CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK

Canelé's partners look to enliven Atwater Village with their sophisticated sensibility.

By S. Irene Virbila, Times Staff Writer

When I called the new Canelé in Atwater Village last week to make a reservation, the voice on the phone told me I didn't need one. OK, it was a weekday night, and I believed her.

But when we pulled up, it was clear the little restaurant was hopping. I could see the cooks in the open kitchen tossing the contents of sauté pans, waiters rushing back and forth, folks from the neighborhood coming and going. And every table happened to be occupied — except the communal one in the front window.

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We took one end; a couple with their baby and one set of grandparents occupied the other. For a neighborhood place like Canelé, a communal table makes sense. Diners on their own, large groups and small, can all fit, and especially on a weekday night, it feels convivial and urban.

Opened by Corina Weibel and Jane Choi, who have worked respectively, at some very good places in Los Angeles (Lucques) and New York (Balthazar), Canelé shares some of that same California-French-Mediterranean sensibility that infuses the others. The restaurant's looks are more diner than upscale restaurant with prices that fall somewhere in between.

The small, concise menu is scrawled on a large blackboard at the front. It's intended to change frequently, with the seasons, and right now it includes some truly delicious plates.

Take the farmers market salad: It's made with tender speckled and green lettuces in a lovely crème fraîche and shallot dressing. It's not often you can find a simple salad this beguiling. Celery root salad, too, is not the usual céleri remoulade but the grated root mixed with parsley and greens in a sprightly sherry vinaigrette. Seared calamari come drenched with lime juice. But the proprietors may want to rethink the pricing on the slice of pissaladière. For $8, the thin-crusted tart covered in caramelized onions and dotted with olives could be bigger.

All through the evening, friends of the two partners drop in to say hello and stay for a glass of wine or dinner. Nobody's going to say no to the herb-roasted chicken with ratatouille and potatoes slathered in tapenade. Or the homey roasted pork loin served with polenta and slowly cooked greens. Or even Coop's omelet, listed on the appetizer menu, but a smart stand-in for a main course as well (and it can be ordered with or without goat cheese). There's a nice roasted leg of lamb presented with couscous and a shrimp paella that's something like a cross between risotto and paella in which each grain of rice has absorbed the intensely flavored broth. Nice, very nice.

Open only a few weeks, it's still green, but Canelé could be just what's needed to rev up the neighborhood. Oh, and for those nostalgic for the former Osteria Nonni, which this restaurant replaces, the cooks have kept Nonni's aglio olio on the menu.

Canelé is named for the diminutive French pastry cooked in fluted copper molds. After you've finished, as you head out the door, you're offered a warm canelé.

These are notoriously difficult to make, and Canelé's bakers don't have them quite down. They'll get there. Right now it's the gesture that counts. It's a little something to say thank you for coming.

virbila@latimes.com

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Canelé

Where: 3219 Glendale Blvd., Atwater Village

When: 5:30 to 10:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays. Beer and wine. Street parking.

Price: Appetizers, $6 to $10; main courses, $9 to $22; desserts, $6.

Info: (323) 666-7133