Trendy Asia de Cuba and Mondrian Fit Nicely Together

On a Saturday night, cars are nose to nose, engines purring, waiting to roll behind the Alice-in-Wonderland-size doors that mark the entrance to the Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Strip. Too hip to have something so obvious as an actual sign that spells out its name, the Mondrian and its sybaritic Sky Bar are still packing in the glitterati in black, but the Mondrian’s branch of the New York Italian, Coco Pazzo, has come and gone, a victim of inconsistent, extravagantly high-priced cooking.

Now another New York hot spot (like the Mondrian, by the prolific French design star Philippe Starck) is set to make its mark. Asia de Cuba moved in two weeks ago and is already creating a splash. Cuban music is hot, so Asia de Cuba fits right into the groove. Its exuberant Asian-Cuban food is suited to both the Mondrian’s relentlessly trendy setting and the rigorously fashion-conscious crowd.

It’s not the greasy spoon fare of those little Chinese-Cuban places in New York or Miami. Asia de Cuba fuses Asian and Cuban techniques and ingredients into flavors built to please young American palates. Most everything has a trace of sweetness, or sweet-and-sour, and is served family-style, in very generous portions.

When calamari salad is the first thing out of the kitchen, this huge platter heaped with hearts of palm and chayote squash, sliced banana, chicory and bitter radicchio and topped with delicately fried calamari rings makes an impression. I love the Cuban black bean “soup” dumplings with a gingery tomato dipping sauce and the ropa vieja of richly spiced shredded duck instead of the usual beef. Sitting outside under the heat lamps with a hard-to-beat view of the city spread out below, it’s fun tasting this and that while taking in the scene. Is that young goateed dandy--a dark-haired Colonel Sanders in his youth--for real?

Hacked chicken is nicely cooked, not at all dried out, bright with lime and garlic. A whole red snapper, deboned and wok-fried, is stuffed with a delicious vinegary-sweet crab escabeche. And there’s a comforting plate of anchochile-rubbed roast pork with a tamal en cazuela that’s something like a grainy polenta. Fried rice is suitably exotic, laced with fresh coconut and lime or laced with plantain and topped with avocado salad.

The bar concocts a long list of exotic tropical drinks, including popular mojito and cuba libre. For after dinner, there’s a good selection of sipping rums, too. Remember Bay of Pigs? Here, it’s Asia de Cuba’s banana split.

Though it’s very new and the menu is large, Asia de Cuba seems like a good fit with the Mondrian’s quirky style. And already, it’s a lot more fun than the lugubrious Coco Pazzo.

BE THERE

Asia de Cuba, Hotel Mondrian, 8440 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; (323) 848-6000. Open daily for lunch and dinner. Appetizers $12.50 to $26; main courses $20 to $29. Valet parking.