The California Special

This is one jewel box of a dining room, all elegant, gleaming, light-gray stone. It fairly cries out for Myrna Loy to be twirling a martini glass at one of the tables.

But walk outside, and whoa--you’re in a vast, expansive hall, under a vaulted ceiling adorned with understated suggestions of Southwestern Indian art. This grand Art Deco place, designed before architects liked to give their buildings frosty personalities, is L.A.’s beloved 60-year-old Union Station. There are tables out in the hall, too; in effect, this is sidewalk dining in a train station.

The restaurant is called Traxx, and if the name sounds a bit too cute, it really sort of fits. Traxx has an agreeably offbeat personality. It serves wacky California food with odd garnishes, but there’s often a hearty, home-cooked quality about it, too. The whole enterprise seems sweetly amused at itself.

Except during commuter rush hours, the station is pretty quiet, but once in a while a gaggle of out-of-staters does wander through. This would be the perfect place for them to marvel at California’s strange food ways.

The soups, for instance. Chef Tara Thomas likes to base them on parsnip puree. I had a pear and parsnip soup, aromatic and faintly sweet, that grew on me. It was garnished with a couple of tiny, quite brown potato chips, which improved it surprisingly.

The menu is divided into small plates (appetizers or light entrees) and big plates. The former, which are the same at lunch and dinner, are all excellent. The ahi tuna Napoleon is a stack of raw tuna and crisp browned wonton sheets, topped with an intriguing bit of crunchy shrimp roe mixed with wasabi. The best part is the “sesame soy drizzle,” a dressing with a rich sesame flavor.

Also in the seafood category are “really good crab cakes” (so called on the menu), fried crunchy and brown, with a chipotle pepper sauce. Little steamed Manila clams come in clam broth with a mild curry flavoring. Then there’s a salmon-within-salmon deal, a bundle of salmon tartare wrapped in smoked salmon and garnished with lots of capers.

A subtle salad consists of pears and endives cut in thin strips and mixed with Gorgonzola and walnuts, savory and fun to chew. The most entree-like small plate is the roasted pasilla pepper stuffed with chicken, hot and smoky from a dose of chipotle chiles.

At dinner, some of the big plates seem a little heavy for the season (assuming that El Nin~o ever really goes away), but there are always a couple of specials, generally seafood. I’ve had a special of rock shrimp and scallops in a light creamy sauce, and one of penne with fresh and smoked salmon. They were pleasant, as was the regular grilled salmon entree in olive tapenade sauce (one of only two “big plates” that’s on both the lunch and dinner menus), served with roasted peppers on thinly sliced red potatoes (though the menu mentioned focaccia bread instead).

I still prefer the red meat dishes. The pan-roasted tenderloin is a steak topped with rosemary and blue cheese, served with a grainy meat reduction on a bed of yellow mashed potatoes. A couple of long crinkle-cut potato chips stick out of the mashed potatoes like rabbit ears. Nicely moist double-thick pork chops come with a cup of cheese-enriched polenta filled with greens. There are also flavorful little lamb chops with a pesto-flavored risotto.

The lunchtime big plates naturally tend to be sandwiches or salads. The half-pound hamburger is made oblong to fit the sourdough toast it goes on and comes with romaine lettuce, hothouse tomatoes, red onions, bottles of catsup and Dijon mustard, and European-style French fries, skinny and very crisp. The lamb tenderloin sandwich on toasted olive bread is the only flop of a dish I’ve had here. It’s a sloppy mess with meat falling out all over the place and needs a more pungent sauce than white bean puree.

The desserts include a very soft, not over-sweet creme bru^lee, a truffle cake of impressive chocolate-ness and a neat little lemon tart. There’s also an eclectic, decently priced wine and beer list, shared with Traxx Bar across the hall.

BE THERE

Traxx, 800 N. Alameda St.; (213) 625-1999, fax (213) 625-2999. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5-10:30 p.m. Saturday. Full bar. Valet and validated lot parking. American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $24-$66. What to Get: Baby endive salad, crab cakes, ahi tuna Napoleon, pan-roasted tenderloin, pork chops, creme bru^lee, chocolate truffle cake.