Where It’s Atwater

The stylish Asia represents another new Eastside culinary cove.
by Deborah Klugman

Atwater Village isn’t the first neighborhood that comes to mind if you’re thinking about upscale dining. So it’s all the more of an adventure to discover Asia, a sleek new fusion restaurant on Los Feliz Boulevard, halfway between Glendale and the thick of Hollywood. Two years in the making and refurbished from the ground up, Asia came into being April 1, the pampered darling of three doting owners (Biff Vincent, Bobby Ornowski and Suthisa Howeth), its hands-on manager, Joe Sorachano, and its mainspring of inspiration, Chef Visanu.

Asia’s stylish ambience is contemporary, but not cold, with dark tables at the room’s center and cream-colored, upholstered seats lining the stone walls. Above, the ceiling tilts slightly (Japanese style), with a peek-a-boo skylight set between wood beams. An elaborate flower arrangement perches on the dark square, concrete bar. Opposite it is the sushi bar, where two chefs, one a woman (a female sushi chef is still a rare sight), prepare the impressively arrayed fish. On the patrons’ side of the sushi counter are small dishes cupping a single white rose, and diminutive ceramic pitchers. Details like this are evident everywhere, not only in the panache of the food and the flowers, but in the pristinely white dinnerware (a stir-fry is served on a triptych of linking plates) and later in the tea, which arrives in an elegant coffee press accompanied by a dainty drawstring bag of brown sugar cubes.

Sushi is but one element of the restaurant’s pan-global fare; all else flows from the spirited imagination of Chef Visanu who started out in restaurant management, then found himself drawn to more creative culinary undertakings. Born in L.A., Visanu grew up in Bangkok. After studying psychology, he went to work managing a large Chinese restaurant where he mastered the art of accommodating a large clientele with a panoply of dishes. Later, at a Korean-run Thai place called Thai and Chopsticks, he segued into serious cooking, offering lessons and experimenting with traditional Thai recipes. After a stint with Wolfgang Puck at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, he opened and continued to operate his own restaurant until coming to Asia.

Which, a month after opening, seems to be flourishing. On a Wednesday night, the sizable crowd included a birthday party of 40 twenty-something Silver Lake locals come to splurge, and another long table of recording studio execs. Word of Asia’s food—a playful mingling of Eastern seasonings with Western dishes and vice versa—seems to be out.

The menu, which has something for everyone, can be overwhelming on your first visit: pastas, pizzas, Asian noodle dishes, Thai-sounding soups and exotic grill specialties. What to choose? One head-tripping option we passed on for a later date was the truffle mac’n’cheese ($18), with lobster, truffles and five kinds of cheese; another was the smoked salmon caviar pizza ($25).

If the main idea here is to surprise and delight, Visanu succeeds often, with some dishes extraordinary and some very good. Top of the list: the superlatively rich Tom Kah lobster bisque ($10), hinting of lemongrass. A creamy red curry corn clam chowder ($5) offers plentiful clams and a pungency as vivid as its color. A respectable salmon cake ($10) on mixed greens with a light walnut oil dressing comes garnished with cilantro aioli; the unique Thai Caesar salad ($10) nestles tender, peppery chicken strips on Romaine lettuce leaves.

Crowding the bisque in the to-die-for category is the celestially nuanced duck and potato ravioli in truffle sauce ($24). In my memorable column I’d also list Visanu’s eggplant trio ($20), so named for its tamarind-based triad of sweet, spicy and sour flavors, and the sushi chef’s colorful rainbow roll ($18) of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, whitefish and shrimp, stuffed with avocado and crab. Macadamia shrimp ($22), a play on the Chinese standard walnut shrimp, are huge, firm and emanate heat when you sink into them. Exceptionally tender beef kabobs ($25) are served with coconut rice and an assortment of grilled vegetables including aspiration, a delicate baby broccoli hybrid.

At lunch, a more limited menu comes closer to the typical, albeit upscale, L.A. Thai restaurant experience (though you can still get the clam chowder and the fancy caviar pizza). Pad See-Ew with beef ($11) is good, not outstanding, as is the chicken and spicy eggplant stir-fry (although you won’t find eggplant prepared this originally on Hollywood Boulevard). Barbecued pork ribs ($12) are notable for their meatiness and high quality, less for any creative seasoning. And as a salad lover, I really prefer mixed baby greens with my stir-fry to the less captivating Romaine we were served instead.

Desserts ($7-8)—a chocolate cake, a coconut cake and a mango crème brulee—also lack the pizzazz of the menu’s best, unlike the smooth soju cocktails and the exotic gourmet teas, not to be bypassed. LAA

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Location: 3179 Los Feliz Blvd., Atwater Village.

Phone: (323) 906-9498.
Service: Attentive.
Price: Appetizers $10-$14; soups and salads $5-$18; pizzas $12- $25; pastas $18- $26; entrees $25-$45; desserts, $7-$8.
Recommended dishes: Tom Kah lobster bisque, duck and potato ravioli, Asia beef kabobs, spicy rainbow roll, eggplant trio, rooibos bourbon gourmet tea.
Etc.: Open 6 p.m. to midnight, Mon.-Sat. Sat.-Sun brunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Other info: Sushi bar, soju cocktails, wine selections available for $25 a bottle, valet parking, private room (for 25) for meetings and small parties.
Overall: 4 out of 5 sporks