The Gossiping Gourmet:

New on the scene and dramatically set is AnQi, the latest production from the An family, most notably the owners of Crustacean in Beverly Hills. It’s situated just across from Charlie Palmer’s, making a dynamic dining duo in South Coast Plaza.

The owner-designed interior can only be described as stunning, with the architectural fusion of the décor matching the culinary fusion of the menu.

We were first dazzled by the towering back-lit, glass-brick wall of bottles of booze behind the bar. We then took in the enormity of the high-ceilinged space divided into three main dining areas: one exclusively for dining, one with its fireplace for lounging and dining and the third, with its additional bar, for drinking and dining while watching the gigantic wall TV.

Elements of wood, concrete and stone create a modern interpretation of Pan-Asian influences. Rivers of shiny black rocks imply the flowing water element in a Japanese garden. Screens divide the rooms, and red is the accent color. We could go on and on, but let’s get to the food.

Once again, fusion is the order of the day, with influences from Vietnam, Japan and China as well as the U.S., Mexico and Italy (and maybe a few others we missed).

A good portion of the menu consists of hot and cold small plates, which are big enough to share. Our waitress encouraged us to try lots of different tastes, which is just what we like to do. We requested our dishes be served individually rather than all at once so we could savor each one, and they came out at a perfect pace.

Our first dish was the smallest, the big-eye tuna tacos — four little two-bite boquitas, served on rounds of fried wonton skin, topped with shredded green papaya and slices of seared tuna, then finished with jewel-like bits of sweet glazed tomato. The plate was drizzled with pureed tomatillo sauce for extra zing. All in all, it was a very tasty tidbit — spicy, crunchy, sweet and tart.

Salt-and-pepper calamari is their take on the classic Chinese salt-and-pepper shrimp. Deep fried in batter and then refried in salt and pepper in the Chinese way, they were very tasty but too greasy. Shreds of red, green and jalapeno pepper added nice texture. Accompanying the calamari was a really delicious, spicy sun-dried tomato aioli for dipping.

Their signature dish is the An family’s famous garlic noodles, served at Crustacean with crab, offered here as a side order with only the noodles. We would suggest ordering them with something added, as they are just plain garlic-flavored noodles — quite tasty but in need of something for texture and another layer of flavor. Again, we found them a bit too greasy.

The presentation of the sweet-mango-chili-glazed shrimp was lovely, served in a four-compartment white porcelain dish with six nicely glazed large shrimp, decorated with little orange cubes of chopped mango and slices of shitake mushroom. The flavorful shrimp were lightly brushed with a well-balanced sauce that was not overly sweet and had a hint of spiciness. The bits of mango added a fresh fillip.

Crispy rice rolls are similar to the more familiar spring rolls. Here, the wrapper is rice paper filled with chicken, black mushrooms and jicama, seasoned with lemon chili oil and deep-fried. Spring rolls can often be boring and depend on a dipping sauce for flavor, but these had lots of taste, in particular a deep mushroom savoriness, and really needed no sauce. They came with a little bowl of light rice-wine vinegar, which added a tart note and helped to temper the oiliness.

We wanted to try one large plate and, because we were craving some veggies, we chose the vegetarian delight, a mélange of tofu, eggplant, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, snow peas and tomatoes. Each was simply and perfectly cooked, resting in a little pool of delicate broth-like sauce with plenty of flavor.

Meat-lovers might try the caramelized rack of lamb with a red curry demi-glace and dark rum chili sweet potato. The roasted free-range chicken is brick-pressed and served with king oyster mushroom puree and haricots verts. In the fish department, the mirin-glazed Chilean sea bass (one of the tastiest of fish) is paired with a dark rice cake and sauced with spicy white miso.

We couldn’t resist trying the most unusual of the desserts: tofu cheesecake. We were expecting heath food fare and were pleasantly surprised when we tasted this seductively creamy concoction. The delicious dome was sprinkled with pistachio caramel dust and freeze-dried banana bits, then decorated with dots of pureed banana. It almost tasted like cheesecake but lighter and smoother. It was hard to believe that there was no cream in it and even harder to believe it was made from tofu.

At lunchtime, the menu is quite different, featuring a noodle bar, sandwiches, salads, soups, appetizers sushi, tempura and dumplings, as well as a number of large plates.

AnQi

Where: 3333 S. Bristol St., Costa Mesa (next to Bloomingdale’s)

When: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily; dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Prices: Small plates $4 to $12, large plates $12 to $35, desserts $8 to $9. Wine $26 to $795 by the bottle, $9 to $20 by the glass, $25 corkage fee ($50 for magnum-sized bottle)

Contact: (714) 557-5679; www.anqirestaurant.com

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned A La Carte for 20 years and can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com.