On an upswing downtown

When my otherwise adventurous friends balk at the plan to meet at a restaurant downtown, I don’t have much sympathy. Not anymore, now that we have Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Cathedral to steer by.

If I’m picking the restaurant, I want something that offers a glimpse of cosmopolitan L.A. -- so that leaves out places that involve trudging through anonymous office buildings to get to the dining room. And with all there is to see downtown these days, I refuse to take my innocent guests to a restaurant where there’s no possibility of a view. Although I love the action at Philippe’s and the cozy noodle shops of Little Tokyo, for the big downtown picture, I’m thinking Cafe Pinot.

Opened just about 10 years ago at a moment when it was not at all clear when, if ever, the city’s center would take off, Cafe Pinot was Joachim Splichal’s first downtown spinoff. His Patina Group has since opened Zucca on Figueroa Street, moved the flagship Patina to Disney Hall, and taken over the cafes at the Music Center and MOCA. Splichal obviously believes in downtown.

And though Cafe Pinot has had its ups and downs over the years, right now it seems to have recaptured its momentum, at least at dinner. It’s looking better than ever too, spruced up with new leather chairs and saucy striped banquettes after a refurbishment in June.

Cafe Pinot is part of one of the great downtown oases. Set in a free-standing modernist building that seems to be all windows, and next door to the Central Library, it feels like a low-slung glass house that blurs the distinction between inside and outside. Tall glass doors open onto a patio shaded by silvery olive trees and champagne-colored umbrellas. Beyond it are the library’s gardens and entrance courtyard dotted with fountains. Look up, and there are the towering skyscrapers.

It’s a downtown restaurant with an authentic life, not dependent on conventions or tourists. People who work nearby reserve tables at lunch or drop by and wait. At dinner, the crowd is more likely to be headed to a concert or the theater, especially since the restaurant has a one-stop parking policy and provides shuttles to the venues.

Lunch is crazy frenetic, with people eager to fit a leisurely bite into a tight schedule. Specials, like a prime brisket sandwich or crispy shiitake mushrooms with Spanish lomo ham, may sell out early. But there’s always plenty of soup, either the classic Bakersfield French onion soup (Splichal has always been into wordplay) or the “Our soup today is different than yesterday” (which might be a corn chowder or an asparagus puree). The French onion soup comes in the traditional two-eared bowl with a bubbling crust of Gruyere cheese stretched over the top. The broth is dark and beefy, the onions suitably caramelized. Though it may not be the thing on a hot summer night, in this rainy winter weather it fits right in. One soup of the day I tried was button mushrooms sauteed in butter and whizzed to a thick greige puree that tastes of those mushrooms. I like the way it’s served in a ceramic bowl with a crazed rustic glaze.

But lunch can be inconsistent: some dishes oversalted, others overcooked, salads sometimes limp. Fries are always good -- piping hot, deeply golden and showered with minced garlic and parsley. But my grilled wild salmon one day is barely marked by the grill, kind of gray underneath, without any of the virtues of slow-roasted salmon. Pedestrian. The warm spinach salad in a bacon and whole grain mustard dressing is overdressed and soggy. And the tempura vegetables that come with a Kobe flat iron steak are heavy and greasy, glued together on top of the pre-sliced steak. The steak itself only confirms my idea that Kobe beef does not make a great steak. It’s too rich, and this one tastes like congealed fat.

Cafe Pinot is at its best at night, when it becomes a haven for romantics sharing a great bottle of wine, or urbanites sitting in the darkness out on that wonderful garden patio, enjoying the feel of the city, the spangled lights of the skyscrapers rising above the garden’s twisted olive trees. It’s hard not to want to linger, seated in comfortable armchairs, the heat lamps adjusted just so.

I can never resist the oysters. They’re incredibly fresh, incredibly delicious and offered at some of the best prices in town, especially if you order them by the dozen. Recently, the choice was either East Coast Malpeques or Canadian Cups from Prince Edward Island, which I’d never encountered before. Splichal doesn’t fool around. He presents them simply on a platter of ice with lemon wedges, or for those who prefer it, a mignonette of finely minced shallots and Champagne vinegar.

Peekytoe crab is stuffed into one plump crab cake, crisp and golden on the outside. A confetti of finely minced vegetables gives the crabmeat a little color and the sauce, so to speak, is fried bread cubes and tiny capers, which add punctuation to the soft-spoken crab cake.

