Lost in Translation

Once popular? Bold words from such a small restaurant. I wish my Chicken Wrapped Sundried Tomatoes ($6.50) had such chutzpa.

808 Kapahulu serves up fusion cuisine, a mysterious blend of French sauces, exotic Southeast Asian spices and the "fundamental essences of Japanese cooking." (I don't want to know how they go about extracting those essences.) I'm quoting liberally from the restaurant's Web site, because it made me realize that I liked the idea of 808 Kapahulu more than I liked its food, or its rhetoric.

Surf and Turf: 808 Kapahulu's monchong in garlic and lemon sauce (foreground), chicken wrapped sundried tomatoes (left), sliced beef tongue with miso mayonnaise (center), grilled lamb chop "hunter style" (right) and sweet potato taro (rear). Photo: Jimmy Forrest

The restaurant is located right on Kapahulu Avenue, across from the Running Room and next door to Helen's Chinese Food and the Hawaiian Tattoo Co. With its cool, clean lines, earth-colored walls and teak furniture, 808 seems hopelessly out of step with its more pedestrian neighbors. This is the kind of classy little bistro that lines the streets in West Los Angeles like so many aspiring actors. That's what I love about the place. It's so unlikely: subdued lighting, loud jazz and open till 2 a.m. every night-all in Kapahulu!

I liked 808 as soon as I stepped through its doors. It was a quiet Sunday night and I was seated very quickly, one of only about a half-dozen customers at the time. My first dish, the aforementioned chicken, arrived promptly. It was a sausagelike roll with a perfectly symmetrical center of sundried tomatoes. The chicken, which had gentle herby flavors, sat on a bed of sliced, sweet onions and slivers of tomato. The whole thing was showered with a handful of diced green onions and drizzled with a light olive oil.

I thought the dish would be a lot more onion-y than it actually was. I also thought it would be more exciting. But it was pleasant, subtle, and I probably wouldn't order it again.

My waiter suggested the Grilled Lamb Chop "Hunter Style" ($17.80), four dainty chops topped with a pungent pesto sauce and served with grilled vegetables. This dish was also delivered to my table quickly. I'm not sure what hunter dreamed up the sauce, but he or she sure likes vinegar. The pesto was tart and potent, overpowering the meat, which was cooked nicely. I'm guessing the sauce was originally designed to mask the gaminess of meats caught in the wild, but the pesto hid the flavors of the gentle lamb.

The veggies, zucchini, peppers and asparagus, were moist and grilled nicely.

For dessert, I followed my waiter's suggestion again and ordered the Sweet Potato Taro ($5.00), which was the most fusion-inspired dish of the three that I had. The dessert featured a sweet taro-filled puff pastry, which sat on a small island of mascarpone cheese and chocolate sauce.

It was flaky, starchy, creamy and sweet, a nice variety of tastes and textures. And it didn't seem all that heavy.

After dinner, my waiter brought me a simple evaluation form along with the check. There were only three possible answers (excellent, moderate, poor) to the form's three questions (how was the service? the atmosphere? the food?). It seemed refreshingly direct and straightforward, no beating around the bush. I followed suit and dutifully filled out my questionnaire: excellent, excellent, moderate.