CIENEGA HAS A WAYS TO GO TO FULFILL POTENTIAL.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

In the building on La Cienega Boulevard that housed L'Ermitage and Drai's, two restaurants that catered to this town's food and show-biz elite, a couple of well-known chefs from Joachim Splichal's Pinot restaurants hope to re-establish the heady pre-eminence this kitchen and dining facility once enjoyed.

So far at Cienega, its new name, it's an up-and-down situation.

An example of a downer: Can chef Rainer Schwarz prepare a calf's liver dish ($18.50) better than the dry, leathery version experienced at Cafe Pinot, where he was cooking when that restaurant first opened?

Not particularly.

Well, it certainly isn't as dry. Exactly the opposite this time. In fact it has a disagreeably viscous quality in addition to being stringy in parts.

And on the same quiet Monday night when Schwarz, according to the waiter, is in charge of the kitchen without partner-chef Jon Furnow's presence, a grilled foie gras dish ($12) is ordered as an appetizer.

This dish, best done by ex-Los Angeles chef Ken Frank (now in Napa), needs that very slightly, almost imperceptibly crisped exterior to really gratify. Cienega's rendition, sad to say, leans toward runniness.

Yet, the same chef on the same night supervises the cooking of a superb veal cheeks appetizer ($8.50), silky in texture, richly flavored and totally rewarding.

This from a rarity seen more in New York and San Francisco restaurants than here.

And he skillfully carves small medallions of tender (except for one gristly piece) reddish-pink lamb loin that the menu terms ``coularde of lamb steak'' ($23), perching them atop a ``train'' of wonderfully fragrant risotto.

On another evening when both chefs are probably on hand, roasted tomato soup with crunchy rice kernels ($5.75) and a fancy arrangement of Balik smoked salmon ($9.75) begins the meal which, unfortunately, is interrupted by service communication problems.

The runner arrives with a bowl of what he cheerfully announces as ``seafood soup,'' instead of the tomato soup that has been ordered.

The correct soup arrives later.

And a request that the sauce be served on the side of a filet mignon steak entree topped with foie gras and served with a huckleberry sauce ($26) doesn't occur.

Consequently, the plate has to be returned.

The corrected dish arrives later.

Nothing wrong with the food tastewise. The steak is perfect, and the sauce a rich, fruity reduction.

Meanwhile, whole roasted baby monkfish ($19.50) arrives as a headless and tail-less filet, smaller than expected, even for a baby, but absolutely delicious.

And then, suddenly, desserts (lemon mousse cake and chocolate cake, regularly $7.50 each) are delivered ``on the house,'' evidently to make amends for the evening's service mishaps.

And then more appeasement. Two dessert wines (a riesling and a dark muscat) are brought and poured with apologies for the first visit's slip-ups, when a bottle of wine from the list couldn't be found and a second choice also was apparently ``hiding somewhere.''

All of which points out that the best intentions are there even if the results aren't always.

There's no doubt in my mind that Cienega possesses both the talent and the opportunity.

It remains to be seen if they'll be utilized.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Cienega.

Where: 730 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood.

When: Open for dinner from 6 to 10 p.m. nightly except Monday, to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

Behind the scenes: Chef-co-owners are Jon Fernow and Rainer Schwarz.

Recommended items: Roasted tomato soup, veal cheeks, lamb coularde steak, Balik smoked salmon, baby monkfish, filet mignon with huckleberry sauce, lemon mousse cake.

How much: Starters from $5.75 to $11 (except caviar, $35), entrees from $17 to $26, desserts from $6 to $8. Full bar. All major credit cards.

Wine list: Comprehensive selection of vintage-dated bottlings, well over 100 on a five-page list, most of them steeply priced, none under $20, 17 under $30, and the 10 over $200 include five Williams-Selyem '96 pinot noirs at $250 each. Seventeen wines by the glass are priced from $5 to $14. Corkage: $12.

Reservations: Suggested. Call [phone].

Our rating: Two and one half stars for food; One and one half stars for service; two stars for wine.

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Photo

Photo: The chocolate wave cake is among sweet indulgences at West Hollywood's Cienega restaurant.