At Trendy Linq, the Dishes Are as Smart as the Decor

Every season brings its crop of trendy new restaurants where publicists work every angle to get the celebrities of the moment--or any celebrities at all--in the door. The press kit for this 3rd Street restaurant comes complete with a list of “recently seen at . . . Linq.” You fill in the blanks. I’ll tell you one: Tony Curtis. But then he’s seen everywhere.

Linq’s owner, French-born Mario Oliver, has been involved in clubs and restaurants here and in France. (Linq is so named because it’s another link in the chain of Oliver’s restaurants.)

Fortunately Linq is much better than what the publicity portends. Don’t let that odd metal sculpture over the door put you off. (It looks like a mummy squinting down at a flashlight held between his legs.) The place has a smart contemporary aesthetic. Water, wood, fire are the design motifs. There’s a smoking lounge, a private room with table-high fireplace, plus three other dining rooms in all that flow from one wood-framed doorway to the next.

Oliver has hired Philippine-born Andre Guerrero as chef, and he’s turning out food that’s well above average for this kind of chic watering hole. His menu is filled with bright flavors and appealing juxtapositions. Among the best dishes: duck salad showered with shredded duck confit in a ginger vinaigrette, arugula salad with caramelized walnuts and poached pear, lobster ravioli in a subtle curry-lobster bisque--and plump crab cakes with cilantro remoulade.

Two can have a feast with the whole sizzling catfish, served with long beans and a Shanghai black bean sauce. Lamb tajine has intricately woven flavors. The New York pepper steak is thick and juicy, served with some seriously good garlic spinach and pommes frites. And farfalle with seafood and mushrooms is one of the richest versions of seafood pasta around. Wild mushroom risotto suffers from truffle oil, though.

For dessert, Guerrero offers a chocolate coconut po^t de creme that ends up tasting something like a grown-up Almond Joy. His purple yam flan is a delightful variation on a theme, swathed in coconut tapioca sauce. He’s got a classic chocolate souffle too, which comes with a pitcher of chocolate sauce and cream.

The bar is particularly handsome too, with a fireplace burning behind the bar, a long row of seats and a lounge at the end with leather seating. Just the look alone is enough to make an evening or at least a drink at the bar entertaining. But when you can eat something good too--it should be thronged.

BE THERE

Linq Restaurant & Lounge, 8338 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles; (323) 655-4555. Open for dinner nightly; lunch starts in a few weeks. Appetizers, $5 to $10; main courses, $12 to $26. Valet parking.