ANOTHER KIND OF PURPLE POWER.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Peyman Afshar brought unusually creative food to outer suburbia with his Leila's in Oak Park. Evidently it has been successful enough for him to open a second innovative restaurant, this time approaching inner suburbia with his unveiling of Purple Basil in Calabasas.

With food dubbed Amer-Asian, Afshar and his talented chef Richard De Mane have put together a menu of tasty dishes, strong in Asian accents, but obviously with an American palate in mind.

Consequently, there are no bizarre concoctions or fiery seasonings. The pricing is relatively moderate with starters under $10 and entrees under $20 except for one steak plate.

Bread may be a passably soft, fresh rye. But the butter is memorable, flavored appropriately with purple basil, garlic and chives.

De Mane dusts blue point oysters ($8) with panko bread crumbs and black sesame, cooks them quickly and lightly, and delivers them with a nicely tart yuzu and lemon sauce for an inspiring starter.

Chicken yakitori ($7), the chicken pieces tender, moist, flavored with tamari, a thickish soy sauce, and cleverly skewered on chopsticks that can be used after the chicken is removed, arrives paired with crunchy julienned daikon radish.

A crispy wonton napoleon of shiitake mushrooms ($7) provides a striking appetizer, richly sauced with a buttery ginger and anise star mixture.

And there are refreshing salad beginnings, one a handsome Thai-style chopped salad ($7) with crunchy cucumber, jicama, corn, radicchio, baby bitter lettuce, red onion, peanuts and a mildly spiced vinaigrette dressing.

One of the best entrees is a cleverly fashioned vegetable b'steeya ($13) which chef De Mane bakes with a crispy filo dough covering over layered potatoes and wild mushrooms interspersed with roasted garlic. He sauces it effectively with a light lemon-soy beurre blanc.

He also uses shiitakes with a comforting braised beef dish ($15), this time with flat chow fun noodles and a demi-glace enhanced with dark soy and sherry.

He grills pork ($16) with ginger and soy, calling it Mongolian. The result is tender, juicy meat that comes with good-tasting sweet-and-sour cabbage. And his quickly seared ovals of yellow fin tuna ($17) lean on a refreshing salad base of julienned cucumber and jicama.

Untried to date are De Mane's skewered shrimp with lemongrass flavoring ($18), his roasted garlic chicken in a lemon-soy jus, his peppercorn- crusted filet mignon ($23), a braised short ribs plate with sweet hoisin sauce ($19) and his five-spice grilled salmon ($17) with Chinese mustard sauce.

Indelible impressions were made by two endings ($7 each) from Purple Basil's kitchen, one a crispy turnover that covered a delectable banana soaked in spiced rum, accompanied by Dandy Don's good cinnamon ice cream, and a superb chocolate bread pudding effort perched provocatively in pistachio creme anglaise.

If this restaurant does well, and so far it looks like it will, can we expect restaurateur Afshar's next place to be in the central or east part of the Valley? Or will he jump all the way to the west side?

I'm sure he relishes such possibilities.

PURPLE BASIL

Where: 4719 Commons Way, Calabasas.

When: Open for lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, for dinner 5 to 9:30 p.m. nightly.

Behind the scenes: Richie De Mane is chef. Peyman Afshar is owner-host.

Recommended items: Warm shiitake Napoleon, tamari chicken yakitori, panko-black sesame oysters, Thai chopped salad, b'steeya of potato and wild mushrooms with roasted garlic, shiitake-shallot braised beef, sweet sake-seared yellow fin, grilled Mongolian pork, spiced rum banana turnover, chocolate bread pudding.

How much: Starter from $6 to $9, entrees from $14 to $23, desserts $7 each. Wine and beer. Major credit cards.

Wine list: Careful selection of wines, mostly Californian, a few from Oregon, properly vintage-dated, from $6 to $10 by the glass, from $23 to $71 per bottle. Reserve list available. Corkage: $10.

Reservations: Needed. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three and one half stars for food; Three stars for service; Three stars for wine.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Peyman Afshar, left, owner of Purple Basil, and chef Richard DeMane gather in the dining room with New Zealand green-lip mussels, foreground, five-spice grilled salmon, middle, and hoisin-braised short ribs.

(2) The five-spice grilled salmon at Purple Basil in Calabasas features stir-fried vegetables and Chinese mustard sauce.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer