Wok in Suburbia

If there were a computer program to generate a suburban Chinese restaurant for the ‘90s, it might design Kung Pao China Bistro. For better, in many ways, or worse.

Its owners have remodeled the old Antartica location beautifully. The result is a chic room with mustard-colored walls and gray tables. The place is usually crowded and has a nice, enthusiastic buzz.

However, the service, though friendly, is disorganized. The waiters labor over the orders, repeating the name of each dish with careful, annoying precision. Even so, at every meal I’ve eaten here, I’ve been brought the wrong dish at least once. At one busy lunch, for instance, I ordered Wok Ave. sizzling shrimp and got three-flavor sizzling-rice soup instead.

The menu describes its contents as authentic gourmet Chinese cuisine. Well, not quite. I’d call it a suburbanized version of popular Chinese dishes. They’re generally clean-tasting; they use oil sparingly and are entirely free of MSG.

I found myself ordering a lot of appetizers from the long list. It includes the usual suspects, such as egg rolls, deep-fried shrimp and Mandarin chicken salad. Those three acquit themselves well. The salad, in particular, was impressive. It’s a huge bowl of lettuces, won-ton strips and poached chicken breast. The piquant sesame oil dressing, served on the side, awakens the flavors with a bang.

Another appetizer, salt and pepper calamari, spares the pepper but rather indulges the salt; still, the deep-fried calamari strips come to the table hot, golden and crunchy. The soft-shell crab is also crisply fried.

Many people order the minced chicken in lettuce, a sort of taco made out of a lettuce leaf filled with chicken, bamboo shoots, crisp rice noodles and plum sauce--a soothing, satisfying dish. Of course, in a truly authentic Chinese restaurant, there would also be minced black mushrooms and toasted pine nuts in the filling. These ingredients are apparently not missed on Ventura Boulevard, though they would improve the dish by a quantum factor.

A few of the restaurant’s innovations are good ideas, though. Pan-fried chicken dumplings are a take on pot stickers. These boat-shaped dumplings, with moist, crunchy skins, are stuffed with chicken instead of pork, which makes them considerably lighter. I also give high marks to kung pao three musketeers. The dish makes good use of mouth-numbing fagara peppers, chopped green onions and sauteed peanuts, three essential ingredients in any kung pao dish. The musketeers in question are chicken, shrimp and beef, with a delicious brown sauce.

This place also does a good job on vegetable dishes. Sauteed string beans retain a garden-fresh flavor and that ideal green-bean snap, while Sichuan hot-garlic eggplant, beautifully cut into glistening, purple chunks, is rich with garlic and practically oil-free.

Another nice thing about Kung Pao China Bistro: It gives you the option of half orders. So you can have a small plate of twice-cooked pork, hot-garlic scallops or the eponymous kung pao chicken. Every one of those is a good bet.

Oh, and I finally did get my Wok Ave. sizzling shrimp. It proved to be great poached shrimp and fresh broccoli in a wonderfully spicy, light sauce. It was worth the wait.

BE THERE

Kung Pao China Bistro, 11838 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Dinner for two, $15-$29. Beer and wine only. Parking in lot. MasterCard and Visa. (818) 766-8686. Suggested dishes: mandarin chicken salad, $6.25; kung pao three musketeers, $9.95; Wok Ave. sizzling shrimp, $9.95; Sichuan hot-garlic eggplant, $6.95.