PRIZE CATCH

THAT IT IS SO HARD TO FIND GREAT SEAFOOD on the coast of California has always puzzled me. It’s a fact of life that the best seafood dishes are scattered on menus all over town, at restaurants that don’t necessarily make fish a specialty. I’m thinking of the peppered tuna steak at Citrus, braised Maine lobster with fresh morels at the Buffalo Club, whole sizzling catfish at Chinois on Main, slow-cooked salmon at Joe’s Restaurant and the glorious steamed live prawns at Ocean Star in Monterey Park. But only one L.A. restaurant has an entire menu of compelling seafood dishes, and that’s Water Grill downtown.

It’s not a new restaurant, and until a couple of years ago it wasn’t even a particularly good one. That’s when the owners, King’s Seafood Co., decided to revamp. Now, with Michael Cimarusti on board as executive chef, Water Grill is the best seafood house in the city. It’s really the first high-end restaurant to focus on seafood since Eberhard Mueller’s Opus Restaurant closed in 1994.

Water Grill’s commitment to excellence starts with the raw materials. Cimarusti works with suppliers who bring him an incredible array of fresh seafood and other ingredients from all over the world. It doesn’t come cheaply, mind you. Yet seafood lovers are embracing the chance to expand their repertory of favorite dishes beyond Chilean sea bass and Pacific salmon. On any given day, you might see Alaskan day-trip halibut, Hawaiian long-tail snapper, skate wing and French sea bass. The other ingredients are just as unusual: Satsuma tangerines, Israeli cluster tomatoes, fresh black-eyed peas.

Cimarusti prints a new menu every day, with dishes appearing as recurring characters or slightly rewritten to bring in new bit players, such as garlic confit or cumin-scented carrot juice. Nevertheless, some of the best dishes are regulars. Take, for example, white chowder laced with applewood smoked bacon and cream, with Manila clams so fresh that one diner claimed his were still moving. The tuna tartare is the best I’ve had in L.A. It’s made with hand-cut Pacific Big-Eye tuna set off by rich, velvety avocado, bracing daikon radish and sharp green peppercorn vinaigrette. Alaskan Dungeness crab cakes are plump patties of almost solid crab meat.

Outside the realm of seafood, Cimarusti does a gorgeous foie gras au torchon, the whole lobe of duck liver wrapped in a torchon, or towel, and gently poached. Served chilled and cut in thick slices, it has a seductively smooth texture. Eaten on warm, toasted brioche, it is a splendid indulgence. I just wish he hadn’t doused the accompanying hearts of palm salad with white truffle oil.

Water Grill’s raw bar is an asset, too. Check the blackboard for the daily offerings. You can always get half a dozen kinds of oysters: Those from the Northwest--Sunset Beach, Fanny Bay, Hama Hama--are distinctive. And Water Grill’s “fruits of the sea” platter is tremendous. It includes several kinds of raw oysters and tender, delicious clams, hefty steamed prawns, some lobster and steamed chilled mussels that go well with the garlicky aioli. It makes a perfect pre-theater supper, too.

But the spiced-seared hamachi makes one realize why hamachi is best as sashimi. Slightly warmed as it is here, it tastes fatty. And the pasty tomato confiture doesn’t help.

Main courses are a mixed bag. Some are wonderful, others are fussy and overworked. I get the feeling they take longer to garnish than to cook, and maybe that’s why main courses are sometimes so long in arriving at the table.

Tops on my list is the loup de mer, French sea bass, grilled whole, fileted table-side and served with braised sweet fennel, roasted sweet red and yellow peppers. The green parsley and lemon emulsion on the side may be too intense for this delicate fish, however.

Cimarusti really knows how to cook lobster. His is tender and full of flavor, enhanced by a silken lobster nage and a ragout of English peas and pearl onions. Often he grills salmon, either New Zealand or, in season, superb Copper River king

salmon, and serves it with what looks like a spring roll pastry packet filled with wild mushrooms and an overly strong red-wine butter. The fish is so beautiful it doesn’t need the complications, especially since the braised savoy cabbage and bacon set it off so well.

The Pacific Big-Eye tuna he buys is among the world’s great tunas, and it’s wonderful with his punchy green peppercorn jus. I love the idea of the sweetbread ravioli that accompanies it, but not this version, which is heavy and chewy.

A rather elaborate presentation of daurade with fava beans, yellow tomatoes and steamed mussels in a curry-tomato broth has so many elements that in the end they cancel each other out. The resulting dish is dull.

Water Grill’s wine list has all sorts of interesting whites and a good number of robust reds to pair with seafood. It’s an impressively wide-ranging list, including more than 20 wines by the glass and an entire page of half-bottles. My rule of thumb is anything but Chardonnay. Not that the selection of Chardonnays isn’t good. It’s just that Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino and, particularly, Riesling are better matches for these kinds of dishes. The owners have invested in good stemware, too, and have a well-informed wine steward. If you haven’t finished your wine by the end of the meal, choose from the fine list of cheeses.

Wonyee Tom’s desserts are reason enough to come to Water Grill. Exciting and original, her sweets are extremely well crafted, as appealing to the eye as to the palate. I have room to cite only a few: a stunning warm peach tart of thinly sliced ripe peaches on a short, buttery pastry crowned with a ball of the most divine blueberry ice cream; her fabulous black and white “coupe” in a tall narrow glass--layers of vanilla bean ice cream, a bittersweet chocolate sauce, chocolate sorbet and clusters of toasted macademias cloaked in dark chocolate. The only thing to do is to order spoons all around. Her melon soup is amazing, with tiny melon balls and dollops of sour cream ice cream bobbing in the sweet liquid. The vanilla creme fraiche cheesecake also is sublime.

The one thing that makes Water Grill a less-than-captivating dining experience is the posse of eager managers at the door. Their over-anxiousness to please can be intrusive. If your table is not quite ready, two, even three, junior managers may rush to inform, several times over, that your table will be ready in just a minute. The waiters tend to fuss, prodded by nervous managers who approach the table so frequently to ask how everything is that a diner can’t eat in peace.

Water Grill has some of the best waiters in town, if they’re left alone to do their job. Good service should never intrude on the pleasure of the dining experience. That said, Water Grill measures up on many levels. Not only is the seafood excellent, it boasts a terrific wine list and a dessert chef who is every bit the match of the chef. It’s one downtown restaurant that merits a detour.

Water Grill

544 S. Grand Ave.,

Los Angeles,

(213) 891-0900

CUISINE: California

RATING: **1/2

*

AMBIENCE: Handsome, clubby seafood house with lots of dark wood, upholstered booths and a raw seafood bar. SERVICE: Very good, but sometimes overly solicitous. BEST DISHES: White chowder, Dungeness crab cake, Big-Eye tuna tartare, foie gras au torchon, Copper River king salmon (in season), grilled loup de mer, Maine lobster, warm peach tart, black and white “coupe,” vanilla creme fraiche cheesecake. Appetizers, $8 to $22. Main courses, $19 to $32. Chef’s five-course tasting menu, $75. Corkage, $20. WINE PICKS: 1997 Albarino Martin Codax, Rias Baixas, Spain; 1997 Prager, Weissenkirchner Ried Steinriegl, Wachau, Austria. FACTS: Lunch weekdays. Dinner daily. 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.