It's Citrus season again in Hollywood

CARPACCIO of "surf, turf and earth" is laid out on a square platter -- a fabulous mosaic of raw beef, tuna, salmon, scallop and roasted pepper, each round decorated with a wisp of frisee or a pretty pink grapefruit segment, the whole pulled together with a drizzle of basil and kumquat oils. Each bite is different, making a melody of flavors that dances across the palate.

Another dish, listed as "Scallop scramble not 'Eggsactly' " is a play on texture that would intrigue any Chinese chef. A puzzle to solve, it's actually a pillowy scallop mousse cooked with a little saffron that uncannily mimics the mouth feel of soft-scrambled eggs, with bits of delicious sweet scallop standing in for the curds. The whole thing is crowned with a single scallop that wears a crunchy shaggy coating of shredded filo dough.

At dessert time, an adorable meringue mushroom arrives standing upright in a pool of pistachio sauce dotted with chocolate pearls. Cocoa dusts the top of the mushroom cap. When you touch it with a fork, the cap falls away to reveal chocolate ice cream and thick whipped cream inside. The contrast in temperature and texture is a delight, and the artistry behind it so skilled it's almost offhand.

Michel Richard is back -- in a virtual way, as consulting chef at Citrus at Social Hollywood, part of Jeffrey Chodorow's update of the historic Hollywood Athletic Club. The original Citrus, Richard's French-California restaurant, opened in 1987 and defined an era in L.A. dining with Richard's inventive and delicious cooking and the casual setting accented by white market umbrellas unfurled beneath high ceilings. (His pastry shop on Robertson Boulevard was a mecca for foodies too, and though it still bears his name, he no longer owns the shop.)

In 1998, the portly chef decamped with his family to devote himself to his then 4-year-old restaurant Citronelle in Washington, D.C. That launched Phase 2 of an extraordinary career that began when Richard was an apprentice pastry chef in France. Now he's considered one of the best chefs in the country, and on a level with the top toques in France.

Which brings us to this new gig. Despite its romantic decor, the Moroccan-themed restaurant with which Chodorow opened Social Hollywood two years ago wasn't working. The bar crowd wasn't adjourning for dinner, nor were people pouring in from the pounding club scene next door. Without a name chef to draw in the foodies and scenesters, the restaurant never developed a following.