RESTAURANT REVIEW : Cross-Cultural Kitchen Evokes No Beefs About Quality of Beef

Everything is upside-down: The Soviets tell Solidarity to replace the Polish communists, the crash-stunned stock market hits a record high, and Japanese chefs are rivaling the French as sauciers.

Not all Japanese chefs, of course. Not even all Japanese chefs in America make fine sauces, but some do. Among them is the chef at Maiyo, a Japanese restaurant in Encino.

This is actually very strange since the European dishes at Maiyo, which rely on highly sophisticated saucing, are generally much better-executed than the Japanese dishes. The tempura, both vegetable and shrimp, has been, on more than one occasion, cardboardy, as if it were a reheated frozen Japanese TV dinner.

On the other hand, although chicken teriyaki was banal, beef teriyaki was superb (the beef is top-quality, and my guess is that it is the chef’s favorite foodstuff). Here was a tender, flavorsome beef filet seared on the outside, rosy and juicy on the inside, with a light touch of teriyaki sauce, not salty and thinned perhaps with rice vinegar. It combined the best of the East and the West.

But this wasn’t the best beef dish at Maiyo. Filet of beef in red wine tarragon sauce was. A generous portion of the same thickly sliced quality beef as in the teriyaki was mounded up like a crown roast on a light, yet complex, sauce.

This clear reduction of beef juice with wine and--unexpectedly--fresh tarragon and rice vinegar made the visit to Maiyo worthwhile. If more dishes were of this caliber, Maiyo would be a place to seek out.

Another successful European dish was grilled chicken in lemon butter sauce. Large, diagonal slices of chicken breast--so white, so moist that they could have been poached--were surrounded by a pool of sauce pebbled with diced, barely cooked eggplant, zucchini and onion, with grains of red fish roe scattered all over.

Less interesting, perhaps because it is more conventional, was grilled chicken in Madeira sauce with hothouse mushrooms and pink peppercorns. Although well-handled, its sweetness did not appeal to me. The entrees are served with miso soup, an especially tart sunomono (pickled cucumber and seaweed salad) and steamed rice.

The appetizers were a mixed bag. Salmon skin salad was a joy. Crisped strips of the tasty skin were scattered among fine strands of carrot and cucumber and sprigs of cress. It was a refreshing salad of contrasts, united by a cloud cover of shredded dried bonito that imparted a touch of natural maritime saltiness.

Less interesting was Dynamite--clams, scallops and mushrooms in a mayonnaise enriched with smelt roe and served in a large shell. Calamari Bourguignon might have been quite good if they had arrived at the table hot. The texture of the calamari was agreeable and the frying deft. And the delicate herbed lemon butter sauce on which they rested was innovative and worked well. Gyoza , stuffed dumplings similar to Chinese pot stickers, were flavorsome and appealingly textured.

My feeling is that Maiyo isn’t the best place for sushi. In spicy crab and cucumber as well as fresh water eel with cucumber, the rice was gummy, although the eel, which had been quick-fried, made an unusually pleasing contrast to it. Yellow tail collar, an especially succulent part of this flavorsome fish, had been wok-tossed to just the right moment.

Desserts are limited to green tea ice cream and tempura ice cream. The latter sounds more peculiar than it actually is. A ball of hard-frozen ice cream with a thin shell of cake is quickly dipped into hot oil. The frying imparts a crispness to the cake without melting the ice cream. It’s neither exciting nor unpleasant.

The inconsistency in the cooking at Maiyo isn’t the restaurant’s only peculiarity. On Friday and Saturday nights, the place turns into a karaoke bar, where customers get up and sing to videos made especially for this purpose.

If Maiyo’s cooking were up to the best it is capable of, it would be a place I’d be more inclined to recommend. The large second-story room with its island sushi bar and large windows, overlooking a patio and large tree, is very pleasant. The service is friendly and usually efficient. I hope that time will bring some welcome changes to Maiyo.

Recommended dishes: salmon skin salad, $6; filet of beef in red wine tarragon sauce, $12.50.

Maiyo is in the Plaza de Oro, 17167 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 789-8287. Open for dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, till 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Full bar. Parking lot. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $14-$22.