Fusion Fixation

For a chef who really cares about cooking, a stint behind the stoves at a trendy, white-hot restaurant may seem like a sojourn in hell. The maitre d’s at these places consistently overbook. It’s catch ‘em while you can-before the trend-seekers move on. Most people are more interested in the scene than the food anyway, and by the time they’re seated, they’re too hungry to notice subtleties in the cooking.

After a two-year sentence at just such a place-Linq in Los Angeles-and 20 years of working for others, chef Andre Guerrero is out, and he’s not going into anybody else’s kitchen but his own. Guerrero has moved to the San Fernando Valley and opened his first restaurant on his own, on Sherman Oaks’ restaurant row. Named for his son, Max is a boxy storefront on the site of the old JoeJoe’s. A smart remodel has transformed it into a glamorous boite, with white damask walls, sleek banquettes and soft lighting from silk-shaded lamps. An alcove to one side of the main room is the three-table “star room.” “Really? Stars?” I queried the waiter. “You’d be surprised who comes in,” he says. Somehow I believed him. With a crowd here for the food, Guerrero is reveling in his brand of California-Asian fusion. He is Filipino American, and has cooked French, Italian and California cuisine. In fact, he was an early fusion artist at Duet in Glendale, and some of his fans from that late restaurant have sought him out here. With tables packed closely together, this 4-month-old newcomer feels like downtown New York.

One night one of my guests, who had once lived in a Filipino neighborhood in New York, jumped at the lumpia, the traditional shrimp and pork spring rolls. Rolled as slender as cigars, with a mild shrimp and pork filling, they come piping hot from the kitchen and not a bit greasy. A refreshing Asian slaw accompanies them. For my taste, the lumpia are a tad bland, but easily perked up with the spicy dipping sauce. Guerrero’s subtle touch comes to the fore in his Thai lemon grass coconut soup. Fragrant with Thai basil and light as silk (read: not too much coconut milk), it’s laced with fresh corn and delicious little dumplings plump with a pleasing chicken and mushroom stuffing.

Crab ravioli are more Asian in inspiration than Italian: round pillows of chewy dough filled with fresh crab meat in a lovely nuanced lobster sauce that upstages the ravioli itself. Hamachi sashimi, drizzled with yuzu citrus and served with a chilled soba noodle salad, would do a top sushi restaurant proud.

One of my favorites is his tea-smoked salmon. Curing it in soy sauce, mirin and fresh ginger gives it an unusual lilt. The presentation is different, too. The supple sliced salmon comes with a slab of tender brioche that has a hole in the middle filled with an over-easy egg-sort of a refined toad in the hole.

Main courses are more uneven. You can’t go wrong with Guerrero’s roasted half chicken, a standard dish that’s upgraded with a flavorful bird and the piquant salty-sour taste of preserved lemon and a garnish of sweet blanched garlic. Crusty and juicy, the chicken sits on a swatch of sauteed spinach and comes with garlic mashed potatoes, making this a fine supper all on its own, and a real bargain.

Applewood smoked baby back ribs are terrific one night, less compelling another. At their best, the ribs are falling-off-the-bone tender, permeated with a light haze of smoke. The barbecue sauce seems to taste of tamarind, but it’s actually hoisin. Since the ribs come in a generous double rack, they’re fun to share as an appetizer or even a middle course. Guerrero makes a mean New York pepper steak, too, encrusted with black peppercorns. They add interest to a fine, but not remarkable, cut of beef, and pack a wallop of heat, so the buttery spinach and lovely Gorgonzola-potato gratin are a welcome contrast.

He gets a little carried away with mushroom risotto, though. The texture is right, but loading the risotto with duck confit, arugula and white truffle oil deflects attention from what’s most important: the rice and the mushrooms. It’s also hard to understand where he’s going with the Indian coriander masala-crusted cod. The spice mix is wonderful, and the fish nicely cooked, but the thick mat of chickpea-battered vegetable fritter that sits on top is heavy and distracts from the fish.

Each time I eat at Max, I wonder where Guerrero found his staff. They know what they’re doing, remaining remarkably composed in the confines of the small room and under pressure from a demanding clientele. They also all feel strongly enough about the food to offer their opinion of what’s best.

Pastry chef Jan Purdy has contributed some interesting dishes to the dessert menu. Look to Italian plum buckle with Armagnac ice cream. In this version of the old-fashioned American dessert, you have to dig down deep for the fruit and the warm cake-like buckle beneath the Armagnac ice cream. Buttermilk panna cotta is lighter than traditional “cooked cream” and blessedly not very sweet.

I’m less fond of her date and fig tart with oat streusel, which a couple of waiters described as close to a Fig Newton. If, by chance, profiteroles are a special, order them. I’d almost given up on finding a good profiterole in a restaurant. The choux pastry is fresh and, when I tried them, filled with a smooth, gelato-like pistachio ice cream and napped in an inky dark chocolate sauce.

The restaurant does have some problems, namely, the noise level. As I waited outside one night, a couple staggered out, hands over their ears. “It’s like a rock concert in there,” one of them said. “What?” shouted the other in mock deafness.

Nevertheless, it’s clear Max has been welcomed to the Valley with open arms. There are restaurateurs who, in essence, cook down for the Valley. It’s heartening to see diners flock to one with so much integrity and heart. Somebody soon, I know it, is going to come up with a solution for the noise level. Because these are people who love to talk as much as they love to eat.

Max

13355 Ventura Blvd.

Sherman Oaks

(818) 784-2915

CUISINE: Cal-Asian

RATING: **

AMBIENCE: Smart bistro-like setting in cream and taupe, with sleek banquettes, a three-table alcove and a handful of sidewalk tables. SERVICE: Amiable and competent. BEST DISHES: Thai lemon grass coconut soup, lumpia, tea-smoked salmon, hamachi sashimi, roasted half chicken, applewood smoked baby back ribs, panna cotta, Italian plum buckle. Appetizers, $6 to $15. Main courses, $15 to $24. Corkage, $15. WINE PICKS: Veuve Clicquot NV brut, Champagne; 1999 Swanson Merlot, Napa Valley. FACTS: Dinner daily. Lunch weekdays. 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.