WESTSIDE SUPPER CLUB VERY INVITING, ONCE YOU LOCATE IT.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

If you want to be ``in like Flint'' there has to be a measure of exclusivity present.

Evidently, that's the reason for the lack of signage on the building housing the new Flints restaurant on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica.

If there weren't valet parking attendants hovering under and around a fancy umbrella (with the name Flints inscribed in small letters) outside the door, Flints could be the hardest eating place to find on the Westside.

As you enter, perhaps as confirmation that you're in the right place, you might also notice a small window to the left of the entrance with the name lightly embossed on it.

Nicolas Cage found Flints. And so has the actor who played Flint in the movies in the '60s, James Coburn.

But even with such celebrated patronage, Flints is not yet a packed place. There are plenty of tables available most of the time, even on Saturday nights.

Those who've discovered it, however, appear to be having a pretty good time.

That's because Flints has throwback appeal. It's comfortable and clubby and produces some excellent food.

Designed to resemble a '40s steak house and cocktail lounge, it has all the necessary trappings: deep red booths (one in a curtained alcove), fine wood flooring, a magnificent crystal chandelier, a long, well-stocked bar that proffers a list of a baker's dozen of exotic martinis and other libations ($8 each).

And for smokers, especially cigar puffers, Flints reveals an almost-private, unobtrusive, wrought-iron fenced boulevard patio.

Dinner customers are served good bread and complimentary marinated Nicoise olives in a special platter that resembles a reclining woman.

Dishes from the kitchen, headed by skillful chef David Northrup, can be old-fashioned favorites like lobster thermidor (current price $37), a vertical white pot of great onion soup ($5) and a crab louis salad ($12), or such contemporary favorites as a superb tuna tartare appetizer ($10) and a beautifully executed piece of cedar-planked roasted salmon ($18), appropriate with red wine because of its beurre rouge (red butter) sauce. Salmon also shows up here as a special ($24) on certain nights, perched on a couscous cake with roasted garlic and a rare hollandaise-type sauce that arrives enhanced with blackberry and pomegranate flavoring.

Lobster fanciers will be thoroughly gratified with the kitchen's lobster bisque ($9) effort; it's rich, creamy and handsomely swirled, a lovely version.

And they'll probably enjoy Northrup's rendition of the once-vaunted thermidor, though purists might suggest that instead of the liquor flavoring there should be strictly dry sherry and white wine, as done by Wheeler's, the famed British seafood restaurant, and similarly chronicled in the Sunset Seafood Cookbook recipe.

Needless to say, the chunks of lobster possess welcome crunch and distinctive taste.

Generous portions of spinach and potatoes (mashed or fries) accompany many of the main courses.

And the steaks sampled here have both been satisfying in size, tenderness and requested cooking time.

The porterhouse ($32) is immense, a full 24-ounce empire cut of prime-grade beef that holds its flavor on both sides of the bone. The New York ($26) materializes as the ultimate stripper steak, prime, juicy, a sizable -3/4-pounder, perfectly marbled to achieve needed flavor without too much fattiness.

Also among Northrup's triumphs is his wonderfully moist, full-portioned rack of lamb ($24), plenty to eat, served with an intriguing lavender-infused barbecue sauce and a heap of mashed (here called ``smashed'') potatoes.

Disappointing though, was a pork loin plate ($27) one evening, too dry and rather tasteless.

But you won't go wrong with a plate of puffy seafood beignets ($9) as a starter, several with sweet scallops inside. The beignets come with an inviting remoulade dipping sauce that has a pronounced peppery kick.

As for endings, the kitchen gets nostalgic with its engagingly sinful plate of rich Dandy Don's ice cream, bananas and caramel saucing, the melange known in the old days as bananas Foster ($7).

And there's more caramel, also cinnamon, in a clever bread pudding recipe ($7) that has more crunch than mushiness, thank goodness, and comes in the same white pot as the onion soup, making it big enough for four to share.

Service has ranged from spotty to very attentive during review visits, but there's no doubt that good intentions are there.

And diners should not pass up a visit to Flints' very accommodating restrooms, beautifully designed, complete with jugs of mouthwash and little cups. It's automatically lit when doors are opened.

No end to the surprises here.

And if Flints is successful, perhaps we'll see restaurants named after those other movie secret-agent guys, Bond and Powers.

THE FACTS

The restaurant: Flints.

Where: 3321 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica.

When: Open for dinner from 6 to midnight nightly, to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Recommended items: Onion soup, yellowfin tuna tartare, lobster bisque, seafood beignets, grilled salmon, porterhouse and New York steaks, lobster thermidor, rack of lamb, bananas Foster, bread pudding.

How much: Starters from $5 to $12, entrees from $12 to $37, desserts $7 each. Full bar. All major credit cards.

Wine list: Some 55 labels are listed without vintage dates but with good range in price and type, starting with whites as low as $16, reds $18. Sixteen wines are available by the glass ($5 to $10 each). Seven bottlings are ticketed under $20, and 24 more are $30 or less. But the best wine feature here - attention, all wine collectors - is the corkage fee, which is absolutely zero.

Reservations: Helpful. Call [phone].

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

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Chef Dave Northrup prepares lobster thermidor in the kitchen at Flints.

Lily Barrett/Special to the Daily News