RESTAURANT REVIEW : Moustache: Less Hip but Still Tasty

Ten or more years ago, a friend took me to a restaurant he swore was among the coolest in Los Angeles. We turned his sub-compact Toyota over to the valet and entered a garden of white lath and philodendron filled with great-looking people--women in radically big hair, men in lush mustaches. We guzzled Chardonnay, ate crepes and entrecote and pommes frites and chocolate souffles and saw--or hallucinated--Ben Gazzara at a corner table.

Such was the Moustache Cafe circa 1984.

Since then, the Moustache has become as outmoded as the facial-hair flourish itself, the once popular destination eclipsed by a new wave of noisy post-modern rooms serving fresh, eclectic food--Angeli. Cha Cha Cha. The Authentic Cafe. Countless clones of each.

And yet, over the years, the Moustache’s narrow parking lot has been eternally crammed with sleek Jaguars, Mercedes, BMWs. And when I call to ask if reservations are necessary, the hostess says, “Always a good idea.”

So what has kept this once sizzling hot spot at a steady, profitable simmer all these years?

For one thing, the cafe is open late. When most waiters around town are shedding their aprons and counting out their tips, the Moustache is welcoming the post-movie, post-party, post-theater, post-cruising crowd.

There is something to be said as well for that white lath-paneled patio, so quaintly ‘70s and unpretentious. Inside is a gleaming bar and a dining room with ample booths and the timeless allure of atmospheric French bistros.

On a weekend night, late, we take stock of the customers around us: dates of all ages, some in evening clothes, some in grunge. We hear French, German, Czech. If this crowd has heard the Moustache isn’t hipness personified, they don’t care. We have to admit, there’s something pleasant about the close-packed tables, the Euro din, the blackboard of specials.

There’s something to be said for the prices as well, which are pleasantly retro. Half a roasted chicken is $9.75; rack of lamb is $14.50.

Over the years, the classic French cafe menu has acquired traces of every passing food craze to hit the city. In addition to onion soup and crepes and chicken Kiev, there’s carpaccio and pastas, Cajun dishes, Thai noodles, ahi tuna. Specials include Moroccan couscous and coulibiac, a Russian dish of salmon and eggs in a pastry crust.

French onion soup has flavor enough and good molten cheese on a toasty bread crust. Grilled eggplant, served with melted smoked mozzarella and chopped tomatoes, is luscious and flavorful.

The Caesar dressing, tangy with anchovy, lemon and garlic, seeps into the croutons just enough so they’re neither soggy nor dry as pumice. The seafood salad isn’t nearly so impressive: a daunting heap of boiled scallops, calamari, shrimp and fish that could use more greens, avocado, mushrooms and other trimmings. As is, it’s a huge hit of pure protein.

Salmon is grilled with all the delicacy of the trendiest kitchen: moist and translucent inside, but not undercooked. The accompanying Cabernet sauce is surprisingly appropriate: The wine picks up a wild muskiness in the salmon that makes one think of ferns and loam and fresh streams by the ocean.

Roast chicken, however, is regrettably salty, the one disappointing note among the entrees we try.

One Sunday night I arrived with a friend at half past 9 (an hour when most restaurants are shut up tight) and ordered a spinach omelet. The freshly sauteed spinach still had a puckery crunch; the eggs were handled so lightly, they were still creamy inside. With the omelet came a golden thicket of French fries. What could be better on a Sunday night?

The Moustache has long been famous for its chocolate souffle. But it is here that you can taste how much food has changed in L.A. through the years. While the texture is flawless--crusty on the outside, custardy within--one bite and we all agree: It needs better chocolate. Memorable chocolate desserts are so omnipresent in this town, it’s almost a shock to taste this souffle’s weak, faintly cardboard cocoa flavor. It’s the one time warp in this otherwise charming old-timer we regret.

* The Moustache Cafe, 8155 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 651-2111. Open for lunch and dinner 7 days. Full bar. Major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$65.