Pyramid Piles On Flavor Minus the Fat

On Third Street, Indigo has quietly slipped away. In its place is Pyramids, a new restaurant and take-out with a menu of fresh, highly flavorful low-fat dishes. The subtitle: All of the taste. None of the guilt. We’re talking low-fat, not zero-fat. That, and the fact that someone in the kitchen knows how to cook, makes all the difference. This is low-fat food that would please just about anybody.

What’s not to like about a Southwestern chopped salad of turkey, fresh corn and black beans with crisp romaine and jicama for crunch in a subtle, light ranch dressing? Or wild mushroom risotto made with a stock so rich in flavor, the butter almost isn’t missed? Grilled veal flank steak in a whole grain mustard sauce, a bargain at $11.95, comes with horseradish mashed potatoes (sans cream, sans butter) and corn on the cob. Blackened chicken breast paillards in a smoldering dry spice marinade is accompanied by delicious mashed yams and a feisty Cajun slaw.

Dessert? We’ve designed the mix-and-match menu so that if you have a three-course meal, you’re not going to be over 1,500, say 1,700 calories, a waiter explains. OK then, bring on the pecan praline cheesecake, the peach crisp, the hot fudge chocolate cake sundae.

* Pyramids, 8222-1/2 West Third St., Los Angeles; (213) 653-2121; fax (213) 653-2575. Open Monday through Saturday for dinner only. (Lunch starts soon.) Major credit cards accepted. Valet parking. Appetizers $3.95 to $5.95; salad entrees $7.95 to $8.95; pasta and entrees $7.95 to $14.95.