A Restaurant With Attitude

Through the imposing steel doors of the week-old Asylum (“It’s like a haven, not a nut house,” a waiter assures) is a dramatic high-ceilinged space, one on which a lot of money and architecture was spent.

Sitting in one of its comfortable booths, admiring, say, an artful light sconce, you might think to yourself, “I am in the right place.” But are you?

Asylum is one of L.A.’s growing number of Restaurants With Attitude. And Restaurants With Attitude always have something to hide--usually a back room.

Asylum’s is one of the most impressive. A very discreet side door leads to a concrete hall lined with thick red velvet curtains--it seems like you’ve accidently stumbled backstage. Then you enter what seems like . . . a whole other restaurant.

There are booths, a bar, a lounging area in front of a fireplace, and a deejay who peers down from a window high above the dining room. Ultimately, this room is more a club space than an eating space.

But the eating is pretty good here. Asylum’s Guy Leroy is a fine chef; the problem is he never seems to stay put. In two or three months, he may be on to another restaurant. For the moment, though, he’s cooking what the restaurant calls Euro-California cuisine, which means it’s, uh, eclectic: crisp, Chinese-style duck with plum sauce; steak and mashed potatoes; beet soup with fluffy tofu dumplings; grilled turkey with tamales and chorizo.

* Asylum, 182 N. Robertson, Blvd., Beverly Hills. (213) 657-8484. Entrees $15.50-$22.50.