The South Bay Is Soaking Up Some Mediterranean Soleil

Quick: what comes to mind when you think of eating at the beach? A juicy burgeroozing sauce, and a heap of fries? A messy chili dog? A wedge of pizza blanketed with tomato and gooey cheese? I think of my mother’s fried chicken, gritty with sand, washed down with homemade lemonade. Beach, after all, spells casual. And fast. Not because you have to get back to the office, but because there’s all that ocean and sand out there, waiting.

That may be why the South Bay communities have not exactly been a magnet for ambitious restaurateurs. Sure, Wolfgang Puck has a cafe there, and McCormick & Schmick as well as P.F. Chang have staked a claim, but interesting, independent places have been scarce. That’s beginning to change, as restaurateurs such as Alex Lombardo of Soleil in Manhattan Beach take a chance that they’ll find an audience for something more challenging than burgers.

Lombardo, former chef at Drago in Santa Monica and a chef/partner at the late Cucina Paradiso in Redondo Beach, chose the Mediterranean as his theme for this restaurant smack in the middle of downtown Manhattan Beach. It’s a lively, fun-loving place where regulars claim their stools at the large, roomy bar, and groups of friends wander in for dinner in the loft-like dining room.

Mediterranean here means a mix of popular Italian, French and generic California cuisine dishes, with an occasional Spanish-influenced recipe. Portions are disarmingly generous. The wine list includes offerings from 10 countries, and Soleil offers more than 50 wines by the glass.

Start with one of the small pizzas. The look is not very prepossessing, but they taste like the real thing. The Margherita uses a mix of tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes, and the vegetarian option topped with olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes is appealing. The beans and steamed clams appetizer is more a soup, but good. Beef carpaccio hasn’t got much flavor. And foie gras comes, oddly, on what tastes like a cross between minestrone and chopped salad.

Main courses are stolid and hearty. The paella, served in the traditional two-handled iron pan, is larded with shrimp, chicken and thin slices of chorizo--half risotto, half paella. Bouillabaisse turns out to be the best of the main courses I tried, a mix of fish and shellfish in a light tomato-tinged broth. A Basque-inspired chicken with tomatoes, peppers and serrano ham is OK, but not inspiring. Osso buco Milanese is dull. And the 16-ounce New York steak arrives overcooked and dauntingly chewy.

I know it’s the beach, but Soleil’s menu is so safe it doesn’t allow Lombardo to show the flair for Italian dishes he demonstrated at Cucina Paradiso. If only to keep himself interested, he may need to risk a little more for Soleil to really shine.

* Soleil, 1142 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach; (310) 545.8654. Open for dinner Tuesdays through Sundays; for lunch Tuesdays through Fridays. Appetizers $6 to $15; main courses $11 to $29. Valet parking.