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Friday, October 31, 1997

Limbo's sets the stage for cuisine with a Caribbean flair

RESTAURANT: New spot on Third Street doesn't achieve authenticity

By Tim Yun

Daily Bruin Contributor

Crystalline water, white sandy beaches, reggae music and exotic cuisine. Jerk chicken, pina coladas and mini paper umbrellas afloat tropical drinks. While it is seemingly impossible to gratify the hunger for an island paradise, the newly opened Limbo's Restaurant on Third Street attempts to bring that little bit of the Caribbean to the West Side.

Decked out with multicolored walls, bizarre statues and live steel-drum music, the restaurant seems out of place amidst the hustle and bustle of West Hollywood. Though festively designed, the interior layout and decor appears a bit too contrived to achieve a credible Caribbean ambiance.

However, in its short existence, Limbo's has garnered a steady clientele. During the week, the clients vary, ranging from the trendy, hip college crowd to the more mature, older patrons. On the weekends, champagne brunch (which is just a slightly modified version of the dinner menu) provides a more mellow atmosphere.

Though the ambiance reflects great efforts toward Caribbean authenticity, the food fails to live up to the atmosphere.

With brunch comes a choice of a relatively uneventful fruit salad or the soup of the day. Though generally bland, the sweet-potato-with-ginger soup provides a generous helping of ginger, which adds a delayed fiery kick that may be a bit too spicy for those with sensitive taste buds.

Despite the unimpressive first course, the appetizers manage to provide the meal with redeeming value. The lobster and crab Dungeness crab cakes, served with a fresh mixed salad, are fried to golden-brown perfection. The outer crust of each cake provides the perfect shell, allowing the stuffing to retain its texture and consistency. Chef Christopher Hylton creates a flavorful - but not overpowering - entree, flecked with a mixture of spices, fresh bread crumbs and crab meat. Tossed with the house dressing of vinaigrette combined with a hint of guava juice, the accompanying salad complements the crab cakes with a light citrusy taste.

The main course, risotto with grilled vegetables, is, unlike the crab cakes, more pleasing to the eye than the taste buds. A medley of grilled mixed vegetables consisting of squash, carrots and leeks, drizzled in a light tomato-based sauce, makes the dish colorful but lacking in substance. Hidden underneath the expertly charred vegetables is basically a flavorless lump of fried risotto. Although crispy on the outside, the patty has the same consistency and taste of day-old oatmeal.

What Limbo's lacks overall in the entrees, it certainly makes up for in the dessert menu. With a wide variety ranging from the most mundane to the exotic, the dessert menu is the definite highlight of the meal.

The banana creme pie with rum caramel sauce is not the average slice of pie. Piled atop a perfectly flaky crust, the whipped cream sweetened by natural sugars from the bananas and combined with sweet rum sauce completes a dessert that is not too heavy or too sweet.

The banana mango creme brulee, encrusted in a hardened shell of caramelized sugar, lives up to the reputation of other dessert items. A bit heavier than the creme pie, the brulee balances consistency and sweetness. Although the banana flavor overshadows the hint of blended mango, its taste is not overwhelming and provides a pleasing finishing touch to brunch.

Limbo's does not quite fit the bill as an authentic Caribbean-style meal. With prices ranging from $12 to $16 for a dinner entree alone, the meal might be a bit on the steep side for those on a tight student budget. However, for after-dinner coffee and dessert, or to enjoy the rhythms of live steel drums, Limbo's is definitely worth a visit.

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