SHORE BREAK

When Italian friends come to town, do I take them to italian restaurants? Not unless it’s Valentino or Rex. They tend to scoff at any Italian food that’s not rigorously authentic. Nor could they be called adventurous eaters. I know better than to take them to eat Cambodian or Afghan food. But California cuisine, that’s something they’ll try.

When my Venetian friends Carlo and Elena turned up recently, still a little jet lagged, they wanted to eat light. “Someplace by the sea?” I suggested. “After all, we are in California.” They perked up at the idea.

And so I took them to Cafe del Rey. The Marina del Rey restaurant looks impressive, the yacht club of your dreams with uniformed valets, fancy cars and palm trees silhouetted against the sky. The first thing you see upon entering is the glassed-in wine room, where prestigious bottles are laid out for inspection. Each month, the general manager designates a winemaker around whose wines executive chef Katsuo Nagasawa creates a menu. Then those wines are served all month long.

To the right is a bar thronged with a young, casual neighborhood crowd listening to a pianist play nostalgic tunes. A sweeping view of the harbor, where sleek yachts and sailboats bob, is visible from nearly every seat in the house. “Portofino!” cries Elena, enchanted, as we slide into a comfortable booth.

The Italians are eager to try California cuisine, so I translate the menu, a laborious task. Especially since Carlo dismisses suggestions of grilled black truffle sea bass with lobster saffron risotto and blood orange tequila sauce or sizzling shrimp with corned beef mashed potatoes and chile relleno with a wave of his hand. “Read on,” he tells me. “I want a nice piece of California fish.” Finally I persuade him to try the swordfish. It may not be the quintessential California fish, but at least the preparation sounds less overwrought than the other seafood dishes.

Our waiter patiently answers questions, then brings water, bread and wine promptly. Amazingly, he presents each person with the right dish, despite the fact two of us changed our orders at the last minute.

Chilled Fanny Bay and Blue Point oysters on the half shell are served with a bracing wasabi cocktail sauce--a smart twist on the traditional horseradish-spiked version. They are wonderful, albeit pricey. Tiny rock shrimp piled in a martini glass are tossed in a tomato cocktail sauce laced with diced tropical fruit salsa--a quirky idea that works. I approach with trepidation the Thai chicken pizza, which sounds awful but turns out to be fabulous. A crispy crust topped with spicy bits of chicken, pine nuts and leeks is set off by crunchy sesame seeds. All the right elements of flavor and texture are there. Tuna sashimi salad, however, is dull, marred by tired greens and a bland dressing.

Penne with “wild” bacon--whatever that is--crushed plum tomatoes, caramelized onions and good quality Parmigiano-Reggiano, however, is weighted down with sauce. “Heavy,” pronounce my friends. Italians are so notoriously finicky about their beloved pasta, I don’t pay much attention to their comment. Then I taste it. They’re right.

Carlo’s slab of blackened swordfish is moist and flavorful, presented in a chipotle sauce with saffron couscous, a refreshing papaya relish and tall, blackened columns of bananas roasted in their skins. He’s happy. “But what is this? And that?” he asks, poking his fork in a gluey mushroom-Gorgonzola bread pudding concealed beneath a layer of limp frisee.

Cafe del Rey’s menu veers wildly from inventive, well-conceived California fusion cooking to dishes that fall flat. Our take on the restaurant seems to be in the minority, though. All around us raucous parties are enthusiastically digging into colorful, eccentric plates of food in

Trencherman-size portions. The glamorous setting is a big plus. And for a restaurant-with-a-view, the food is certainly better than most. Some of Nagasawa’s concepts are good, but then he’ll pile on one ingredient too many. Carlo, is shaking his head over the kung pao Thai shellfish sausage. Piled into what looks like a crispy coffee filter, the dish contains a mass of matchstick potatoes that are both soggy and crispy and mixed with peanuts and basil. Meanwhile, I struggle with my smoked pork chop served with a vegetable-hazelnut salad and mashed potatoes--topped with blueberries.

One night, lobster “steak tartare,” more lobster cake than tartare, is paired with soft-shell crab. Not bad at all. But spirals of hamachi edged in black peppercorns arrive with a mushy tobiko caviar tartare sporting a topknot of baby greens. It’s too cute and it’s not very good. The chef may feel he has to seduce a fickle public with new fusions of flavors, but do we really need to be startled by every dish? What’s perplexing is how any of this is supposed to accompany wine. And with a wine list like this one, you want to be able to order dishes that will show them off.

For my money, the best meal at Cafe del Rey is the three-course prix fixe Winemaker of the Month menu. (The $49 price includes four three-ounce glasses of wine.)

A recent Chateau Ste. Michelle dinner began with a delicious flaky pastry filled with Napa Valley feta cheese and prosciutto di Parma, matched with a fruity Sauvignon Blanc from the Washington winery. The double main course was Alaskan king salmon cleverly disguised as “osso buco” with a plug of potato as the trompe l’oeil “bone,” and a delicate filet mignon of veal, to accompany the estate’s Chardonnay and Cabernet. Faced with the challenge of creating a menu around specific wines, Nagasawa came through with flying colors. *

CAFE DEL REY

CUISINE: California fusion. AMBIENCE: Sleek contemporary restaurant and bar overlooking the harbor. BEST DISHES: Thai chicken pizza, oysters on the half shell, blackened swordfish with couscous, Winemaker of the Month menu. WINE PICKS: Long Vineyards “Estate” Chardonnay, 1993, Napa Valley; Diamond Creek “Volcanic Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon, 1990, Napa. FACTS: 4451 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey; (310) 823-6395. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Dinner for two,food only, $45 to $90. Corkage $10. Valet parking.