VIVID PALETTE PLEASES PALATE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

You'd think that a cafe called Bistrot by the Water would overlook a body of water - maybe a lake, or the ocean.

Especially when you find out it's in Westlake Village. There is a lake there, right?

But this tiny eating place (15 tables, 36 seats) is actually located in a scenic office development called the Water Court, featuring a duck pond plus streams and fountains. So the name does make sense.

By this or any name, the clean, spare dining room may actually be serving the best food in the Conejo Valley.

And if such a declaration sounds a bit astounding, make note of the fellow who's doing the cooking here.

Masao Itakura formulated the menu for the very successful Out Take Cafe in Studio City (now in Pasadena, too), where he was founding chef-partner.

Now he's on his own. And those who were amazed at the beautifully presented, moderate- to low-priced dishes at Out Take will understand how he's managed to repeat his first success in this new venture.

Once again, he utilizes oversize white plates for every dish. These, in fact, are his palettes.

His food, be it a simple dish of roasted cod ($8.50) or pan-roasted chicken ($7) consistently arrives as both an artistic delight and palate-provoking triumph.

He perches moist, delicious cod - previously a regular menu item, now an occasional special - on a formed pureed potato bed and tops it with a mushroom-and-tomato mixture. It's really pretty, and it tastes wonderful.

He makes shrimp-stuffed "rolls" ($8.50) in more of a triangular than a spherical or cylindrical shape. They were a solid hit on two review visits when paired with a cucumber salad. But there's a revised menu, I've discovered, that now has them with an avocado curry sauce.

In other minor changes, the finely crafted Dungeness crab cakes ($8.50) now sit in a yellow pepper sauce - previously they were served with a remoulade sauce - and the braised lamb shank ($12.50), a superb and hearty offering, is now delivered on noodles instead of the less popular, but very tasty, bed of green lentils.

Itakura's simple and effective polenta and sauteed mushrooms dish ($6.50) has now been expanded to include baby spinach ($8.50). And the chef sticks solely to shiitakes rather than using a variety of seasonally available mushrooms.

And his nifty ginger spiced chicken salad ($6.50) is now strictly a lunch dish.

There are always specials that are worth trying. One day recently, an impressively stacked and colorful arrangement of a cabbage salad with julienned green and red peppers topped with slices of pink skirt steak ($7) was enjoyed immensely with a red wine.

Gratification doesn't stop at entrees. On the sweet side, apple-stuffed buckwheat crepes with ice cream, a lighter version of a traditional bread pudding and a perfectly wrought creme brulee have been as handsome and satisfying as any of this skillful chef's appetizers or main dishes.

With such creatively wrought uptown fare, it's a shame that Itakura prefers to cook in this tiny, hideaway restaurant. If the place were bigger, more of us could enjoy it.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Bistrot by the Water.

Where: 860 Hampshire Road, Westlake Village.

When: Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays, for dinner from 5:30 to 9 p.m. nightly except Sunday.

Behind the scenes: Masao Itakura is chef-owner.

Recommended items: Vegetable rice noodle soup, petit bistrot salad, polenta with mushrooms, ginger spiced chicken salad, Tunisian shrimp rolls, steamed mussels, crab cakes, roasted cod on potato puree, grilled salmon with buckwheat pilaf, braised lamb shank with green lentils, apple crepes, bread pudding.

How much: Starters from $1 to $8.50, entrees from $9 to $15, desserts $3.50 each. Wine and beer. AE, MC, V.

Wine list: California short list offers four whites, seven reds and no sparklers. Four wines by the glass are $3.50 or $4.50. Two half-bottles are $11 and $11.50. Bottlings range from $13 to $23. Corkage is $10 per bottle.

Reservations: Suggested. Call [phone].

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

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PHOTO

Photo Showing off the artful creations of Bistrot by the Water in Westlake Village, Heather Itakura displays pot-roasted garlic potato cannelloni and chef-owner Masao Itakura holds poached salmon. Bob Halvorsen/Daily News