Franglais, fluently

It’s troubling to see a young chef in a spotless white chef’s jacket, cuffs turned neatly back, prowling the dining room of his new restaurant instead of the kitchen, pouring wine for guests instead of tasting sauces. But that’s what Christian Shaffer, who has had a sweet success with Chloe in Playa del Rey, was doing at his new Manhattan Beach restaurant, Avenue, on my first few visits. Not that anyone expects him to be in two kitchens at once, but it seemed he might have been taking the role of executive chef a bit too seriously.

Meanwhile, under his supervision, Avenue’s kitchen was busy turning out a sophisticated California French menu that, like Chloe’s, changes completely every month. The food was good, but not as good as Chloe’s was in the early days. Shaffer’s menus are unabashedly ambitious. He’s not one to simply toss up a salad or grill a fish or steak. He could certainly get by with doing just that in either beach town, starved as they are for serious cuisine. To his credit, Shaffer is offering much more and building a grateful audience. Think of it: People are actually driving to the beach to eat.

A few weeks ago something serendipitous happened. Avenue’s chef quit, and Shaffer had to go back into the kitchen. As it happened, I’d tried the December menu under the old chef, and then I tried some of the same dishes when Shaffer was cooking. Now, this was interesting: The very same dishes had more balance and poise.

Avenue has a great look, like a rustic barn with exposed beams overhead and walls wrapped in wainscoting painted a taupe that Ralph Lauren would approve. Comfy upholstered banquettes line the walls, with mirrors mounted above, so even customers facing the walls can take in the room and the scenery. Overhead is a gigantic chandelier in the shape of an upside-down octopus with oversized glass drops catching the light.

Regulars don’t get bored; the menu always reflects the seasons. It’s easy to fall in love with both Avenue and Chloe because they’re such personal restaurants, family-run in the same spirit as one- and two-star restaurants in France, with the chef in the kitchen and usually, but not always, the wife running the front of the house. In the case of Avenue (and sometimes Chloe), it’s Shaffer’s personable wife, Tedde.

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Different, earthy flavors

The best dishes are equally divided between the appetizers and the main courses. Crab cakes are everywhere, so in December, Avenue offered plump brandade cakes. That’s salt cod, cooked and shredded with potatoes and garlic, delicious with a real aioli streaked with saffron. The combination is terrific.

A seafood boudin, or sausage, the color of the sunset, is garnished with dots of violet mustard. I love that he tried it, but the sausage is almost too finely ground: Its rubbery texture is a little off-putting. But it comes with an earthy salsify salad that treats the salsify right. Shaffer tends to round out the plates with unusual vegetables. Jerusalem artichoke shows up in a salad with perky green baby arugula leaves, dainty slices of poached lamb tongue (delicate and delicious, if you’ve never tried them) and a dressing perfumed with a little black truffle, not truffle oil.

Shaffer has also taken the potpie genre and turned it on its head with a filling of fat wild escargots and similarly sized chunks of porcini mushroom in a svelte wine sauce. He serves it in a cappuccino cup with puff pastry stretched over the top. Talk about a great wine dish. This is it, with either white or red Burgundy.

Foie gras au torchon, by comparison, seems a bit meager, just two small slices of pink foie and toast. Au torchon refers to the cloth used to wrap the foie gras lobes tightly to form a roll, which is then poached and chilled.

The wait staff is informed about the menu and is ready to explain dishes or offer suggestions. The standout entree one night was calves liver, a rarity on local menus. Here it’s a thick slab of liver, perfectly pink inside and fabulous, served with braised red cabbage and gravy -- not so much that it overwhelms the liver, but just enough to moisten it. Another night, stuffed chicken legs with a saute of wild mushrooms and lovely little chive dumplings made a satisfying supper.

Fish, either petrale sole or halibut, gets dressed up in a shallot and bread crumb crust that gives the fish a jolt of flavor and also keeps in the moisture. A brown butter-Meyer lemon sauce is the smart accompaniment, along with diced butternut squash (on the al dente side). Or there might be slices of lamb sirloin with the crustiest, crunchiest potato rosti, i.e., the Swiss version of hash browns. What’s not to like?

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Cheese: optimal, affordable

For a small restaurant in a beach town, Avenue has quite the big-city wine list, with interesting and eclectic choices but with high markups to match. There’s also a reserve wine list -- and a cheese course, which runs from a reasonable $4 up to $9, depending on whether you choose one, two or three cheeses. The selection is deliberately kept small, with the idea that each cheese is at its optimal condition. I love the fact that having a little cheese at the end of your meal is so affordable here.

At $7 each, desserts come in way under the $10 or more many restaurants charge, and they change every month. I loved the dreamy eggnog pot de creme they were serving with a whiskey cream during the holidays. Any time is the right time for “hot chocolate,” a deep dark chocolate souffle baked in a cup. The kitchen figured out too that cubed apples in a thin, tough crust weren’t working as an apple tart, and the next time I ate at Avenue, the dessert had morphed into an elegant bread pudding with caramelized apples layered with buttery brioche. It was just the thing on a rainy winter night.

Though Shaffer still occasionally steps out of the kitchen to take a turn around the room or offer a suggestion regarding cheeses or wines, his presence in the kitchen makes a huge difference in the experience at Avenue. I say, leave the meeting and greeting to Tedde, who is warm and casual and has a real knack for it. Regulars from Chloe drift in to check out the new place, greeting her with a hug and a kiss, asking about the new baby. Not the restaurant, but the couple’s 3-month-old daughter.

The atmosphere at Avenue is just as warming, convivial and friendly, a rare thing for a restaurant as serious about its food as this one is. For people who live in the neighborhood, and some who don’t, it’s a little bit of French American heaven on Manhattan Avenue.

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Avenue

Rating: ** 1/2

Location: 1141 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach; (310) 802-1973

Ambience: Amiable restaurant at the beach with an eclectic crowd coming in all night long for Christian Shaffer’s sophisticated French American cooking. The look is contemporary but cozy, with upholstered banquettes, a copper- trimmed bar and sidewalk seating in front.

Service: Informed and friendly

Price: Appetizers, $6 to $15; main courses, $24 to $29; cheeses, $4 to $9; desserts, $7.

Best dishes: Menu changes entirely each month, so “best dishes” are a moot point. Anyway: brandade croquettes, lamb tongue with Jerusalem artichoke, escargot and porcini potpie, stuffed chicken legs, calves liver with braised red cabbage, halibut in shallot crust, eggnog pot de creme, “hot chocolate,” caramelized apple brioche pudding.

Wine list: Interesting and eclectic, but with high markups. Reserve list, too. Corkage, $20. “Personal wine welcomed.”

Best table: The booth in the front window

Details: Open from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking by city of Manhattan Beach, $7. Also public lot and street 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.