RESTAURANTS / Max Jacobson : A Feast of Great Oysters, Tasty Spearfish and Salmon

Consider the oyster. Food writer M.F.K. Fisher did. And so, for that matter, does McCormick and Schmick, a new Irvine eatery that serves the best oysters this side of Puget Sound, plus a variety of other knockout seafood specialties. Don’t be surprised to discover that you are going to have to wait for a table.

The restaurant is the latest member of a chain that originated in the Pacific Northwest, headed by Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick of Traditional Concepts Inc. This company owns wholesale fisheries and other related concerns, and the result is a broad variety of what the company boasts as “impeccably fresh fish.” It may be a silly motto, but the fish are tremendous.

As for those oysters, there they were, gleaming on their bed of crushed ice: tiny Olympia and fat Kumamoto, salty Quilicene and sweet Skookum, even Golden Mantle atop their op-art shells. I slurped them up one by one from the oyster combination platter, unadulterated by lemon or cocktail sauce. I even ignored the crusty sourdough bread the waiter dumped on our table. The oysters themselves were so perfect that the meal could have ended then and there.

The meal went on, though, and so did my appetite. Something called rock shrimp popcorn was wonderful. I smeared them with a tangy remoulade and finished off the whole basket myself. The house chowder was creamy and overly salted, brimming with chunks of sweet, deep-sea fish whose names I couldn’t quite place. A vinegary salad of marinated green beans with a red-pepper bacon dressing had plenty of kick. And the main dishes, Hawaiian spearfish in a chipotle pepper sauce, and Copper River salmon with bay scallops and cream sauce, were terrific.

The side dishes that accompany all seafoods--green asparagus in butter sauce, and a tiny pasta called semi de mellone (it looks like tiny grains of rice)--make an amazingly positive impression. Spearfish (a member of the swordfish family) had the character of a meaty tuna with an oily aftertaste. And Copper River salmon, pan-fried in sweet butter, was flat-out one of the best things I have ever tasted: tender, juicy, and subtly perfumed with the rushing waters of an icy Northwest river.

I tried to think of a better meal I might have had in a San Francisco seafood emporium but couldn’t. Foggy City fish houses are clearly what McCormick and Schmick tries to emulate, and despite the absence of such classics as Hangtown fry and oyster stew, they more than bring it off.

One look around the mahogany and beveled-glass dining room and you realize that it has been designed by a sentimentalist. With its plush booths in little alcoves, Deco-style, stained-glass lighting fixtures and a long, Hopper-esque counter beside the grill, it has the charm of a men’s club. The only thing lacking is the patina that you find in a Sam’s or a Tadich’s.

Naturally, the local glitterati are turning out in force. Both times I dined there I faced a long line at the podium. Lines will get longer, too. Blame that on specialties like fine, flaky crab cakes with jalapeno mayonnaise. Or firm-textured broiled sea bass with Jamaican spices. Or a sumptuously grilled Ling cod with sauteed Dungeness crab legs, in beurre blanc. The menu changes daily.

And because the menu is quite lengthy, you don’t even have to love seafood to be happy here. One contingent of white-toqued chefs behind the counter broil New York steaks and filet mignons while another finishes off marinated chicken, Cajun cheeseburgers or turkey sandwiches. I tasted several of the grill items. No complaint.

Now that I’ve finished raving, there are some imperfections. I ordered crab, which came elegantly served in a long cocktail glass. The only problem was that the crab was totally flavorless. A dish called lemon-pepper prawn salad sported a hefty price, beautiful greens (mache, arugula and butter lettuce) a fine vinaigrette . . . and big, fat prawns that might as well have been Styrofoam. And what began life as an intelligent combination of linguine with sweet, smoky mussels and green asparagus ended it as a big bowl of tasty mush.

Service was spotty, too. The restaurant may be doing a brisk trade, but the servers don’t necessarily have their sea legs. One evening I asked a waitress to differentiate the oysters on the combination platter for me, and she looked at me as if I had asked her to recite the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Another evening, my waiter, clearly under time pressure from an overloaded station, seemed to bristle visibly every time I asked him about a dish. I assume that the management will soon amend those faults.

The dessert list is nothing much, relying heavily on everyone’s assumed weakness for chocolate. There is chocolate mousse, a dry double-chocolate cake, a drier chocolate-peanut butter slice, and the one saving grace, a chocolate truffle torte good enough for seconds. If you don’t like chocolate, I recommend a dozen Olympias. Bring your own Sauternes.

McCormick and Schmick is moderately priced. Lunch and light entrees are $4.95 to $7.95. Appetizers are $2.75 to $8.25. Oysters are $7.50 to $11.90. Soups and salads are $1.95 to $12.95. Seafood specialties are $9.90 to $18.50. There is a Chardonnay-dominated wine list printed on the back of the menu card.

McCORMICK AND SCHMICK

2000 Main St., Irvine

(714) 756-0505

Open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m.

All major credit cards accepted