Bringing That California-French Touch to La Boheme

La Boheme has always come to mind more for its romantic, overheated decor than for its food. When former Chinois chef Kazuto Matsusaka was behind the stoves, briefly, even this exceptional chef turned out some pretty uninspired fare. That was several years ago and since then chefs have come and gone at the West Hollywood restaurant.

Now, however, Peter Maher, who worked under Alain Giraud at Lavande in Loew’s Santa Monica Beach Hotel as chef de cuisine, has taken La Boheme’s kitchen in hand. His new California-French menu certainly works better than the old one’s tired Asian fusion. He’s resisted the temptation to write a huge, all-encompassing menu, which is good, because it gives him the time and energy to offer a chef’s menu every weeknight.

Starters include Fanny Bay oysters on the half-shell (always a safe bet), a delicate roasted sweet corn soup embellished with Maryland crab meat, or terrine of California goat cheese with oven-dried tomato (now that’s really Californian). He’s got a few more adventurous things, too: a daube of veal cheeks with thyme-scented carrots or kataifi-encrusted shrimp with a fennel marmalade.

Maher plays it very safe with the main courses (filet of beef, lamb sirloin, pork chop, breast of chicken, crispy skin salmon, etc.), most of which come with soft, comforting things like mashed potatoes or polenta or celery root puree, and a splash of jus. It’s a style of cooking that continues to be popular and when it’s good it can be very good; when it’s not, everything can have a sameness to it. La Boheme’s menu comes in somewhere between. Best bet: The duck breast that is beautifully cooked, served with artichokes and Moroccan-inspired preserved lemons in a barigoule sauce.

The two desserts I tried both seemed to miss the point. La Boheme’s signature warm chocolate souffle cake is oddly subdued in flavor for something meant to celebrate chocolat--the deeper the darker the better. A lemon mousse tart with a rich short crust covered with a cloud-like layer of lemon pudding is oddly garnished with walnuts for something as ethereally soft as the lemon mousse. Take away the walnuts and the raspberry and cherry sauces that override the delicacy and you have the makings of a lovely dessert.

On a recent evening, service--at least at my table--was almost too attentive. Someone wanted to pour more water into untouched water glasses every few minutes. Our wine was assiduously topped up in 1/2-inch increments. And we must have been asked a dozen times how we liked the meal, or if everything was prepared to our liking.

But then La Boheme is old-fashioned in its emphasis on form over content. With its cha^teau decor and gobs of glittery chandeliers, it’s a great date restaurant. (Be sure to ask for one of the curtained booths downstairs.) If Maher and his sous chef Joel Guevara can bring some of Lavande’s polish to La Boheme’s kitchen, then, for once, the food just may have a chance of outshining the decor.

BE THERE

La Boheme, 8400 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (323) 848-2360. Open daily for dinner. Appetizers $8 to $14; main courses $19 to $27. Valet parking.