Taming a Spotty JiRaffe

Over the last few months, I kept hearing from friends saying they’d had some wonderful meals at JiRaffe in Santa Monica. I don’t often get the chance to go back to a restaurant I’ve already reviewed, but I figured I should catch up on what’s happening at the California-French restaurant that Josiah Citrin and Raphael Lunetta opened after they left Jackson’s in West Hollywood nearly two years ago.

On my return, I find that JiRaffe has become a hard reservation. I call several times before I can get a table at a reasonable hour on a weekend night. Just look at the valet station at 5th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard that JiRaffe shares with Rix next door: It’s jammed with cars. Limos and luxury four-wheel-drive vehicles disgorge a constant stream of babes and hopeful swains headed for Rix, a trendy supper club, while the more interesting crowd strolls up the street to JiRaffe, past the kitchen where you can sometimes catch a glimpse of one of the two young chefs.

These days, the restaurant looks more lived-in. A growing collection of toy giraffes and stuffed animals is tucked into corners and shelves. And the staff seems entirely at home and genuinely welcoming. If you arrive early or your table isn’t quite ready, you can take a seat at one of the demure little sofas just inside the entrance. The host will offer a glass of wine--or the wine list, if you’d prefer--and menus to peruse while you’re waiting, a thoughtful touch I appreciate.

When the restaurant is full, which it usually is, the noise level is high, especially so in the airy main dining room with its two-story windows overlooking Santa Monica Boule-vard. The mezzanine upstairs is a bit quieter and more intimate. But even if you reserve a table up there, there’s no guarantee you’ll actually get it.

We are seated downstairs. We have, however, a terrific waiter, one who knows the wine list thoroughly and is equally knowledgeable about the food. In reciting the specials, he manages not only to fit in the prices, but also to note that the soup does have chicken stock and that hare is a gamier version of rabbit, which the chef likes to cook rare. Bravo! We take his excellent advice.

Seared dayboat scallops from Maine, served on a shallot confit in a caper and preserved lemon emulsion, make an admirable starter. Black bass paired with roasted fennel in a fennel jus is just as appealing, its golden skin crisp, its flesh moist. A polished salad of roasted pear, pale, bitter endive, hazelnuts and nuggets of blue cheese is lighter still. But silky slices of smoked whitefish draped over boiled red bliss potatoes is so icy cold that much of its flavor is masked.

Like Joachim Splichal, their mentor and former employer, Citrin and Lunetta are fascinated with game and offer it often as a special. I enjoy the tender roasted venison, some of the best I’ve been served anywhere, with ribbons of braised cabbage in a Port wine and foie gras sauce that’s both tart and sweet enough to play against the slight gaminess of the farm-raised venison. Pungent wild hare, cooked rare and served as a salad with tiny green lentils de Puy and black truffles, is a magical combination. Rack of lamb is fine--here, when you ask for medium rare, that’s what you get. The pork chop on the menu since Day One is just as hefty, if a little dry (it’s hard to get decent pork anymore), served with masses of wild rice and a sharp, grainy apple chutney and cider sauce that complements the chop nicely.

I’m enthusiastic that these two inveterate surfer-cooks have caught the wave and are cooking better--and more consistently than ever. That is, until my next meal at JiRaffe, when only a few of the dishes hit the mark. The four-course tasting menu begins promisingly with Santa Barbara shrimp served on a butternut squash puree with a cool, crisp salad of julienned cucumber, jicama and chives. Then comes that lovely seared black bass, this time with cauliflower and Brussels sprout leaves. Unfortunately, Muscovy duck breast is marred by a sticky sweet, overly reduced Port and foie gras sauce, and the cheeses are a bit over the hill (which goes to show you just how many people must opt for the cheese course in lieu of dessert).

The others at my table try the scallop special again, which is delicious. So is the civet de crustaces, basically a little risotto that’s very al dente, garnished with milky squid rings, clams in the shell and rosy shrimp with an intense, briny-sweet flavor in a pink shellfish broth. The game special is wood pigeon, but, oops, the kitchen runs out just as we try to nab an order. Instead, the chefs will prepare partridge in the same strange Wagnerian manner: with braised fennel in a foie gras sauce studded with pieces of clementine. Even the roasted chicken is a little off. Its bed of green peas, diced potatoes and pearl onions is far too salty, and the potatoes aren’t cooked through. Plus the pork chop tonight is a big plate of messy food.

I’m disappointed that this second meal is so uneven because I like the spirit of JiRaffe. I want these young chefs to do well. Los Angeles is sorely in need of some new blood, and these two seem to have the commitment and partnership to last, hopefully, as many years as Border Grill’s Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. In style, Citrin and Lunetta’s cooking is Splichal’s classicism lightened with whimsy, and the eccentric eclectism of Fred Eric of Vida and Fred 62, another Splichal alum. Enthusiastic, ambitious, full of ideas, these chefs aren’t yet completely in control in their kitchen. But like fledgling playwrights debuting off-Broadway, they’ve found their audience. Now if they can only get it right with every dish. Every night.

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JIRAFFE RESTAURANT

CUISINE: California-French. AMBIENCE: Two-level bistro with specials scrawled on a blackboard and mascot giraffes tucked in the corners. BEST DISHES: seared dayboat scallops, black bass with roasted fennel, pear and blue cheese salad, game dishes. WINE PICKS: 1996 Sancerre “Le Chene,” Lucien Crochet, Loire. FACTS: 502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 917-6671. Lunch weekdays. Dinner daily. Closed Monday. Appetizers, $7 to $11; main courses, $17 to $23; tasting menu, $40 to $50. Corkage $10. Valet parking on 5th Street.