DINING BEAT : VALENTINE'S MEAL TOPPERS.

Byline: Larry Lipson

Restaurants often give away a rose or add a bottle of bubbly to a dinner in order to fill the tables on Valentine's Day.

But Boxer, the intriguing little restaurant at 7615 Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles, may well be the first that ever promised his and hers boxer shorts as a ``topping off of the last course'' for its $80 per couple, prix-fixe meal.

Rack of lamb or lobster are the main dishes preceded by crab timbale with asparagus or a champagne poached oyster starter. And dessert is the chef's idea of a ``special lover's surprise.''

Reservations: [phone].

More mainstream is the bottle of Taittinger rose champagne included in the price of the single seating repast (7 p.m.) with piano and violin accompaniment in the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills.

New chef Katsuo ``Suki'' Sugiura presents a four-course meal starting with a choice of a soup, five-spiced chicken or a blue crab cake and followed by a yellow and red tomato salad. Entree options are swordfish, salmon, free range chicken and beef tenderloin creations. Dessert pairs strawberries with white chocolate and pink champagne syrup. Tab is $85 per person.

Reservations: [phone].

Bistro to the north

Billed as a modern Italian-American bistro, Chiaso has opened at 23329 Lyons Ave. in Santa Clarita.

The menu features all the expected dishes plus a few surprises like rabbit in a mushroom-espagnol sauce with herbed polenta ($15.50), chicken breast stuffed with wild boar sausage over caponata with risotto ($12.95) and a pasta of soba noodles with roasted peppers, straw mushrooms, snow peas, ginger, garlic and Thai chile oil ($11.50).

Also, the wine list offers a number of reasonably priced bottlings with over a dozen ticketed under $20 and a chardonnay actually priced at $13. Reservations: [phone].

Zagat surveying diners

Zagat is looking for food lovers who are willing to participate in the Fall 1998 edition of its annual Los Angeles Marketplace Survey. Those who get their survey responses in before Feb. 27 will receive a free guide when it's published.

For survey forms call [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Chef Katsuo Sugiura is serving a four-course meal, including strawberries with white chocolate and pink champagne syrup for dessert, for Valentine's Day at Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills.