A stylish new kid on the block

The line snakes around the corner, concertgoers inching their way toward the entrance of the Wiltern LG at Wilshire and Western to hear the L.A. punk group Widespread Panic. Another, very differently dressed group on their way home from work waits for the bus on Wilshire. Just as we pull forward to the valet, someone pops off the curb to see if the bus is in sight in the smudge of smog (it isn’t). A refugee from the glare of Denny’s next door leans against the wall, greedily sucking on a cigarette, a regular Jack Kerouac.

Past the thicket of music lovers, bus riders and general layabouts is the entrance to the new Opus Bar & Grill. The door closes behind us. We’re in a narrow, high-ceilinged room, and as soon as our eyes adjust to the dark, I can make out a long bar, with panels of stainless steel hovering like wings over the assembled company, most of whom look like they’ve settled in for a good long while. This has got to be the sleekest bar for miles around.

But before I can decide to order a martini, straight up, with a twist, the lithe hostess ushers us through another door to the enormous dining room where my guests are already ensconced on a comfy banquette covered in perforated chocolate brown leather. It’s a stylish, contemporary room warmed with touches of burnt orange and burgundy.

As we look over the smart, concise California menu, people filter into the dining room: young style-conscious Korean Americans, a diverse mix of locals from the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood and tourists looking a little lost. All around are blocks and blocks filled with mostly Asian restaurants, but there’s nothing nearby like Opus, with its up-to-date menu and emphasis on organic produce and farm-raised poultry and meats. Not to mention style.

The executive chef is Sara Levine, who was the chef at Vibrato, the jazz club at the top of Beverly Glen, and for a brief time, at the now-defunct Zax in Brentwood. The consulting chef is Mark Dao, formerly of Patina.

Vibrato apparently wasn’t the right place for Levine. Here her food is direct and honest, based, first of all, on good local ingredients, but with inspired little twists that keep things interesting. Opus is half steakhouse, half California cuisine, with a choice of dishes that should please just about anybody who walks in the door.

Something for everyone

Grazers can concentrate on a wide range of appetizers -- soft shell crab with sauce gribiche or sweet chile and paprika-spiced calamari or seared ahi tuna with pickled spring onions. Vegans and vegetarians can stick with the appealing fresh salads, like a classic Caesar with hand-torn croutons or butter lettuce with avocado and tarragon. Carnivores can find a very decent steak or chop, and seafood lovers can indulge in Maine lobster, either butter-poached or grilled.

We ponder our choices.

One of my guests, who always announces what he wouldn’t mind eating, says he could order the foie gras or the pork belly. Someone else jumps on the filet mignon tartare.

At Opus, you could probably point a finger at the menu blindfolded and come up with something you’d relish.

Seared foie gras is paired with tart strawberries, lovely green fava beans and a trickle of dark, sticky aceto balsamico. It all works beautifully. A rich, tender block of braised pork belly is wonderful against luscious apricots roasted until the edges are caramelized and the fruit broken down almost to jam. The steak tartare gets a piquant lift from a dab of black-purple tapenade served beside it.

Even before you take a bite, it’s evident the kitchen doesn’t fool around: The produce is excellent, much of it from the best stands at the farmers market. Just look at the perkiness of those greens or the slight blush of the white peaches Levine serves with prosciutto instead of the usual melons or figs.

We start with the charcuterie plate one night, a beautiful selection of bresaola, salami and prosciutto that two or more can share. Artichoke fanciers alert: Levine’s Tuscan artichoke, which is halved and gilded in toasted breadcrumbs, is delicious dipped in the garlic aioli. One night, she has Santa Barbara spot prawns, so fresh she barely cooks them, wonderful with a punchy anchovy butter.

A good mix in the list

Owner John Chung clearly put some thought into the wine list; it’s eclectic enough that you can find much more than oaky Chardonnays to go with dishes such as these. It could be an Austrian Sauvignon Blanc, a German Riesling or a crisp white Bordeaux. The reds range widely from Central Coast Pinot Noirs and Burgundies to Syrahs from the Rhone, California Zinfandels and Italian Barberas and Barbarescos, plus the usual Cabernets, Merlots and Bordeaux-style blends. I appreciate too that he has a number of half bottles. And, the list is very well priced.

