New Beverly Wilshire

I ordered the chicken in a pot. The waiter stood rigid, shaking his head. “I’m not telling you not to order it . . . “ he said, although clearly he was. “That’s left over from the old menu--we just put it there for people who remember the old restaurant.”

For people who don’t, he seemed to be saying, there were better things. And there were: the food at the new Dining Room in the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (213) 275-5200 is surprisingly modern for such a stuffy setting. The room has been redone so that it is all dark woods and painted walls, but the menu is pure California-French. You can eat ravioli of ricotta and artichokes, lobster salad made with apples and sweet corn, grilled Norwegian salmon with Chinese mustard. Order roasted chicken and it comes with a wonderful puree of parsnips, a little spinach cake and a sprig of rosemary.

And, of course, if you don’t want to eat that sort of stuff, there’s always chicken in a pot.