South Shore Suffolk, New York

Peninsula

Peninsula stands out in the rising tide of Chinese-Japanese restaurants.

Bringing together the two radically different cuisines has become fairly common on Long Island. It's an insurance policy: There should be something for everyone.

But it's rare that the two are equal partners under the same roof. The irony at Peninsula is that while most of the fare is reliably good Chinese, the best dishes are Japanese, specifically from the sushi bar.

All this is presented in a large, opulent dining room big enough to house a factory. You may enter via a bridge over a pool of fish, arriving in a spot where the ceiling emulates a starry sky.

A life-size horse statue stands sentinel near a well of more fish, a plastic tub of coral salt positioned underneath. A sleek fish tank with more tropical swimmers acts as a room divider. The whole place has a pleasant glow, with chairs on wheels that allow you to turn toward your visual effects of choice.

Service can be very attentive, or require hand waving, depending on how crowded Peninsula gets. The food is more consistent on a weekday night, too.

From the Chinese side, begin with a savory rendition of hot-and-sour soup, workmanlike wonton and tasty egg drop, each in a lidded porcelain bowl. The scallion pancake is a respectable opener, too.

But cold noodles with sesame sauce are bland, steamed shrimp dumplings are like pasty dim sum, and the Hong Kong-style pork chop, ultra sweet. Tangy and spicy shrimp: neither.

You're better off with a Japanese detour to plump, tender chicken teriyaki. The house's miso soup also is a major improvement on the familiar industrial version.

Nigirizushi, or uncooked fish on ovals of vinegared rice, is easily recommended. Try the fine mackerel, striped bass, fluke and maguro tuna.

Peninsula's creative "seasonal special rolls" are very good, often excellent. The group named for selected Fire Island communities includes a yellowtail-scallion combo with avocado and sesame seeds extolling Saltaire; a tuna, salmon, yellowtail, white tuna and avocado production that's Kismet; and the attractive spicy scallop number dubbed Atlantique.

Fair Harbor translates into spicy tuna rolled in tuna; Ocean Beach, spicy tuna, soft-shell crab and green tobiko. The artful spicy tuna roll, with chopped tuna, zesty mayo and tempura flakes, carries no local designation other than the restaurant's name. The May roll playfully combines fried oysters with avocado, scallions and spicy mayo, rolled inside-out with the flying fish roe, .tobiko.

Return to the Chinese menu for a delicate, steamed sea bass or gray sole. The crisp whole sea bass with ginger sauce does have crunch, but the fish itself is overdone. Mega-prawns are surnamed Shanghai, deftly sauteed in brown sauce and set on a field of snow peas.

But orange-flavored beef is chewy and short on the hot-sweet contrast. General Tso's chicken, while tender, also needs more heat to elevate it beyond colonel.

The variation on beggar's chicken has more to it. This isn't exactly the legendary lotus-leaf-wrapped fellow long-cooked in clay. But the boneless chunks are moist, generous and complemented with bamboo shoots.

Peninsula's big bird, however, is Beijing duck. It's a single-course serving, with flavorful meat. The skin isn't quite parchment crisp -- for many, the primary appeal of the dish. But compared with the preparations at so many other eateries, it's well worth sharing.

For the record, Peninsula satisfies with the usual stuff, from chicken with broccoli to shrimp with lobster sauce and all sorts of fried rice. You'll like the eggplant with garlic sauce and the spiced string beans on the side.

Fried banana, fried ice cream, coconut-flavored gelatin and a deep-fried sesame-seed-coated ball of sesame paste are the more ornate desserts. But stick with the fresh fruit, typically sliced fresh pineapple and honeydew melon, which sometimes are ripe.

The fortune cookies are optimistic.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 3/6/05.

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