At The Crossroads? Here's A Select Grill

XX The Select Grill, 17171 Bothell Way N.E. Lunch ($5 to $9) from 11:30 a.m. daily. Dinner ($8 to $18) 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until 10:30 p.m. Friday; from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sunday. Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. Lounge, full bar. Major credit cards. Nonsmoking area. Reservations: 365-8000. --------------------------------------------------------------- The Select Grill is a restaurant at the crossroads. In a geographic sense, the crossroads are Bothell Way Northeast and Ballinger Way, the nexus of Lake Forest Park and its shopping center Towne Centre (pronounced by amused locals Townie Sentry).

And all in all, it's not a bad place for a grill, select or otherwise. The neighborhood is upscale, meat and potatoes are well-regarded nearby, and the recession appears to have spared townie sentry.

But it is a crossroads of another kind that is significant at the Select (previously the Sirloin Inn before Mark Cicourel bought it from Consolidated Restaurants). A resolute steakhouse for at least a generation, the Select has been diversifying.

The menu increasingly reflects the growing American march away from slabs of red meat. A new chef came aboard a week ago. Rod Smith moved from the small but stylish La Flambee in Redmond, joining up with Tom Cosgrove, a veteran restaurant manager (Mirabeau owner and El Torito regional manager among other callings).

"Part of what Rod is doing," Cosgrove said, "is lightening things up. Cutting back on the heavy cream-based sauces and adding variety to the menu. He will be bringing the restaurant into the 1990s."

Some might contend that for portions of the Select's dinner card, this could be a 40-year leap.

Truly. This is one of the few bastions of 1950s favorites like the Hot Fudge Sundae ($2.95, and don't sneer; it's wonderful), the Original Brown Derby Cobb Salad ($8.95), a massive and satisfying Apple Crisp a la Mode ($3.25) and 10 - count 'em, 10 - steaks from the grill, priced from $8 to $18.

Frankly, there is little wrong with any of the above. The steaks are nicely seasoned, mesquite-grilled and served pretty much as ordered (we had a couple of attempts at getting a filet mignon grilled to "just the rare side of medium rare," but I am pickier than most.

What was needed was a bit of imagination and a dash of contemporary flair, and as of a week ago that began to appear: Black Tiger Prawns en Brochette With Sun-Dried Tomato Butter ($11.95), Alaskan Halibut, baked and finished with red flame grapes, white wine, almonds and butter, and an impressive Seafood Caesar Salad ($10.95), a classic Mexican Caesar augmented with scoops of chilled bay shrimp, Dungeness crab and small bay scallops.

A gargantuan baked potato is still included with all dinner entrees, as is a steaming basket of garlic bread and a choice of a respectable green salad or a cup of clam chowder. (Try the latter at least once; after removing the pat of butter slowly melting on the top, it is one of the best clam chowders in the city), tinged with crisp-fried bacon, creamy but not gloppy, and crammed with tender clams.)

The appetizers need a little work. Breaded Steak Nuggets ($4.95), for example, served with the Select's special BBQ sauce, are fine by themselves, but heavy and overly spicy as a starter. After barbecue sauce, nothing tastes right except more barbecue sauce.

The Fried Calamari ($4.95) are not the delicate, ringed squidlets usually found, but thick-cut sections of breaded, deep-fried squid. The accompanying aioli is much too strident with raw garlic. Idaho Potato Skins ($5.25) topped with bacon, tomatoes, green onions, cheddar cheese and sour cream are really small meals in themselves (and great bar food), but not a prelude to anything except, perhaps, another pint of ale.

The 10 beef steaks still are the heart of the menu. Corn-fed Midwest beef is available in all of the usual loin and rib cuts (except Porterhouse). Top sirloins, New Yorks, T-bones, rib eyes and filets in different-sized cuts. You don't have to order the 6-inch-long Idaho bakers with them (pasta, a fair rice pilaf, or French fries are offered alternatives), but to tell the truth, the baked potatoes are great (not soggy, not oven-dried, not foil-wrapped), and, without the excessive scoop of seasoned butter, actually good for you.

In addition to two of the steaks, a slightly overdone filet mignon ($13.95 for the smaller 7-ounce cut) and a nicely rare Select Cut New York ($16.95 for more than I could finish), I've tried a couple of the pasta dishes: a creamy Chicken Fettucini ($10.95) and a rich and robust Seafood Fettucini ($12.95). I can recommend both. The pasta was cooked perfectly; precisely al dente.

One thing Smith needs to do is add fresh vegetables to the dinner entrees - all of them. This is the height of the summer growing season. And while a swatch of kale alongside a piece of meat and a potato lends a touch of color (even if it's winter color), a heaping spoonful of green and yellow summer squashes would provide more than mere decoration.

The wine list isn't voluminous (37 entries), but it's carefully chosen and very fairly priced, with few bottlings more than $20.

Through its various incarnations, the Select has served a loyal (and mostly local) clientele well. I get the feeling it is breaking out of an old pattern and adding some needed variety and sophistication.