Skillful Cooking Makes Up for a Few Flaws

Le Chine Wok is a coolly suburban Chinese restaurant located in a mall at the top of Beverly Glen. On nice evenings--and that’s most evenings up here--nearly everyone dines outside on a partly open patio, soothed by the scent of night-blooming jasmine.

It is a pleasant, though most un-Chinese, atmosphere, quite unlike what you’d find at the bright, boisterous dinner houses of the San Gabriel Valley. I’ve had a good time here, though, even if Le Chine Wok does many of the things I criticize our Chinese restaurants for--for instance, it skimps on chile and garlic and overdoes the sugar and cornstarch on some dishes. But altogether, the cooking is so skillful that it’s hard not to leave in a forgiving mood.

Take the crispy onion pancake, described on the menu as “the food critic’s favorite.” There’s scarcely any chopped onion in the batter, but the flaky pan-fried bread is so light and delicious, no one is going to care.

When I asked the waiter why the Sichuan won tons and pot stickers were filled with ground chicken, he shrugged and said, “Not many people around here eat pork.” They’re delightful, though, piled together in a bowl full of chopped onions, soy sauce and sesame oil, plus a hint of red pepper. In this zesty sauce, no one is even going to notice that the dumplings are filled with chicken, rather than pork. That’s the way most meals go here.

Sesame chicken wings, six to an order, come roasted in a sweet, sticky sauce and rolled in sesame seeds; they’re messy kid food, Chinese style. The chicken pot stickers are beautifully browned, lightly crunchy, with practically no oiliness. All nice features, though the other side of the coin is that these aren’t as rich or juicy as real Mandarin-style pot stickers. They can easily be rescued, though, with shots of rice vinegar and chile sauce.

Everybody seems to like the Chinese chicken salad of shredded chicken breast with lettuce, a few radicchio leaves (hey, we’re in Beverly Glen), carrots, sliced almonds and fried rice noodles. I’d like it more if the sesame dressing weren’t so sugary.

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The classic hot and sour soup (again, using chicken instead of pork) is chock full of tofu, wood ear mushrooms and chopped bamboo shoots. But the mixed vegetable soup (broccoli, snow peas, bamboo shoots and black mushrooms) uses a watery and rather salty chicken broth. I’ve always liked the dish called “ants climb the tree,” transparent bean thread noodles sauteed with ground pork and chopped celery--though you will not be surprised to learn that the pork has been magically transmuted into chicken here.

If you must have pork, though, you’re in luck. Shanghai ribs are small chunks of pork ribs lightly stewed in a sweet red sauce. Yes, there could be less sugar in the sauce, but the meat is wonderfully tender and the sauce is laced with subtle hints of ginger and star anise.

At $14.95, I guess I was expecting the tea smoked duck to have a more elaborate treatment. What you get is a plate of boneless duck meat that could pass for country ham except for the perfumes of camphor and tea leaves that permeate it. It comes with good steamed buns but without the plum sauce and scallions--and the wonderful crisp duck skin--that accompany Peking duck.

This menu offers many of California’s favorite northern Chinese dishes. Mu shu pork, for instance--a disappointing version; the pancakes are fresh and chewy but there’s so little meat you can scarcely see it. I also have a problem with the orange peel chicken because of an unspeakably sweet, starchy crust on the chicken. But the Sichuan string beans, though a bit sweet, are perfectly sauteed and mixed with savory bits of minced pickled cabbage.

Noodle and rice dishes are first-rate here. By popular demand, pad Thai often appears on the specials board.

And, oh yes, there is a per person surcharge for steamed rice. Harumph. In a Chinese neighborhood, such a policy would be unthinkable, like paying extra for the mustard on your Dodger Dog.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Le Chine Wok.

* WHERE: 2958 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel Air.

* WHEN: Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

* HOW MUCH: Dinner for two, $28-$45. Suggested dishes: Sichuan won tons, $5.95; crispy onion pancake, $3.95; Sichuan string beans, $8.95; Shanghai ribs, $9.95; tea smoked duck, $14.95.

* FYI: Beer and wine only. Parking lot. American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

* CALL: (310) 475-1146.