What a great room. A burnished Hawaiian war canoe hangs from the ceiling--a high ceiling that evokes the spacious structure of a Polynesian long house. Giant clamshells and tasteful nautical oddments are parked here and there. If you sit near the garden window, you can even enjoy a handsomely lighted patch of jungle, right in Beverly Hills.
Sure, Trader Vic's is exotic by design. But this room, with its strong use of wood and subtle floor elevations, has a solid, sophisticated feel that rises above the concept of theme restaurant as fun house.
Trader Vic's was always the grown-up among Polynesian restaurants, which probably explains why it's hung around for 43 years. First it survived the eclipse of Polynesian cuisine, and then the French, California, Southwestern, Cajun and Tuscan phases of foodiedom. It managed this, in part, because owner Victor Bergeron was a pioneer foodie himself. He introduced Southland diners to kiwi fruit and green peppercorns, among many other things. The Polynesian cuisine he created was a bit of a hodgepodge--Cantonese appetizers, Indonesian curries and quaintly named rum drinks--but he made it work by the forcefulness of his personal taste.
When Bergeron died in 1984, his chain of restaurants , with branches as far away as Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf, seemed to drift. The menus continued to change over time, but there was no guiding hand. (Admittedly, Trader Vic's had to walk a fine line, trying to attract younger diners without alienating regulars.) Recently, the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's took a surprisingly bold step that promised either a way out of the impasse or disaster. It announced that the menu would be redone by a chef named Tony Baran, from Terrace il Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in Century City.
Have no fear. The new dishes, mostly confined to the appetizer list, turn out to be from the Pacific Rim, and many are real improvements. The light, delicate shrimp and crab cake is delightfully scented with fresh ginger. The chicken and prawn satay has a poetic saffron vinaigrette dipping sauce. Seared ahi tuna rolled in sesame seeds comes with a highly focused tarragon mustard sauce.
You can get a couple of good sushi items: a hand roll of soft-shell crab on an intriguing sauce of basil and flying-fish roe, and a "rainbow roll" of tuna and salmon. There's also a superior version of that Chinese classic, minced chicken in lettuce cups with hoisin sauce.
