New Cafe Momo Ranges From So-So to Sublime

I’d noticed construction next door to Koutoubia, the Moroccan restaurant on Westwood Boulevard months ago and wondered what was going into the other half of the free-standing building. Last week the mystery was solved when Koutoubia’s owner, Michel Ohayon, finally opened Cafe Momo.

The small cafe has a chic urban look and features a small bar at the front. Cafe Momo shares an entrance with Koutoubia, so you may occasionally hear belly-dancing music leaking from next door. Don’t worry, though, the dancers don’t bridge the gap. You can eat in peace.

The French-speaking waiters are friendly and do a good job explaining the food. Merguez, for the uninitiated, are skinny North African sausages spiked with paprika and cayenne. Here, they’re homemade and served as an appetizer with the pale frites which seem to come with every other dish at Cafe Momo. The merguez, by the way, are spicy and delicious.

Tunisian brik, triangular filo dough turnovers, are filled with fresh goat cheese flavored with cilantro, mint and lots of cumin. The salad that comes with this appetizer, though, is drenched in a nondescript vinaigrette. Steamed mussels have plenty of juice to sop up with French bread.

Though it’s billed as Mediterranean, Cafe Momo’s menu is heavily Moroccan-inflected. Poulet au citron is a chicken roasted with green olives and strips of lemon preserved in salt and spices. The flavors are wonderful together. Duck breast comes in a prune sauce reminiscent of a tagine. But both the duck and the New Zealand rack of lamb get the same vegetables. The kitchen could vary it just a little. There’s also a paella and a seafood pasta on the short menu.

Dessert? If your mouth is watering at the idea of gazelle’s horns or other Moroccan or Middle Eastern delicacies, you can stop right there. The desserts seem to be all French and I would venture to surmise not made in-house. How could the same kitchen responsible for that delicious poulet au citron turn out such an inedible apple tart or cloying white chocolate mousse?

Though the kitchen has a few kinks to work out, Cafe Momo is off and running, a good spot for a quick bite before or after a movie. And did I mention that, at least when I was there, it was quiet enough to talk? That’s something increasingly hard to find.

* Cafe Momo Restaurant-Bar, 2116 Westwood Blvd., West Los Angeles; (310) 470-6601. Appetizers $5 to $12; main courses $13 to $23. Open Tuesday to Sundays, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Street parking.