, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; dinner Sunday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Full bar. Parking in rear lot. All major cards. Dinner for two, $22-$36. Suggested dishes: tortilla soup, $2.75; rotisserie Cobb, $7.50; carne asada, $10.95; ahi tuna tostada, $10.95.

* CALL: (818) 985-1744.