The ‘Wow’ Factor

Bayside and Newport Beach are as suited to each other as a Versace outfit to a New York supermodel.

This chic, grown-up restaurant, built on the old Gladstone’s 4 Fish location, has striking architecture that recalls Frank Lloyd Wright’s gift for buildings that strive to blend in with their surroundings. For that alone, it’s the most auspicious restaurant to open around here in quite a while.

Owner John Ghoukassian commissioned Michael Carapetian, the talented architect who’s also responsible for Ghoukassian’s Bistango in Irvine. From the outside, it looks like a collection of tall sticks and carved stone. The interior is calming and strikingly handsome to the eye, if not to the ear (even when only half full, Bayside tends to be unreasonably loud).

To get to your table, you walk through a gorgeously appointed bar area with a parquet floor of Brazilian hardwood. Between the bar and the dining room stands an imposing glass wine cabinet, also designed by Carapetian. It’s a free-standing oval tower extending up to the ceiling, stocked with nearly 500 wines.

The sponged wall panels in the dining room were designed and made in Venice, as were the chairs, which look like wicker but are actually constructed from metal rods tightly wrapped with gray paper. The plush booths are strewn with colorful cushions, a Middle Eastern touch that would not be out of place in the owner’s native Tehran.

Table settings are distinctive as well. Particularly striking are the square black vases filled with orchids.

It remains to be seen whether Bayside will live up to the expectations the decor raises. Ghoukassian has assigned his French-educated son, Marc, to run things, and he has brought over his top chef from Bistango, Austrian-born Paul Gstein, to run the kitchen.

It should be clear that this is a restaurant that takes wine seriously. If you belong to the school that believes a wine is improved by airing, the staff is happy to decant even bottles that are years too young to have thrown any sediment. The stemware is good quality, and the breadth of the list, which includes wines from more than a dozen nations, is staggering.

And this is just the start. The Ghoukassians say they plan to increase their cellar to more than 700 bottlings. (Take a breath.) These are fairly expensive wines, on the whole, but there are bargains; the Acadian and Plumpjack Chardonnays, for instance, and Gary Farrell “Russian River” Pinot are all well under $50.

Perhaps there’s no relationship between the size of a wine list and the size of a menu, but I find it odd that there are, on a given day, only five appetizers and nine entrees on Bayside’s menu. Gstein makes minimal changes from day to day, depending on what fish or game come his way. But basically, the small menu gives the impression that the food is just a clever way of selling wine.

After you order, someone will come over with a cloth-covered wicker basket of La Brea Bakery’s incomparable sourdough baguettes, all sliced and warm, to be sure.

My favorite starter is tuna tartare, a tall drum-shaped mound of top-quality fresh raw tuna, finely chopped and mixed with capers and sour gherkins.

The seafood “martini” of shrimp, lobster and scallops is sheer beauty to behold. The chunks of seafood are piled up in a martini glass along with balls of cucumber and avocado (they look like melon balls) and chopped red and yellow tomatoes. Looks aside, though, the ingredients lack intensity, the chunks of lobster being distinctly bland.

An appetizer of seared foie gras and butterflied quail is excellent, the meats presented on a mushroom pancake with smoked prosciutto and dribbled with truffle essence. The quail has been expertly grilled, and the flavors blend well.

The best salad is roasted red beets, goat cheese, endive and walnuts. What Gstein calls a “simple green salad” isn’t any such thing. It’s field greens tossed with a very assertive Gorgonzola cheese dressing, toasted pine nuts and julienned pear.

There are three fish and six meat entrees. Tuna seared rare is tall food, fun to deconstruct: a tower of tuna smeared with a nice olive tapenade, stacked with delicious fingerling potatoes. Grilled filet of John Dory comes on a bed of baby artichokes, doused with a champagne vinaigrette. It’s a nice concept.

The best meat dish has to be the roulade of Colorado lamb loin. This is about the most tender lamb I’ve ever tasted, and it comes with garlic mashed potatoes, roasted tomatoes and fava beans.

I also like Bayside’s venison. The grilled medallions of loin are crowned with sauteed apple wedges and accompanied by a surprise Austrian touch, buttery spaetzle. The meat isn’t nearly as gamy as wild venison, but it is full-flavored.

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Less impressive is the grilled tournedos of beef, served with a handful of braised portabello mushrooms. The meat is perfectly good, but it would show much better without the overly concentrated, salty demi-glaze.

Pastry chef Amelia Bowinkel makes the wonderful desserts. The top of the list is a crunchy chocolate praline feuilletin, a stack of chocolate wafers sandwiched with hazelnut cream and cut into irregular triangles. The apple fritters with Tahitian vanilla creme anglaise are also great, as is the creme fraiche brioche tart splattered with Clementine plums and lingonberries, a creative and provocative pairing.

Some places make it quite pleasant to have a little bite with your wine.

Bayside is expensive. Starters are $10 to $12. Main courses are $19 to $29. Desserts are $7.50.

BE THERE

Bayside, 900 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach. (949) 721-1222. Dinner only, 5-10 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 5-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. All major cards.