CHEF YUJEAN SPECIALIZES IN KING, ER, KANG-SIZE FLAVOR.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

The new edition of Yujean Kang's in West Hollywood befits its neighborhood.

Up the street from Morton's and Eclipse, it gives the Westside's show-biz community an opportunity to enjoy Kang's spectacular Chinese food in an equally spectacular setting.

Unrecognizable from the older-style, red-boothed Alberto's, the landmark Italian restaurant that occupied the building for the past 25 years, this is a modern, open, airy dining room featuring sleek, modern decor - Asian in subtle but not overpowering ways.

There's a dramatic brick sculpture of a lion biting a sword facing as you enter, slate panels with velvet and jade in the rear, and screens made from 14th-century Sung Dynasty wooden apertures secured from ancient Chinese residences forming a semiprivate area at the front left corner of the dining room.

A modern interpretation of a Chinese village is depicted on a painting hanging on the right-hand wall.

The restaurant, with a clean, uncluttered facade, attracts a mixed clientele, young and old, some dressed casually in jeans or shorts, others to the nines. But they all seem to be able to handle their chopsticks with ease.

Kang, for those unfamiliar with him, is the young Chinese chef from the same Kang family in Berkeley that wowed Bay Area diners. He relocated to Pasadena, where he drew accolades from just about every critic who visited his Raymond Avenue restaurant. And yes, there were one or two chiding him for not bringing his act straight to the Westside.

His food, while definitely Chinese, takes a giant step or two outside those somewhat rigid lines of tradition.

Using truffles, Italian parma ham, top-quality veal and lamb, and words such as polenta on his menu for dishes that are seductive and original without losing their Chinese personality, Kang quickly built a devoted clientele from near and far.

And with a passion for fine wine, he developed a list that has consistently caused wine lovers to gape, salivate and practically gyrate with joy after experiencing his fare with a marvelous Alsatian or difficult-to-get Californian bottlings from such wineries as Stony Hill and Grace Family.

So finally, for those devotees who constantly begged him to come closer, he and his wife, Yvonne, set up shop in West Hollywood.

And now the Kang brand of Chinese food - dishes such as his signature picture-in-the-snow soup ($4.50), where a bowl of a delicious steaming broth features a snow scene painted atop an edible cap of pure white meringue - woos an even larger audience.

An evening meal can start with a serving of eight perfectly formed, diminutive dumplings ($6), delicate and delicious, spiced zestfully with hot chili oil; or a rarity such as pieces of Chilean sea bass marinated, daubed with shrimp paste, sandwiched with a tofu sheet top and parma ham with sesame seeds on the bottom, then pan-fried to crispness.

Though absolutely superb and listed at $8 for two, we would have liked a larger portion, enough to satisfy both of us one evening.

But there is certainly adequate portioning of Kang's cold thin noodles ($10), a side dish picked as an appetizer another time and substantial enough for sharing.

These are skinny vermicelli, flavored with garlic, light soy and cooked in a shallot-infused oil. They're prepared with mustard greens and shrimp, sport a cucumber garnish and delivered with a spicy sesame sauce.

Kang makes wonderful, top-quality loin of veal ($16), pork or lamb dishes. His veal arrives cut in strips and sauteed simply with a garlic and soy veal reduction, melded with a mixture of cremini and enoki mushrooms, and crested with crispy yam strands.

His equally effective premium pork loin ($17) strips are interspersed with thinly cut shallots, leeks, chives and garlic.

He does fresh, crunchy Louisiana prawns three ways, one with black caviar, fava beans, chanterelles and morels ($22), and my preference, with soy bean, yellow chives and cilantro ($20).

Sweet, tender, sea scallops ($18) are delivered in a scintillating sauce of beef stock and passion fruit juice spiked with Chinese grain liquor and chili oil.

And dishes from a simple Szechwan-style chicken offering ($14) to a whole Beijing - or Peking - duck ($35) are cooked impeccably.

Eggplant ($7) and French bean ($7) accompaniments are just as immaculate, and most importantly, great-tasting.

And if you've enjoyed some of Kang's spicier creations, a soothing sweet ending is supplied by his warm rendition of kumquat ($5) with ginger-honey ice cream.

Yujean Kang startled us in Pasadena. Now the original oohs and aahs have turned into enthusiastic acceptance as the local unofficial monarch of modern Chinese cooking has been all but actually crowned at his new West Hollywood restaurant.

Call him King Kang.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Yujean Kang's.

Where: 8826 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood.

When: Open for lunch from noon to 2:30 daily, for dinner from 6 to 11 nightly.

Behind the scenes: Yujean Kang is chef-owner.

Recommended items: Tiny dumplings in hot chili oil, Chilean sea bass pot stickers, picture-in-the-snow soup, cold thin noodles, sauteed French beans, sauteed pork loin, loin of veal, Beijing duck, kumquat polenta with ginger-honey ice cream.

How much: Appetizers and soups from $4.50 to $7.50, accompaniments (noodles, rice, vegetables) from $8.50 to $15, entrees from $14 to $22 (except whole Beijing duck, $35), desserts $5 to $6.50. Full bar. All major credit cards.

Wine list: Unusually deep, conscientious inventory of rare and remarkable wines on a six-page list includes a beer and ales page.

Reservations: Suggested. Call [phone].

Our rating: Four Stars for food; Three and One Half Stars for service; Three and One Half Stars for wine.

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Photo

Photo: Yujean Kang stands in the sleek dining room of his n ew restaurant in West Hollywood.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News