Westwood’s Napa Valley Grille Is Getting By on Wine List for Now

The new Napa Valley Grille in Westwood Village is packing them in at the bar, givingGardens on Glendon and Palomino Eurobistro across the street some late-night competition. Set in a grandiose corner space, which practically yells chain restaurant with each of its appointments, the spacious dining room features a lurid mural of the grape harvest in the valley with tastefully executed vineyard workers and vines receding into the distance. It’s Napa Valley as theme park, begging to be cloned.

And why not? If the Tuscan life-style is now enshrined in Tuscan Square in New York, why shouldn’t Napa Valley have its day in the sun? The Napa Valley Grille concept, in fact, hails from Paramus, N.J., site of the first of the grape-themed grills four years ago.

The best thing Napa Valley Grille has going for it is the wine list: more than 300 selections of Napa Valley wines, though the idea may play better in New Jersey than here in Los Angeles, one of the most sophisticated wine markets in the country. The list was put together by Robert Cross, former wine director at the late Bernard’s at the Biltmore. Check the “Sommelier’s Favorites” for those harder-to-find labels. The bar also carries 40 wines by the glass. Not everybody ensconced at the bar is sipping Chardonnay, though. The bartender is busy pouring out premium tequila or single-malt scotch samplers and concocting fashionable martinis too.

Chef Frank Fronda showcases “two-bite tastes” of wine country cuisine--seared diver scallops in a foie gras-quince vinaigrette, say, or beef carpaccio with a violet mustard sauce--paired with Napa Valley wines. The idea seems a bit precious, but if you’re into nibbling, his “trio of perfect pairs” with two-ounce pours of wine might tempt. Though at $19.95, that’s just for starters. Other options include butternut squash soup swirled with creme frai^che or an excellent Dungeness crab cake with fennel salad. Fried calamari and rock shrimp is rather bland, and salads tend to be over-exuberantly dressed.

Pastas are embellished with so many ingredients that some, like the trenne which is sauced with chicken broccoli rabe, oven-dried tomatoes, artichokes, and garlic Parmesan cream, read like a parody of California cuisine. Main courses are not quite as baroque: the familiar chicken under a brick, an aged New York steak with potato and onion gratin, and a roasted saddle of rabbit with applewood smoked bacon. My meal was so uneven, it told me it’s too early to tell how this new kitchen will settle in. I’m hoping good cooking can overcome the rather dubious concept.

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* Napa Valley Grille, Westwood Center, 1100 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles; (310) 824-3322; fax (310) 824-3232. Open for lunch weekdays, dinner daily and also Sunday brunch. Dinner starters range from $5 to $16; pastas $14 to $19; main courses $17 to $24. Valet parking.