A TRUE STAR, THIS IS NO HAS-BEAN; ITS FRESH, NATURAL NAMESAKE INGREDIENTS KEY, SOY LOOKS TO VALLEY FOR EXPANDED SUCCESS.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

The remarkable soy bean, an Asian staple and in its many different forms a major contributor to the varied textures and tastes demanded by the modern healthy diet, is given star status as the name of a new Chinese restaurant in Tarzana.

Soy Bean, already successful in West Los Angeles on Wilshire Boulevard, evidently believes it can duplicate this success with a new location in the San Fernando Valley. The site was occupied previously by Art's Chinese Cuisine.

As a welcome statement on its bill of fare, Soy Bean declares, ``We use fresh, natural soy beans in many of our menu items.''

The most common manifestation of the soy bean on today's table is, of course, tofu.

And the Soy Bean's menu goes on to tell us that its tofu comes in a variety of ways and ``we serve soy milk, and many of our dishes feature fresh, crunchy soy sprouts.''

Now, if its ma pau (or ``ma po'') bean curd recipe is any indication, then the remaining 10 tofu dishes definitely must be worth trying.

Soy Bean's ma pau ($6.50) emerges as a heaping portion of perfectly textured tofu cubes served spicy hot in a ground pork and fiery fermented soy bean and soy sauce mixture.

If you can't take strong peppery seasoning, don't order this dish without a firm request for a mild version.

However, other dishes marked ``spicy hot'' on the menu have arrived much milder than this deliciously explosive recipe.

One of them was a superb ``hot and spicy'' whole rock cod ($14.95), evidently steamed and literally falling off the bone.

Another was a platter of crunchy, spicy, sauteed green string beans ($5.95), a veritable hillock of them per portion, and a great complement to the whole fish dish.

The Soy Bean kitchen makes all the familiar Chinese items including chubby, meat-filled, crescent-shaped, steamed dumplings ($4.95 for eight) sent out with a good sesame-soy dipping sauce.

But even better are the minced pork-filled, Shanghai-style, steamed dumplings, eight per order, that look like fat little purses of dough. But note that they are listed on the menu as ``steamed bun'' ($4.95).

Another hot item is ``honey glazed walnut shrimp'' ($12.95).

This will appeal to mayonnaise fanciers because a sugary mayo glaze on the firm-textured shrimp actually gives them an unusual but enjoyable sweetish flavor that only mayonnaise could impart.

Add the honey-sweetened, toasted walnuts and you have a truly delectable dish.

I am not nearly as enamored of the kitchen's version of ``sweet and pungent chicken'' ($9.95). It's heavily battered to the point where on some pieces it becomes difficult to find the chicken meat. Each bite-size piece was sweet-and-sour-glazed with a sticky, fruity coating. The mound on the handsome platter, ringed by broccoli, remained barely touched after the initial tasting one day.

But Soy Bean makes fine soups ($4.25 and $4.95 for smaller bowls to share, $6.25 for large) especially the cleanly executed hot-and-sour and egg drop renditions.

And it produces a hefty portion of impressively cooked scallops with black bean sauce ($10.95). The sauce was not the gluey, gloppy stuff served elsewhere.

As for those in our pasta-crazed society who measure a Chinese restaurant by its noodles, they'll not go wrong by ordering a chow fun (rice noodle) dish here, either the thin, vermicelli-like ``chao chow''-style Singapore chow fun ($6.95) or the combination of beef, chicken and pork with the flatter, wider, chow fun rice noodles ($7.95).

Both of these come forth as large enough platters for up to four diners to share comfortably, so you don't have to worry about getting enough to eat at Soy Bean.

And with its page after page of menu options that surprisingly includes an entire segment of steamed specialties prepared without sugar, salt and cornstarch, are served with sauce(s) on the side and brown (instead of white) rice, Soy Bean is obviously geared to please everybody.

Yes, everybody. Even those who may not care for the exalted soy bean.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Soy Bean.

Where: 19100 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. (Also at 11966 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 310-447-6526.)

When: Open for lunch, dinner and snacks from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Lunch specials served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Recommended items: Hot and sour soup, egg drop soup, steamed bun (Shanghai dumplings), honey-glazed walnut shrimp, whole fish, scallops with black bean sauce, Singapore rice noodles (chao chow), combination chow fun.

How much: Shareable starters from $3.50 to $7, entrees from $6 to $22. Beer and wine. AE, MC, V.

Wine list: No formal list at present. Very limited number of wines by the glass or bottle.

Reservations: Call [phone].

Our rating: Three stars for food; Three stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: At Soy Bean's new Tarzana location, owner Peter Ly, left, and chef Li Huan display a few of the restaurant's specialties.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer