RESTAURANT REVIEW : Kaktus Presents the Familiar, With Elegance

“Can you believe this is Beverly Hills?” the man at the next table was shouting over the din. “It’s so . . . lively!”

It’s true. Kaktus is lively. Everybody seems to know everybody else, and the place is always packed. You’ll never get a seat anywhere but the bar without a reservation, and at lunchtime you can forget about the bar too--there’ll be a mob there, albeit a well-dressed mob, waiting for takeout.

Upscale Mexican and New Southwest restaurants have been a trend for months now, but they’ve usually been opulent showplaces. Kaktus, though, is small and modest, without much in the way of decor but a turquoise accent here and there plus the odd tile on the wall. Roasted green pepper salsa in a volcanic stone molcajete and beer in crude hand-blown glasses, that’s about as colorful as it gets here. So what’s the secret?

Could it be fashionable food? There are a couple of exotic attractions on a basically familiar Mexican menu: huaraches, which are essentially tamales filled with black beans, and some dishes that could pass for California Cuisine, such as a chicken breast in ground sweet peppers (tasting much like paprika) or a filet mignon steak in a mild sauce of chipotle chile. There are a couple of American Heart Assn. dishes, too, and Kaktus is careful to use no bean that is not a black bean, in deference to current fashion.

I think, though, the secret isn’t novelty but a certain elegance in preparing the familiar dishes. The red and green sauces taste of fresh tomato or tomatillo rather than peppers and they are remarkably pretty on the plate. In shades of rose and jade, they look--especially when alternating with cream or spattered with shredded cheese--like elegant ceramic art.

Enchiladas suizas are light and fresh-tasting, instead of the usual excuse for eating mass quantities of melted cheese and sour cream. The shredded beef flautas, which come in red and green sauce, are crisp and not at all oily. The seafood cocktail called vuelve a la vida-- full of scallops, squid and shrimp--has a tomato, pepper and lime sauce that is more flavorful than you find at most of our Mexican seafood restaurants. I happen to be bored beyond words by tostadas, but the chicken and black bean tostada at Kaktus is exceptional, light and crunchy and not overloaded with lettuce.

One night the sopa del dia was corn soup with lots of green mild chiles and a slug of queso fresco, fired up with assorted dried peppers. It was the first really distinctive version of this overworked dish I’ve had. But the best thing I’ve found here is the restaurant’s unusual version of pescado al mojo de ajo. Typically you get fish in a garlicky sauce, but here the fish is roasted, peppered and smothered in a mixture of fried garlic chips and strips of mild red chile tasting more like dried tomatoes than anything else.

There’s a nice rice pudding for dessert, cold and crunchy, heavy on the cinnamon and clove. Of course, the place serves a couple of flans; I’d pass up the one flavored with sweet potato--it is a bit dull and heavy--in favor of the excellent coconut flan with its light, creamy texture and dark caramel sauce. The crepes with toasted almonds are also excellent, though the buttery caramel sauce was said to have chocolate in it, which I could not detect. Neither could my dessert counselor, who can ordinarily detect chocolate in the next room, but there were no complaints.

Kaktus, 400 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 271-1856. Open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays. Full bar. Street parking. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for two (food only), $35 to $65.