A LA CARTE : WHITE ASPARAGUS.

Byline: Larry Lipson

White asparagus season is here, with the full force of the premium Dutch-grown spears either appearing or due to appear on restaurant plates all over town. White asparagus - kept covered by mounds of earth so that the sun won't turn the growing spears green - is imported now from South Africa, South America, Israel, France and Germany as well as Holland.

Here are a few restaurants with white asparagus dishes worth consideration:

Cicada 

Address: 617 S. Olive St., downtown Los Angeles.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Italian.

Comments: Co-owner Adelmo Zarif said new chef Christian Shafer will be serving his white asparagus dishes beginning Wednesday.

Picks: May be best as an appetizer served warm with shaved black truffles ($18).

Dining Room/Hotel Bel-Air

Address: 701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Californian/French.

Comments: Chef Gary Clauson kicks off his white asparagus menu April 12. He calls them ``queens of darkness.''

Picks: Try them with smoked salmon and Mornay sauce ($15), with a pickled quail egg and a truffle vinaigrette ($16), as a soup with hazelnuts ($10) or salad with baby greens and horseradish vinaigrette. The white spears appear in main courses with king salmon, melted leeks, a lemon beurre blanc and Sevruga caviar ($28) and with foie gras and a wild mushroom-stuffed roasted quail ($30).

Four Oaks

Address: 2181 Beverly Glen Blvd., Bel-Air.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: French/Californian.

Comments: Chef Peter Roelant is always one of the first in town to feature seasonal white asparagus dishes.

Picks: His Flemish-style recipe offers them with chopped eggs, butter, parsley and white bread crumbs ($13.50), and he also serves them wrapped in duck breast and grilled ($14.50).

Knoll's Black Forest Inn

Address: 2454 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: German.

Comments: An annual feature, white asparagus begins here the last week of this month. Prices listed are approximate.

Picks: As a salad with ham, sliced apple and herb dressing ($14.50), with chopped egg or with smoked salmon ($21.50 each), as cream of white asparagus soup with riesling ($5.50), or served hot - a half-pound of them - with parsley, boiled potatoes and drawn butter or hollandaise sauce ($21.50).

Matterhorn Chef

Address: 13726 Oxnard St., Valley Glen.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Multi-European.

Comments: Chef Ueli Huegli starts serving his annual white asparagus dishes Friday.

Picks: They're best warm with drawn butter or hollandaise sauce, or with brown butter and Parmesan cheese ($15.95). Also available with fried egg, Polonaise-style egg or boiled potato at the same price, or with ham or prosciutto at extra cost.

Pangaea/Hotel Nikko

Address: 465 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Asian/International.

Comments: Chef William Dertouzos debuts his monthlong white asparagus menu April 22.

Picks: Poached white asparagus will be paired with whitefish, crayfish, gnocchi or portobellos. Cold, it will be offered with Yukon Gold potato salad, parma ham or an avocado ratatouille. It can be had as a soup or as an entree with such items as medallions of veal, Pacific salmon and smoked salmon, roasted chicken breast or with a New York strip-loin steak.

Rockenwagner

Address: 2435 Main St., Santa Monica.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Californian/International.

Comments: Chef Hans Rockenwagner starts serving them Wednesday, beginning his 13th year of preparing ``the queen of vegetables'' here.

Picks: His white asparagus ``cappuccino'' ($8.50) is made with prosciutto. The spears come steamed with blood orange hollandaise, dry-cured beef and new potatoes ($14.50). Paired with green asparagus, they're colorful with crayfish cannelloni and lobster sauce ($15.50). A full pound ($27.50) comes with potatoes, vinaigrette, mayonnaise and a choice of house-smoked salmon ($8.50), petit filet mignon ($12.50), grilled salmon steak ($11.50) or sliced prosciutto ($9.50). Rockenwagner suggests asparagus schnapps as a post-digestif ending.