WORSHIPING AT A NEW L.A. TEMPLE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Going to Temple may not exactly be a religious experience, but from a culinary standpoint it is certainly memorable.

Temple is a dramatic restaurant - it opened this past winter - on La Cienega's restaurant row that was previously a '50s-style American coffee shop.

Its conversion to ``modern Korean fare with Brazilian overtones'' in a coolest-of-cool contemporary settings is a design, decor and dining- with-a-difference triumph by its creative fashion-designer owners, their architects and American chef.

It's about as hip a restaurant as one could possibly expect to find in the Los Angeles area, but seemingly without any of the superior or arrogant attitudes usually associated with La-La-Land's dining-out hipness.

It pays to reserve a table earlier in the evening for dinner here. By earlier, I use the Westside's understanding of early, not the suburbanite's, thus suggesting reservations should be made before 8 p.m.

That's because at 7 p.m. Temple may appear half-empty, but by 8:15 it's comparatively full and by 9 p.m., all seats are generally occupied.

That includes the white-tented, enclosed side patio, or the attractive, glass-walled main dining room with deep brown woods and ice blue upholstery tones.

In the front, past the waterfall, to the left of the entryway, an inviting small bar sports white leather stools and Danish Klint-designed, hand-folded, spherical light shades.

By the time you dabble with starters, beverages, entrees and desserts, you'll probably spend $40 or $50 per person at Temple. This wasn't always the way. Prices on some items have gone up by as much as a third since Temple's opening.

But you receive extremely attentive service here. And the unique qualities of Temple's food and ambience give it extra worth.

Soups are good, particularly a creamy sweet corn bisque ($10) enhanced with a sprinkling of lobster and cilantro leaves. Spice-loving diners might prefer the peppery Korean-accented chicken soup ($8) with tofu and oyster mushrooms.

Chef Richard Aramino's beef carpaccio starter ($14) is almost entree- size and superb. It pairs lightly seared, top-quality, paper-thin sliced sirloin with red onion, daikon sprouts, a soy-mustard sauce and sesame leaf.

Just as impressive are his pastels ($11), three triangles of pastry stuffed with smoked chicken, artichoke, mushrooms and prosciutto, sauced with a peppery ponzu mixture.

He fires up a crab cake with house-produced kimchi ($12), crusts it with panko bread crumbs and rests it on mixed greens, daubing the plate with a ginger-mango coulis.

You'll receive more kimchi along the way with an array of crunchy, cool and spicy complimentary sides that are replenished if desired.

Aramino's spring roll ($10) arrives filled with rare ahi tuna and a soy- lime dipping sauce.

His lightly baked Washington State oysters ($15) are a joy on sauteed spinach with a green apple garnish and a chili-ginger seasoned mayonnaise.

Korean-style bap (steamed rice) dishes can be had as an appetizer as beef sam bap ($9) which is sesame and pine nuts mixed with rice in lettuce cups plus miso-sauced sirloin, or as the main course dol sot bi bim bap ($16).

This comes in a stone pot with sirloin, spinach, carrots, zucchini and shiitakes on steamed rice boosted with a sesame, chili and soybean paste and daikon broth. Flavors galore here.

Best Temple entree is an occasional special of gal-bi ribs ($26), wonderfully seasoned, rich in flavor, perfect in texture. There's also a whole sea bass (loup de mer) special ($28) that's as dramatic as it is gratifying.

Black cod steak ($20) also has great flavors, but watch out for the little bones.

Grilled ribeye bulgogi steak with whipped sweet potatoes ($24) should satisfy the meat and potatoes type. The some who like it hot will go bonkers over the least expensive entree, a fiery kimchi stew ($12) with pork, tofu and lots of cabbage kimchi.

A tasty but not remarkable dish is Temple's version of paella ($26) with clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp, chicken, Portuguese sausage and Korean veggies with saffron rice. Unfortunately, in this creation, some of the ingredients, especially the shrimp, arrive overcooked and relatively tasteless.

But there's a salve of sorts in the bread pudding or hazelnut glace desserts ($7.50 each).

The palate definitely needs a sweet ending after a spicy dinner here.

TEMPLE

Where: 14 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills.

When: Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays, for dinner from 6 to 11 p.m. nightly.

Behind the scenes: Chef is Richard Aramino. Owner-hosts are Jun and So Yon Kim.

Recommended items: Soups, pastel, kimchi crabcake, carpaccio, ahi tuna spring roll, baked oysters, beef sam bap, bulgogi steak, kal-bi ribs, whole fish, kimchi stew, braised oxtails, bread pudding, hazelnut glace.

How much: Starters from $8 to $15, entrees from $12 to $28, desserts $7.50 each. Full bar. Major credit cards.

Wine list: Good selection of 35 labels. No bargains. Priced from $28 to $275 per bottle with glasses of wine from $7 to $12.50. Some excellent but expensive sakes. Corkage: $10.

Reservations: Necessary. Call [phone].

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

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Photo:

Richard Aramino, executive chef of Temple in Beverly Hills, and Temple owner So Yon Kim display some of the house specialties.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer