CIUDAD OCCUPIES NEW CULINARY TERRITORY.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

It's pronounced ``see-you-dahd'' and it means city in Spanish.

Ciudad, downtown's flashy new nuevo Latino restaurante that brings us the flavors of Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile, Peru and El Salvador, is the latest inspiration of television's ``Too Hot Tamales,'' chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken.

The co-owners of Border Grill, Santa Monica, can now call themselves the ``Too Hot Pasteles'' or ``Too Hot Pupusas'' as well.

Their new restaurant is a blast of cubistic color in the former digs of Sonora Cafe in the Union Bank complex on Figueroa Street.

Ironically, it's a swap of sorts, because Sonora had already moved into the ex-City restaurant space on La Brea vacated by Feniger and Milliken.

It's a place for culinary adventures.

Initially it makes sense to have a great time here grazing on entradas (starters/appetizers), though you'll probably end up spending more than you thought you would. (Those plates of food seem to disappear so fast.)

You might begin with quinoa (a South American grain pronounced ``KEEN-wa'') fritters ($5) with a romesco sauce of mashed red peppers and almonds and empanadas ($6.75) stuffed with a combination of mushroom and Swiss chard plus chipotle cream.

Both titillate the palate. Yes, you'll want more - like pupusas ($5) and pasteles ($6.75). The former, served with a tasty shredded cabbage salad and a squirt of hot yellow pepper sauce, are little pastry turnovers stuffed with white cheese and loroco (a Salvadoran herblike flour). The latter are delicious Puerto Rican-style banana tamales made with a taro root and plaintain masa (instead of the familiar Mexican corn) and filled with the surprisingly effective combination of pork, olives and raisins.

There are other smaller bites: Corn cakes called arepas ($7) with spicy sausage and romesco sauce, saladlike plates with romaine hearts and chile strips ($5.50) or arugula and celery root ($5.75), oxtail-stuffed potato ($7.50), marinated shellfish ($8.50), gnocchi made with plantains and tomatillos ($7), calamari with chorizo sausage and beans ($6.75), and even a salmon tartare ($8.50).

Preceding all these is the dramatic bread presentation for every table of a curved and seeded giant crisp and a peppered tortilla plus chickpea and tapenade-style dipping sauces.

If you end up finishing this before your entrees arrive, the server will happily make sure you get seconds.

Ciudad's entrees may sometimes appear anti-climactic compared to the starters.

The presentation of many beige or brown entrees may not be as colorful to the eye. But the tastes are always pleasurably assertive, from something as globally traditional as grilled calf liver ($15), here as a dinner entree served with a gratifying vinegar sauce, to the exotic platter of a pounded-thin, flat sabena-style filet mignon for lunch ($12.75).

This highly recommendable dish arrives with the steak balanced against a nifty salad of marinated mushrooms, carrots, jicama, watercress and a chimichurri dressing along with that Old World - a la Holstein-style - finishing touch: a glitzy, hot-sauced fried egg.

Ciudad is a bit more mainstream when it presents a delicious rendition of Cuban-style fried chicken as a salad dish at lunchtime ($9.50), with its greens tossed with an orange-cumin vinegar dressing. Also on the plate: fried yuca and roasted peppers. I could eat chicken served like this every day.

Beef short ribs ($16.50 at dinner, $13.50 at lunch) in a sweet and peppery barbecue sauce are meaty wonders and pair well with their unusual plate companion - braised cabbage studded with fruity pineapple and plantain.

Just-as-``meaty'' portobellos come layered with roasted peppers and artichoke as a compelling vegetarian entree ($12.50) or with hard-to-find - though a little dry - skatefish ($16) that the kitchen arranges nicely with polenta and green olives.

In addition to a well-researched wine inventory and a bar that concocts numerous exotic drinks, something from the dessert selection is a must here.

There's the well-executed cream cheese tart ($6) and the ``conversation piece'' banana split ($3.50) as well as an assortment of clever sweet mixtures.

Ciudad is certainly a refreshing change from new Italian or barbecue restaurants.

It points out that Los Angeles should not yet be dismissed as a city without culinary creativity.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Ciudad.

Where: Union Bank building, Retail Center, 445 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles.

When: Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and for snacks from 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays. Also for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday nights and from 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays. Late snack menu available until 11 p.m. nightly except Monday.

Behind the scenes: Chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, television's ``Too Hot Tamales,'' are co-owners. Danielle Reed is executive chef. Shawn Laughingtree is general manager.

Recommended items: Quinoa fritters, Argentine empanadas, Puerto Rican pasteles, pupusas, sabana filet mignon salad, Cuban roast chicken, calf's liver, portobellos with artichokes, beef short ribs, banana split, cream cheese tart.

How much: Starters from $5 to $8.50, entrees from $11.50 to $22, desserts from $3.50 to $7.50. Full bar. All major credit cards.

Wine list: Thoughtful selection of wines include significantly less expensive bottlings of good choices from Spain, Argentina and Chile.

Reservations: Suggested. Call [phone].

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

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) At left, executive chef Danielle Reed and general manager Shawn Laughingtree offer unusual Latino flavors at the new Ciudad, co-owned by TV's ``Too Hot Tamales,'' Susan Feniger, above left, and Mary Sue Milliken.

Andy Holzman/Daily News