Cha Cha Chow

When the space next to the sizzling latin club the Conga Room became available, the club’s owners snatched it up. They had the music. Now they wanted to add food.

La Boca del Conga Room (literally, “the mouth of the Conga Room”) opened in November. And all of Latin Hollywood came out to party with the owners, who include actors Jimmy Smits and Jennifer Lopez, comedian Paul Rodriguez, musician Sheila E. and local developer Brad Gluckstein. Finally there’s a trendy spot that’s warm and welcoming in spirit, worlds away from those chilly, hipper-than-thou places, where the security in charge of the velvet rope barely acknowledges anyone without a tabloid-recognizable face.

The site of La Boca is a striking Wilshire Boulevard Art Deco building in the shape of a camera (it was once a camera shop), complete with viewfinder, film winder and a round window where the lens would be. Peer inside and you see a beautiful but eerie arrangement of white flowers under a black light.

The long, skinny dining room has wavy white banquettes lining walls painted in sherbet colors. Overhead, huge chandeliers with flame-colored paper shades are paired with wooden, daisy-shaped “fans” that languorously churn the air. The effect is exuberant and festive. Maybe that’s why few tables are two-tops. La Boca is the kind of place to bring a posse of friends for a night of dining and dancing.

The food is Nuevo Latino, a free-wheeling riff on Latin-inflected cuisine that is all the rage in Miami and New York--and coming on strong here with Xiomara in Pasadena, Ciudad in downtown L.A. and MOJO at the new W Los Angeles -- Westwood, to name a few. La Boca’s executive chef, Eric Basulto, had the same job at Asia de Cuba on New York’s Upper East Side. He also worked at Patria, New York’s seminal Latin restaurant, with chef Douglas Rodriguez. And when Asia de Cuba opened in Los Angeles at the former Mondrian on Sunset Boulevard, Basulto was the opening chef.

For La Boca’s menu, Basulto draws on his Puerto Rican and Cuban roots, borrows ideas from South American cuisines and gives it all an original spin. When everything comes together, his cooking is fun and appealing. Some dishes, though, are flawed by so many flavors the effect is dulling. And the kitchen sometimes struggles to execute his ideas.

Before ordering, every table is treated to a basket of freshly fried “tropical” chips--potatoes, yucca, plantains--escorted by a spicy black bean dip. The combination is irresistible, but save room. The best strategy at La Boca, in fact, is to start with a slew of appetizers to share. You may not even need one per person: With the exception of ahi ceviche, they’re all generously proportioned.

Waiters enthuse about the virtues of the calamari salad. Maybe it’s because it’s a kissing cousin of L.A.’s favorite Chinese chicken salad, with crunchy, deep-fried calamari standing in for both the chicken and the fried wonton strips. Instead of the nappa cabbage, you get arugula and diced avocado. To my mind, one of the best dishes is steamed mussels. It’s punched up with a guajillo chile broth perfumed with saffron and garlic. Empanadas go uptown with a lobster filling, a nice variation on a theme. Short ribs braised in Rioja are set on toasted corn arepas--delicious little corn pancakes--soaked with the ribs’ winy juices and embellished with a dab of thick crema.

I do have one criticism. If you’re sipping a congarita, the club’s name for the margarita it makes with Sauza tequila and fresh lime, or a minty Cuban mojito, a wicked Cuban concoction of rum, sugar cane, lime and mint, you may not register the sugar dancing through many of the dishes. If the fluffy Ecuadorean-style tamale were less sweet, it might play better against the stewed wild mushrooms on top. The same goes for the ahi tuna ceviche, drenched in tangerine juice.

Not that everything is so exotic, particularly when it comes to main courses. Pollo adobado is an herb-roasted chicken in a perky citrus “mojo” sauce--chicken with a Latin soul. In Basulto’s hands, chiles rellenos are not batter-fried, which makes them lighter. The large chiles are stuffed with diced roasted vegetables and cheese that go nicely with the smoky red salsa. Sometimes, though, this vegetarian dish can look and taste like something from the school cafeteria.

Fish lovers should appreciate the pan-roasted red snapper, which is more flavorable than most and comes with a snappy creamed spinach made with a sneaky-hot poblano cream sauce. Grilled rib eye is served with tamal en cazuelas, basically masa cooked like polenta, and an oxtail mermelada, which could be described as an oxtail confit. The rack of lamb with Nicaraguan cabbage slaw and a Rioja wine sauce is another good choice.

With so many interesting wines knocking around town from Spain, Chile, Argentina and Mexico, La Boca is missing an opportunity by not offering a better selection. However, looking around the room, I don’t see many wine drinkers--the cocktail, particularly the congarita, rules.

Come dessert, don’t miss the tres leches, a tall, stacked individual cake soaked in the traditional three milks--sweetened condensed, evaporated and whole milk. It’s a fine version of a classic Latin dessert. Coconut creme brulee is served in a halved fresh coconut, and, believe me, there’s enough for the table to share. I’m less fond of chocolate cake American style, a tall, gooey wedge layered with chocolate ganache. Like most of the desserts, it’s excruciatingly sweet.

Despite the uneven menu, bottom line: La Boca is fun. And, really, nobody comes just for the food.

At other places, waiting more than a few minutes for your table can be extremely annoying. Not so here. One night, eight of us had a 9:30 reservation. We’d rushed to be on time because the reservationist had warned us, twice, that we’d lose our table if we were five minutes late. But it wasn’t ready when we arrived. Ushered upstairs to the club, we were fine for half an hour, drinks in hand, taking in the scene. Still, the people occupying our designated table hadn’t budged, despite the hovering waiters and host. By then, we were starting to get really hungry. It’s a good thing the spectacular scene on the dance floor distracted us.

When we finally got our table, the manager apologized profusely. Our waiter hurried to take drink orders, distribute menus, send out chips and bean dip. And then she was back, all ears, to take our order, even before we’d quite sorted out what we wanted. Let the party begin. To make up for the wait, desserts were on the house, and we got VIP wristbands entitling us not only to spend the rest of the evening upstairs in the club, but also to a seat there.

It was nearly midnight, and half of us were ready for bed. We’ll be back, though, another night, maybe on a Thursday, when we can take a salsa lesson before braving the action on the dance floor.

*

La Boca del Conga Room

5370 Wilshire Blvd.,

Los Angeles,

(323) 938-1696

cuisine: Latin

rating: * 1/2

*

AMBIENCE: Lively Latin restaurant with witty, tropical decor, exotic drinks and eclectic crowd. SERVICE: Warm and unflappable. BEST DISHES: Lobster empanada, short ribs, Ecuadorean-style tamale, steamed mussels, pollo adobado, grilled rib eye, tres leches. Appetizers, $6 to $12. Main courses, $15 to $24. Corkage, $10. drink PICKs: Congarita, mojito, Negro Modello beer. FACTS: Dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Valet parking.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.