Romance and Rhinestone Tiaras, Glamour and Gloom at Legacy

The masons were still gluing slate blue rocks in place when we drove up to the site of the old Scandia, where a new restaurant called Legacy has opened after repeated delays. Legacy’s owners have promised to bring back romance and glamour to the Sunset Strip, a tall order at this point, with a Hustler boutique just down the street.

Inside, the place was so dark I got only a fleeting impression of bronze statues holding candelabra aloft, vases stuffed with feathery pampas grass and, in the center of the dining room, an elaborate faux palm tree with chandelier crystals hanging from its fronds and a personage, presumably one of the owners, in caftan, blond curls and dark glasses, who moved from table to table chatting with guests.

We retreated to the second of three eating areas, the cabaret room; it was, if anything, even darker but definitely livelier. With the help of a handy flashlight from my purse, we managed to read the menu in the gloom.

You can order from either the dining room or the cabaret menu in the cabaret (and, later, from the late supper menu). Our waitress had never before opened a wine bottle but did just fine under the tutelage of Legacy’s dapper sommelier in black turtleneck. It seems a slight oversight, given that the restaurant has gone to the expense of building a considerable wine cellar.

The food is a mix of old Scandia favorites (like the Scandia gravlax and its meatballs in mushroom parsley sauce) with up-to-the-minute California cuisine and a few oddly old-fashioned continental-style dishes. (Oysters Rockefeller or veal “Oskar,” anyone?)

To start, there’s an eccentric version of raclette that substitutes freshly made potato chips for the usual boiled potatoes with melted cheese, which is no improvement on the original. Scandia’s gravlax, however, made from the original recipe, is worth ordering. So are the crab cakes with roasted red pepper sauce.

The kitchen does a competent job with most of the main courses. Filet mignon in a red wine sauce and pot roasted pork with polenta and romesco sauce are both good red wine dishes. How the kitchen is going to handle three menus for the dining room, garden and cabaret, once it gets busy, remains to be seen.

Ah, but don’t forget to check the gift shop just in case you feel like treating the entire table to rhinestone tiaras or Monica berets emblazoned with an L for Legacy. The restaurant does carry a whiff of the past, but exactly which past it’s meant to evoke isn’t easy to identify.

BE THERE

Legacy Restaurant, 9040 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. (310) 550-6299. Open weekdays for lunch; daily for dinner and late-night supper. Dinner appetizers $7 to $17; main courses $15 to $28. Valet parking.