One side of the main dining room is taken up by the open kitchen, partially screened with slats of dark wood that reduce the cooks hard at work back there to shadowy abstractions. Waiters sashed in long aprons act naturally and efficiently. I don’t think I heard the words “Excuse my reach” or “Is the temperature to your liking?” once in several visits. That could be a first. Sometimes, though, the food can be slow coming from the kitchen.

Couples tend to gravitate to the high-backed leather armchairs pulled up to the tables for two. More of the action is out on the breezy patio room in front, where smoking is permitted and, sad to say, there are plenty of death-defying young hipsters indulging.

Looking around at other tables, I’m tempted by that prosciutto and white peach salad with almonds and aged balsamic, but I’m happy with the refreshing endive and watercress salad embellished with tangerines, almonds and Banyuls vinegar made from the sweet wine from the south of France.

On two previous visits, I’ve watched a huge three-pound lobster in the shell sail by. This time I’m ordering it, and sincerely hope it can top the sublime butter-poached lobster that I had succumbed to instead. Tender and flavorful, and again just barely cooked through, the butter-poached lobster is served with a full complement of fava beans, asparagus and a sweet onion jam. It’s a steal at $32, whereas the grilled lobster is market price: that night, $75. Can it really be more than twice as good?

It’s very good, and quite the feast, with that big tail and claws. And it’s closer to the taste of East Coast lobster than many I’ve been served in L.A. Halfway through, I’m sated; maybe it’s better as a dish for two. Not to worry. One of my guests steps in and wrests every possible morsel from shell and claw.

A name in the making

Everybody has braised short ribs on the menu, even in summer, though that does seem quite a stretch in these 95-degree temperatures. But guys will be guys and will order something like that. Here, they’ll be rewarded with rich, flavorful beef and a spunky horseradish cream put together with braised Tuscan kale and cipollini onions.

There’s a satisfying grilled duck breast with the leg served as confit. Fresh plums add the sweet element without getting cloying. But the real sleeper on the menu is rabbit three ways, a study in delicately muted flavors: the shoulder wrapped in bacon, the rillettes (something like pulled pork) and the dainty rack.

By the time dessert rolls around, you may not be angling for the molten chocolate cake (dark and chocolaty, what else can I say?). The hazelnut praline parfait is lighter -- and it’s chilled. A few bites shared all around, or else one of the house-made ice creams, should do you.

A few years ago it wouldn’t have seemed likely that this neighborhood would ever have a restaurant this ambitious, and one that’s open late too. But that was before chefs and restaurateurs got smart and started getting out into neighborhoods other than the Westside. Opus isn’t very known yet, but that’s going to change. And quite soon.

*

Opus Bar & Grill

Rating: **

Location: 3760 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles; (213) 738-1600

Ambience: Stylish bar and grill next to the Wiltern LG with a 30-foot-long bar, a separate high-ceilinged dining room and a breezy patio that attracts a sophisticated crowd.

Service: Personable and professional

Price: Dinner appetizers, $8 to $22; salads, $8 to $12; seafood, $26 to $34; meat and poultry, $22 to $28; sides, $4 to $7; desserts, $8 to $9.

Best dishes: Charcuterie plate, Tuscan artichoke, pork belly with roasted apricots, endive and watercress salad with tangerines and almonds, butter-poached lobster, braised short ribs with black kale, rabbit three ways, liberty farms duck, French fries, garlic spinach.

Wine list: Wide-ranging with reasonable markups, plus two dozen wines by the glass or half-glass. Corkage, $20.

Special features: Outdoor patio where smoking is permitted. Happy hour nightly, 5 to 7 p.m.

Details: Open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday for lunch; 6 to 11 p.m. for dinner nightly in the dining room and until 1 a.m. in the bar. Full bar. Valet and lot 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.