RESTAURANT REVIEW : Growing Pains Take Their Toll at Louise’s

First, there was a Brown Derby on the corner of Los Feliz and Hillhurst, a famous chain that served many of us baby boomers our childhood cocktails of grenadine and 7-Up, deemed Shirley Temples (if we were girls) and Sputniks (if we were boys). The Brown Derby was replaced by Michael’s, a landmark dinner-house-cum-kitsch palace notorious for its Crystal Room and paintings of ballerinas on black velvet. Michael’s evolved into a kind of geriatric hot spot/singles bar, complete with live organ music, women in chiffon dresses, and a menu full of red meat, potatoes, bleu cheese. It was a good, dark place to drink.

And then, one day, Michael’s was gone, the Crystal Room, the paintings and acres of red velvet wallpaper replaced by the eighth Louise’s Trattoria in tandem with the Derby, a bar that makes use of the Brown Derby’s architectural derby hat and offers live music six nights a week.

Louise’s is one of L.A.’s higher-end chains, with locations sprinkled from Huntington Beach to Brentwood, Glendale to Redondo. This one is larger and swanker than the Louise’s, say, in Larchmont Village or the one on Melrose. Fine, clear Los Feliz light streams in tall windows with blond wood sashes. The walls are now a cheery yellow. An outdoor patio is separated from the parking lot by a pretty garden composed of California drought-resistant perennials.

Dinner swings into gear around 6, 6:30. The crowd’s a good mix of Los Angeles’ middle class: ethnically diverse, everything from crisply corporate to well-pierced rock ‘n’ roll.

Many people I like, love and respect eat at various Louise’s, some on a regular basis. I, myself, have been drawn more to independent one- or two-of-a-kind Italian trattorias in the same price range. Still, I was curious about this restaurant’s clear appeal.

On my first visit, and others, we were seated and attended to promptly. Our waiter was pleasant and competent--a film school graduate, as a matter of fact.

A mixed salad with baby lettuces, Gorgonzola and toasted walnuts also had way too much cheese and was sodden with dressing: too salty, oily, rich. The California pizza with fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella was saucy, too cheesy, uninspired. The first bite of my rosemary pappardelle with wild mushrooms and goat cheese was a thrill. Two bites later, I was cloyed. Too much, I thought: too many powerful flavors, too salty, too oily, too too. I couldn’t contemplate dessert. I drank cooked, bitter decaf while my friend ate a huge wedge of ultra-sweet, frosting-rich, slightly dry Milky Way cake.

Over the following days, I related my experience to the Louise’s regulars I know. Some confessed that they, too, had been disappointed in Louise’s since it began to expand. Others gave me advice. Don’t order anything complicated, stick to chicken and pizza. Oh, and never order coffee, unless you insist on a fresh pot.

Some of this advice proved workable. The roasted half-chicken, for example, was juicy and good. Potato ravioli with fava beans may not sound simple, but it definitely was not as overwrought and muddled as the chicken and broccoli ravioli on wilted arugula drenched in sun-dried tomato oil, and topped with loads of sun-dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola, or the pizza with pepperoni, sausage, cheese, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic.

Louise’s ingredients aren’t always up to par. Much of the lettuce in my heavily dressed Caesar salad was so wilted, it looked like cooked spinach. The olive oil poured from a glass decanter onto my bread plate one night was stale, inedible.

Let’s face it, the very thing that I don’t like about Louise’s may be what draws people in. It’s predictable and well-located and serves large portions with smorgasbord appeal. There is more dressing on the salads, more food on the plate, more trendy items in a single dish.

For comparable money, though, many good little cucinas --Fabiolus, Pastina, Toto, to name a few--offer simpler, subtler food. Your waiter may not be a film school grad, but the coffee you can drink.

* Louise’s Trattoria, 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 667-0777. Lunch and dinner 7 days. Full bar. Major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$50.