An unconventional Caesar of hearts of romaine drizzled with a tangy creamy dressing is pretty good if you don’t mind your anchovy draped over the top as garnish instead of giving the sauce some punch. Endive salad with Maytag blue cheese and walnuts, and baby beet and goat cheese salad are both Cafe Pinot classics that still pass muster.

One night the waiter raves so much about the hand-harvested scallops, we can’t very well not get them, especially when he says they’re so fresh they still have a reflex when touched. They’re meant to be a main course, but we share them as an appetizer. The scallops really are wonderful, as big as pincushions, with that ineffable sweet richness, caramelized on the outside, warm, but translucent inside -- just delicious. Their sweetness is wonderful against the earthiness of wild mushrooms and the bright acid of tangerines that garnish the plate.

Risotto is usually a good bet too, more French-Californian than really Italian, but cooked with care and often inventive. The mascarpone-infused gnocchi I tried recently, though, looked like large Chiclets and were unappealingly rich. The whole idea with gnocchi is to pair the rather bland, starchy dumplings with a sauce. The concept is contrast, and this didn’t have it.

Chef Mark Gold’s entrees stay within the established Cafe Pinot style, but have enough graceful twists to keep regulars interested. Of course, briefcase-toting lawyers will zero in on the beef, selling out the Kobe rib-eye night after night. A beautiful piece of Arctic char sings with black trumpet mushrooms and tangerines from the farmers market. Lobster Bolognese sounds intriguing one night and looks the part, heaped on top of house-made linguini. Too bad the sauce is so salty. You couldn’t taste a thing.

Duck breast, fillet of beef, lamb loin -- all the classic meat dishes are well prepared. But the one dish that stands out one evening is a loin of milk fed veal, tender and delicious, and served unusually with charred shishito peppers (those little Japanese hot green peppers) and Japanese sweet potato. The veal itself is marvelous and the preparation unusually unfussy and at the same time a bit adventurous.

I know people who barely taste their entrees they’re so focused on the desserts to come. That would be the chocoholics intent on getting their slice of chocolate decadence cake. This isn’t the ubiquitous individual chocolate cake with a molten center, but a wedge of old-fashioned flourless chocolate cake sitting in a pool of sweet-tart berry sauce. Hard to improve on that. Someone has, however, tried to improve on the New York-style cheesecake. Turned out of an individual mold, it’s more panna cotta than cheesecake, gooey and sweet. I’d give it a pass. If the waiter proposes the dark caramel milkshake, order it on blind faith. Served in a tall glass, it has the texture of clouds and is like a Sugar Daddy on steroids -- all puffed up with dark caramel flavor.

The wine list has something for everyone, from bottles in the mid-20s (I’m talking dollars, not vintages) on up to tariffs of several hundred dollars. Markups are uniformly high, which is why Cafe Pinot’s new policy is so remarkable. There is no longer a corkage fee, so you can break out that great bottle you have stashed at home and see how it goes with some of the dishes here.

I can imagine this could nudge more than one wine lover in Cafe Pinot’s direction. Add in the smart new decor and the attractions of the city view, plus the new energy in the kitchen, and Cafe Pinot is looking like one of downtown’s best venues. It may not be new, but it’s seasoned.

*

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Cafe Pinot

Rating: **

Location: 700 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, (213) 239-6500; www.patinagroup.com

Ambience: Urban and contemporary with a newly refreshed interior, long comfy banquettes and a garden patio that overlooks the Maguire Gardens of the Central Library

Service: Brisk and competent

Price: Dinner appetizers, $8 to $18; main courses, $17.95 to $29.95; desserts, $7.50

Best dishes: Oysters on the half shell, peekytoe crab cake, Bakersfield French onion soup, bluefin tuna tartare, Arctic char with black trumpet mushrooms, three-mustard rotisserie chicken, milk fed veal, hand-harvested scallops, chocolate decadence, dark caramel milkshake

Wine list: Wide-ranging with something for every budget, from the mid-20s to several hundred dollars, but all with high markups. Corkage is complimentary.

Best table: A corner table in the garden

Details: Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; and for dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking, $4.50 dinner only; validated parking at lunch, $4.50 for two hours in library lot, entrance on Flower Street.

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.