Gone Fishin’

People who work downtown don’t just live on burgers, wraps and French dip, though it sometimes feels that way. They can certainly get fish, for instance. But until recently, their choices were either humble fish sandwich joints or grand seafood palaces like McCormick & Schmick’s and the Water Grill.

In its five months of existence, City Pier has staked out a middle ground. You can get takeout there, but it’s also a handsome place to dine, with a stunning all-around mural based on the conceit that your table is on a pier surrounded by the bright blue sea. And the prices are very reasonable.

It’s in a little arcade across Spring Street from the Reagan Building. You walk in, check out the wall menu, a board of daily specials and the display of vegetable dishes, and place your order. If you’re planning to eat on the premises, you carry your food to a metal-topped table. There’s also a garden dining room, which takes reservations.

The owner, Julie Stone, was a managing partner at 72 Market and Maple Drive, and chef Peter De Lucca is a veteran of 72 Market, Le Toque, Le Dome, the West Beach and Abiquiu. He comes from Lafayette, La., so there’s often a Cajun touch, starting with the bottle of hot sauce on every table.

Now, I know people who’d say De Lucca’s gumbo is really some kind of California jambalaya. It’s rice topped with a thick stew of sausage and crayfish, with lots of red and yellow sweet peppers. There’s a definite flavor of roux to it, sure, but no okra or file. Well, who cares what he calls it? It’s a fine, savory, mouth-filling dish.

His shrimp remoulade is likewise not the kind you find in New Orleans, where they favor a sort of cocktail sauce spiked with cayenne, whole-seed mustard and minced parsley and green onions. De Lucca uses a pink catsup-mayo sort of dressing, but it’s not bad with a squirt of Tabasco on it.

The place is very good with soups. There’s a fragrant shellfish bisque with a couple of crayfish swimming around in it. Even better--one of the best things here, in fact--is the corn and clam chowder, which is pretty much corn chowder mixed with clam chowder. Unlike nearly every “New England” chowder you can get in California, it’s not gummy with flour thickening. It’s just corn, potatoes, clams, sweet peppers and cream.

City Pier’s idea of a seafood taco is a sort of small tostada made with an untoasted tortilla and a tangy green sauce. It also makes its own sort of shrimp, crayfish and catfish po’-boy sandwiches; it’s best to think of them as just good seafood sandwiches, because the place doesn’t have the facilities to deep-fry these fillings properly crisp. The quite good chicken salad sandwich uses largish chunks of chicken in a faintly mustardy sauce on a crunchy toasted roll.

So much for the small stuff. City Pier’s real specialty is the irresistible mixed grill, which is sauteed squash, peppers and tomatoes tossed with grilled shrimp, fish or crayfish (or all, or none). The name might make you expect a no-fat dish, but it’s basically a spicy, slightly oily saute with a heady dose of garlic.

There’s always a fish of the day, which you can get grilled, boiled, sauteed or steamed. The salmon and albacore are always good, but I’d stay away from the catfish late in the afternoon, because it’s likely to have developed a bit of ammonia aroma by then.

The daily special list is where De Lucca gets to show his inventive side. I’ve had sea bass with a subtle, interesting achiote sauce and a garnish of pineapple, mango and papaya chunks. One day, seared scallops came on a fragrant, chewy saffron risotto (for once, a saffron risotto that wasn’t bitter). One day, they’d run out of Creole sauce for a fettuccine dish, so De Lucca improvised a very successful topping of scallops, salmon, garlic, olive oil “and herbs and things.”

There are plenty more items on the menu: cioppino (takes 20 minutes), whole catfish or striped bass on rice, peel-and-eat shrimp, salads with seafood toppings, seafood cocktails. There’s a serious garlic bread, and there are even desserts (from the Cheesecake Factory).

All in all, pretty good catch for downtown.

BE THERE

City Pier Seafood Restaurant, 333 S. Spring St., Suite D6, L.A. (213) 617-CITY, fax 617-3960. Lunch 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. No alcohol. Parking lots nearby. Cash only. Takeout. Lunch for two, food only, $20-$30.

What to Get: corn and clam chowder, shellfish bisque, gumbo, mixed grill, scallops on saffron risotto, garlic bread, cheesecake.