A LA CARTE : WHITE ASPARAGUS.

Byline: Larry Lipson

White asparagus is here early this year. Usually not available until the end of April, the unripe - thus white - asparagus, has been marketed locally to restaurant chefs since the beginning of the month.

Prized in Europe, the asparagus that remains white because it is picked before it breaks through the earth's surface and becomes exposed to the sun is utilized by restaurant chefs annually.

They prefer to use this more acidic, bitter type of vegetable over its green counterpart.

It is presented many ways, and though it is said to cost more per pound than lobster, there are increasing numbers of diners who look forward to its appearance.

Here are a few of the local restaurants that serve white asparagus:

Bambu

Address: 3835 Cross Creek Road, Malibu.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: International.

Comments: New chef David Fouts introduces white asparagus as a seasonal special.

Picks: Fouts calls it a tower of white asparagus ($12.95). He uses the jumbo version ringed around a puree of white beans and white asparagus scented with ichibon-dashi and garnished with red pepper coulis and a yellow bell pepper-oba leaf salsa.

Dining Room/Hotel Bel-Air

Address: 701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Californian-French.

Comments: Beginning April 17, chef Gary Clauson offers white asparagus several ways. He refers to white asparagus spears as ``queens of darkness.''

Picks: Try them meuniere with wild mushrooms ($16), charlotte with truffled potatoes ($18), as a soup with lobster and crab cake ($10), in tortilla soup ($8), chilled with smoked salmon and pickled quail eggs ($20), with Columbia River sturgeon and caviar ($32), as a flan with medallions of veal and foie gras plus spears ($34).

Eclipse

Address: 8800 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: French-Californian.

Comments: Chef Serge Falestitch said that he sells his handsome white asparagus salads as fast as he can make them.

Picks: Falestitch serves his white asparagus ($14) shaped like a crown, chilled, with a baby frisee salad. Dressing is a white truffle vinaigrette.

Four Oaks

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

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: French-Californian.

Comments: Chef Peter Roelant annually creates several white asparagus recipes.

Picks: Here are two of them: a special appetizer of a pretty arrangement of cold white asparagus spears dressed with a lime-and-vodka-boosted hollandaise and topped with Sevruga caviar ($17.50) or a luncheon dish of white asparagus rolled in a carpaccio of salmon flavored with a lime mayonnaise, cut on the bias and fanned over lemon-scented mixed baby lettuces.

Knoll's Black Forest Inn

Address: 2454 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: German.

Comments: White asparagus time is always very popular at the area's no. 1 German restaurant. It begins the week of April 20.

Picks: White cream of asparagus soup with riesling wine ($5.50). White asparagus and ham salad with sliced apple and herb dressing ($14.50). Cold asparagus with green herb sauce and chopped egg ($21.50) or with sliced smoked salmon and herb mayonnaise. Hot (a half-pound of white asparagus) is served with parsleyed boiled potatoes and either hollandaise sauce or drawn butter ($21.50).

Le Dome

Address: 8720 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: French-European.

Comments: The craze of Europe comes to this show-biz haunt.

Picks: Chilled white asparagus with vinaigrette ($18), warm with mustard-hollandaise ($18), or Flemish-style with melted butter, nutmeg and chopped hard-boiled eggs plus chopped parsley.

Matterhorn Chef

Address: 13726 Oxnard St., Van Nuys.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Multi-European.

Comments: Chef-owner Ueli Huegli knows all about white asparagus and how to prepare it.

Picks: He serves it warm with hollandaise sauce or drawn butter, or cold with vinaigrette ($14.95). Boiled potato or Polonaise-style egg added at no charge. Ham or prosciutto added at extra cost.

Rockenwagner

Address: 2435 Main St., Santa Monica.

Phone: [phone].

Cuisine: Californian-International.

Comments: Chef-owner Hans Rockenwagner honors the queen of vegetables.

Picks: White and green asparagus with tuna carpaccio and ginger remoulade ($14.50). White asparagus mousse with smoked salmon and a white and green asparagus salad ($12.50). A full pound of steamed white asparagus with new potatoes and vinaigrette or mayonnaise ($26.50).