A Little Touch of Downtown : <i> McCormick & Schmick’s, 633 West 5th St., fourth floor, First Interstate Building, Los Angeles, (213) 629-1929. Entrees $11.50 to $21.90.</i>

Just as Brooklyn-raised Ralph Lauren tries to evoke a patrician past neither he, nor most of his customers, ever experienced, so does the new restaurant McCormick & Schmick’s try to be a classic downtown restaurant for the sort of classic downtown Los Angeles doesn’t really have. McCormick & Schmick’s dark wood, beveled glass and Lauren-esque upholstery suggest downtown Chicago, mid-town New York, places where people walk more than they drive. But here it is, right at the top of the escalator-enhanced “Spanish Steps,” and inside the bright white First Interstate tower that glares in the hot L.A. sunshine.

Like its nearby competitor, the Water Grill, McCormick & Schmick’s specializes in fish and seafood. It’s a branch of the well-known chain that is most famous in Portland and Seattle. There are straightforward things--oysters on the half-shell, steamed mussels, shrimp cocktail, and a selection of pan-roasted and grilled fish that changes daily. For the fish-squeamish there’s New York steak and, at lunch, a good-sized cheeseburger-and-fries plate for $4.95.

Then--this is the ‘90s--there are seafood potstickers, fish tacos, polenta with bay shrimp, rare ahi tuna served with wasabi . . . you know, trendy stuff.