Madame Tong's

This really is summer camp.

Maybe it's supposed to be a sly send-up, or simply Chinatown-via-Southampton. Only the flamboyant decorator must know. The kitchen often doesn't. And everybody wandering the premises has to lighten up.

Early on, the cast included the dismissive reservations desk, whose operators must have been coached to cultivate arrogance. About a month into the operation, at least the tone had changed. The dining room staff, however, was, and is, attentive and personable.

In full, this is Madame Tong's at the JL Beach Club, the latest production by Ed Kleefield, who brought you Jean-Luc East in East Hampton, JLX Bistro inSag Harbor and Jean-Luc on the Upper West Side.

Here, little black dresses abound, but they're so last century compared with the maitresse d's swirl of embroidered red silk. Gilded statues and ornate mirrors, lantern lighting and at least one gold dragon spark the dining room -- a deftly painted conceit festooned with enough parasols and fans for a WWE match between Madame Butterfly and the Mikado. Seating spills outdoors, for a more casual, white-slacks Hamptonian scene, appealing on a breezy summer night.

So, nibble on the tamarind-glazed spare ribs, meaty and hinting of ginger and garlic. They're a satisfying opener, both old-fashioned and updated. And the vegetable dumplings, in their bamboo steamer, also taste fine.

But shrimp shumai show up pasty, the roast duck-and-vegetable spring roll turns cool at the center, and cold, sticky sesame noodles are merely inedible.

Instead, consider the well-seasoned "Shanghai monster wonton soup," which floats a savory, solitary wonton roughly the size of a tennis ball.

Your best main courses are the moist, Sichuan-glazed Alaskan halibut, broiled and benefiting from a soy marinade; and the aromatic, snowy striped bass, steamed with ginger and scallions, atop tofu and baby bok choy.

Madame Tong's "amazing lobster saute" amounts to respectable lobster in black bean sauce, but no more. "General Lloyd's chicken," an overcooked, dull sweet-sour number barely makes private first class. Tso and Ching must be scowling.

The "Western-style" sliced sirloin, ordered medium-rare, materializes very gray, accompanied by a boring vegetable stir-fry. Spicy shredded beef with a julienne of vegetables packs oily, peppery heat but that's it.

Some of the sushi rolls are as overdone as the rest of the establishment. The red dragon roll, made with cucumber, eel and spicy tuna, has a texture suitable for toddlers. The "Hamptons California" roll, with crab, avocado and "Cutchogue cucumber" takes the local to nowhere.

Rather than these, consider the clean, flavorful yellowtail roll with fluke outside; the straightforward salmon roll; or traditional nigirizushi, with tuna, salmon, striped bass, yellowtail or fluke on ovals of vinegared rice.

Chocolate defines the four desserts. Fresh pineapple chunks, ready to dip in a rich chocolate fondue, lead the sweets. Chocolate-ginger creme brûlée: OK. The "choci-roll" with chocolate and coconut, however, is dry. And, of course, Madame Tong's presents an oversize fortune cookie with chocolate sauce.

It's empty.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 8/14/05.