Virazon Presents French Cuisine Rare And Spare

----------------------------------------------------------------- Restaurant review

XX 1/2 Virazon, 1329 First Ave. ($$$) Lunch ($8 to $12) 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Dinner ($16 to $25) 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Beer, wine. Major credit cards. No smoking. Reservations: 233-0123. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Cold, drizzly night outside Virazon, classy new French outpost just below the south Market on First Avenue. The door had been left open, clearing some kitchen smoke. But the room was warm, the greeting cheerful and the waiter prompt.

I ordered the fillet of baby black sea bass appetizer ($9). It arrived on a bed of tart mustard greens and surrounded by a soft coral moat of a superb cream sauce created with pureed lobster roe and celery root. The knife eased into the fillet - and didn't make it all the way through.

Only the top quarter-inch of the fish had been pan-seared enough to flake. Underneath, the flesh was not merely rare, but gelatinous, cohesive and raw. Well, raw fish is increasingly in fashion.

I sawed, lifted the first bite, chewed. And stopped chewing. Gingerly, I began picking out bones. Three on the first bite. Two on the second. Eventually, three more.

I laid the eight fish bones in neat repose on the rim of the plate, alongside a wad of uncooked bass.

"How was the fish?" asked the waiter.

"Bony." I pointed to the bones.

"Oh," he said in cheerful concurrence. "OK."

That cleared up, he cleared the plate and returned with an aromatic order of Braised Lamb Shank ($18) and lentils, topped with a scattering of flageolets (French white beans). The lentils were fine. The lamb was fork-tender and completely off the bone but still juicy and flavorful, rich with overtones of red wine, thyme and rosemary.

Minimalist presentation

The presentation was spare. Brown lamb, brown lentils, off-white beans and a lonely sprig of decorative thyme cast as solitary minimalist art.

The beans were quite crunchy. Al dente (Italian, some could say, for "to the dentist"). I finished a glass of $6 red wine with a slice of very nice country bread (from London's Bakehouse in Bellevue) and huddled back into the weather.

Despite that uneasy introduction, Virazon showed in later visits that it is (or can be) a substantial French restaurant. It's a reincarnation of the former Un, Deux, Trois, with a new chef, Astolfo Rueda, joining founding chef, Judy Schocken, to expand upon and upgrade the original take-out Euro-bistro.

Rueda's a considerable talent. French-born and trained (in Strasbourg), with years of experience in Argentina, he later graduated from DePauw University, arrived in Seattle three years ago (by motorcycle) and worked in two high-level kitchens: Gerard's Relais de Lyons in Bothell and Rover's near Madison Park.

He explained the bones in the fillet a few days later: They contribute a slight flavor, he said, and their removal tends to destroy the tidy integrity of the fish. Hence, the pincushion inclusion was by design, not oversight. And whether seafood or rabbit, Rueda pan-fries and grills rare.

Rueda's menu changes daily, although many items appear regularly. The emphasis is on seafood and game. Scottish Wood Pigeon ($19 with a juniper berry sauce), Sauteed Venison with Armagnac Sauce ($18) and Roasted California Guinea Fowl ($16) are frequent visitors.

Soups and salads

A recent Soup du Jour ($5) was a laudatory cream of mussel, with a subtle kiss of saffron. Beet and Goat Cheese Salad ($5 at lunch) could not have been better: a short cylinder of julienned beets, under a casting of 100-year-old balsamic vinegar, with a circle of goat cheese drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil. For those seeking a major salad fix for lunch, Virazon offers a presentation of three salads for $9, an Eggplant Couscous Salad with a citrus vinaigrette and a mixed seasonal greens salad augmenting the beets and goat cheese.

Grilled Oregon Rabbit ($11) was served rare, sliced and fanned in a skillful sauce of reduced red wine and rosemary, with a dollop of mashed potatoes and a wild mushroom tart (cepes and shiitakes) laced with diced green apples, garnished with nasturtiums.

Vegetarians will appreciate both a nightly "Chef's Inspiration," based upon produce from the Market ($15) or the five-course vegetarian menu ($35).

Virazon (the name means shifting wind) should do well. But I wish Rueda would make a policy shift and bone his fillets.

(Copyright, 1996, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.)

John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants.