Rix Is For Kids

Go ahead. try to land a reservation at Rix, the new supper club in Santa Monica, between the sacred hours of 7 and 9. It’s easy. The place is half-empty. But after 9, you can’t get in unless you’ve called ahead or the guy at the front door deems you cool enough to enter. Inside, a willowy young hostess in an evening gown languidly leads you to a table surrounded by Veronica Lake and Brad Pitt look-alikes who seem barely old enough to sip those martinis legally.

Supper clubs, if you haven’t noticed, are all the rage among twentysomethings. And Rix has the trappings to fuel their fantasy of reliving the glamorous ‘40s and ‘50s: yards of dark wood, deep jewel-colored fabrics, dim lighting and walls plastered with black-and-white glossies of starlets and hangers-on of the day. For this crowd, it’s dress-up time, a chance to wear one of those skimpy little black cocktail dresses and dine on their grandparents’ idea of sophisticated food--oysters and New York steak.

Co-owned by Will Karges of Johnnie’s Pizza and Jones Hollywood, a popular hangout for the young industry crowd, Rix is attracting the same trendy clientele on more formal nights out. In fact, the new restaurant is on its way to becoming the next generation’s Chasen’s--if that generation has as much loyalty to a favorite watering hole as Jimmy Stewart’s. The owners have hired Chris Bocchino, who cooked at Remi and was briefly chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica, but the menu isn’t distinctive enough either in its point of view or in its execution to make Rix a place where you’d ever go strictly for the food. The scene is what it’s all about.

Designers have taken the former Bikini/Abiquiu space, one of the most architecturally interesting in Los Angeles, and given it a retro look. Downstairs, the decor is sedate and masculine with wood paneling and white tablecloths. Upstairs is where the action is, at dark, cozy tables and booths framed with velvet curtains. The bar where John Sedlar once presented his postmodern tamales is now a heavily trafficked drink bar with an oyster bar at the end. And given this year’s drawn-out Indian summer, the large rooftop garden decorated with cane garden chairs, potted palms and a fountain is an ideal spot for people-watching.

The best dining strategy is to start with oysters on the half shell (beautifully fresh, chilled Kumamotos, Malpeques or Coromandels, depending on what’s available) or the rich grilled-corn chowder laced with fresh crab meat. There’s also a graceful bouillabaisse chock-full of shellfish. Then order either the dry-aged New York steak, a piece of beef that actually has some flavor and is served in its juices with crispy fries, or the thyme- and garlic-scented rack of lamb, which comes with a stack of Blue Lake beans and a rich potato gratin. You might want to order a side, too, maybe the fresh corn sauteed with sweet red pepper or the seared spinach. Stray from this formula and your chances of having a good meal diminish considerably.

Although I’ve dined at Rix several times, so few dishes stand out that I can’t remember what I’ve eaten a week later without consulting my notes. I do recall picking through a roasted beet salad that is mostly watercress and turning up only a few paltry slivers of red and gold beets. Rock shrimp fritters are garnished with khaki tomatillo salsa and greens that have lost their perkiness. There’s a nice grilled quail in a sweet port sauce, accompanied bya salad of moist battered Southern fried chicken, Yukon potatoes and buttermilk dressing (though one night it’s presented on tired lettuce). Tender barbecued ribs are marred by a cloying one-dimensional sauce and underdone fries.

And some concepts don’t quite make sense. Chicken pot pie has been upgraded to lobster pot pie, which does have a real pastry crust lid. Underneath, however, is a sorry mess of pearl onions, carrots and very little lobster in a thin, murky brown sauce. It’s not such a bright idea either to make chili out of filet mignon instead of a cut that can take some stewing.

A dried-out grilled pork chop, served with savory braised cabbage, is no match for the steak, making me suspect that some entrees have been languishing under the salamander too long. Salmon with basmati rice, black beans and salsa sounds good, but the fish looks andtastes a bit old, the plain rice is dotted with hard black beans and the salsa is an uninspired mix of flavorless tomatoes, avocados, onions and cilantro. Yet a well-made risotto that marries sweet, pinkie-sized scallops with fresh corn and fava beans is surprisingly good. And it’s not all that easy to find a good risotto in this town.

To Rix’s credit, the wine selection--mostly California wines with the requisite high-end Champagnes, including the classy Salon “Le Mesnil” Blanc de Blancs and a Dom Perignon rose--is a cut above. Among the California wine producers are such quality-conscious, cutting-edge estates as Ojai Vineyards, Havens, Babcock and Dehlinger. The list is well-priced, too, with an unusually good representation of bottles in the $20 to $30 range.

While we wait for our car, we watch two hapless fellows approach the roped-off entrance. The gatekeeper looks them up and down. Sorry, no sandals allowed. They walk away, shoulders slumped, then realize the valet has already whisked their car away. While they gaze off into the distance, three shapely women--wearing strappy high-heeled sandals--walk up. One of my friends can’t help asking the gatekeeper: Are these ladies going to get in? “You can bet your life on it,” he says, unhooking the rope and waving them through. And before our car comes, a white limo pulls up, and six more babes head past the rope, no questions asked. As I said, it’s not about the food.

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RIX

CUISINE: American. AMBIENCE: Sleek supper club with leather booths, upstairs oyster bar and rooftop garden. BEST DISHES: raw oysters, grilled-corn chowder, bouillabaisse, Southern fried chicken salad, bay scallop risotto, dry-aged New York steak. WINE PICKS: 1995 Babcock “Eleven Oaks” Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Barbara; 1994 Gallo “Frei Ranch” Zinfandel, Sonoma. FACTS: 1413 5th St., Santa Monica; (310) 656-9688. Closed Monday. Appetizers, $7 to $9; main courses, $15 to $24. Corkage $10. Valet parking.