NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS

If you’ve been lamenting the loss of the little place around the corner where the food was always fine and you were always welcome, don’t despair. The new neighborhood restaurant is alive and well. This is the kind of place where you’d be comfortable in jeans or a fancy dress, where they won’t give your table away if you’re 10 minutes late, the kind of place that you could drop in for a drink and decide to stay for supper. All prices exclude drinks. ANGEL CITY GRILL (7505 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (213) 655-0955). The Angel City Grill is a post-modern evocation of a movie musical past, shaken (not stirred) with a dash of California cuisine. It’s got glass bricks, silver sconces, twinkling candles, potted palms and dusky lighting. But be prepared to knock ankles with your partner--seating can be cramped. The versatile menu ranges from Caesar salad, designer pizzas and hamburgers to seafood pancakes, lots of freshly grilled fish and iconic desserts. The music is upbeat and the backdrop (low lights, big city and all) may make you feel like you’re on On the Town. Open for dinner nightly, lunch on weekends. All major credit cards. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $15-$55.

CAFE EUROPA (326 1/2 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 277-2200). Is it possible to enjoy a perfectly satisfying meal in a restaurant the size of a large broom closet with the ambiance of a basement rec room? Yes. With its rough-hewn wood paneling, Tiffany-shmiffany lamps, corny German knickknacks and illuminated wall picture, this restaurant won’t win any interior design awards, but the food is fresh, carefully prepared and nicely presented. Entrees range from homemade Bratwurst to broiled lamb chops rouladen, Wiener schnitzel, sauerbraten and chicken Dijon. For dessert, there’s basic but wonderful homemade apple strudel served with good vanilla ice cream and an airy homemade chocolate cake. Open Mon.-Fri. for lunch and dinner, dinner only Sat. Beer and wine. Major credit cards. Dinner for two: $25-$50.

GILLILAND’S (2424 Main St., Santa Monica, 392-3901). Perhaps it’s because owner Gerri Gilliland is Irish that the place feels so much like a pub. Certainly its clean California lines don’t give it any foreign airs--and nothing about the menu, except the inclusion of Irish stew, is even vaguely pub-like. The menu changes frequently, but an antipasto plate may include oily, spicy Sichuan eggplant, smoked salmon, tangy marinated mushrooms, rough chunky little pieces of tomato, and in the middle, some cubes of fresh pineapple. There’s also lamb chops, a steak, a couple kinds of grilled fish. The most satisfying dish on the menu is surely “Irish Stew With Champ.” The stew is hearty and the Champ--mashed potatoes with leeks and parsley and scallions and lots of butter--is a winner. Open daily for dinner only. MC, V, AE. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two: $30-$50.

GRANDIA PALACE (5657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 462-8628). The Grandia Room has been converted from a dive into a “palace” packed with Dorian columns, bas-reliefs, and classical Grecian statuary. The food is decidedly Greek in its balanced approach, clean taste and simple flavors. Meats, fish and free-range chickens are grilled. Lamb is roasted and the dinner salad is so crisp and fresh it crackles. Greek specialties, which change daily, include a light moussaka or pastitsio . Desserts are among the most healthful in town--fresh fruit salad with yogurt and nuts, a fresh fruit plate, or a flan of apples and raspberries and figs with wild berries. Open for lunch and dinner daily. MC, V. Reservations accepted. Valet parking evenings. Liquor, beer, wine. Dinner for two: $16-$20.

KELBO’S (11434 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles, (213) 473-3050). The timid may recoil at a decor that employs pulleys, barrels, old bottles, street lamps, plastic spheres encased in fishnet and the best collection of illuminated blowfish this side of Tahiti. Kelbo’s is a shrine to the ‘50s, nay the ‘40s, when vegetables were something you served children and meat reigned triumphant. First stop is the bar, and Kelbo’s concentrates on tropical drinks made with rum, vodka, gin and its own concocted fruit-juice bases. What the restaurant does best is Hawaiian-style spare ribs. Other entrees include honey-dipped Hawaiian fried chicken and mahi-mahi, filets of dolphin marinated and cooked in a rotating hot-air oven. Skip dessert, and head to the Coco-bowl, a disco that plays ‘40s style music. Open for lunch and dinner daily. Full bar. All major credit cards. Dinner for two: $20-$25.

PARTNERS AND COMPANY (1836 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 661-0711). Opening the front door, you find yourself in a large lovely airy room done in shades of peach and filled with plants and flowers. Pick up the menu and you get another surprise: While both the ambiance and menu are quite sophisticated, the prices are extremely reasonable. At lunchtime a tuna sandwich virtually redefines the terms. There is a fine fat hamburger, to which you can add all sorts of things like blue cheese, grilled Maui onions, avocado or bacon. At night the entrees come with soup or salad and all are generously served. There is spicy fried chicken, grilled fish, moist turkey served with a mousse of corn and wild rice and a skinny slice of blackened prime rib. Open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Fri., dinner daily and Sunday brunch. MC, V, AE. Dinner for two: $20-$30.

RACHEL BISTRO (8420 West 3rd St., Los Angeles (213) 653-2190). There are eight tables covered in pale tea rose, a haphazard collection of West African art (all for sale) and two big green photo murals of plants and gardens that fit right into this bricolage. Chef Gaby Nabet’s cooking combines elements of French, Italian and North African cuisine and the menu ranges from pastilla and merguez sausages to pita sandwiches and salad nicoise. There are six luncheon specials, including the chicken Basquaise, which come with soup or salad or fresh fruit for $4.75. There are sandwiches and salads and very fine fish soup. Nabet also makes succulent chocolate candies and truffles and, when requested a day before, he will whip up an Algerian couscous. Open for lunch (and take-out) Mon.-Sat. AE, DC. Lunch for two: $8-$22.

SHOWLEY-WRIGHTSON (2531 Eastbluff Drive, Newport Beach, (714) 760-9701). This is not essentially a restaurant but a sort of gourmet one-stop. The decor isn’t much more than a few shelves of imported mustard and an old French butcher’s signboard on the wall. There are homemade stocks, cakes, pates and Italian breads. At lunch there are a dozen or so salads. But above all there is a virtual flaunting of virtuosity--a menu that changes entirely (well, almost) for every meal, every day, and might offer Cajun, Indonesian, Italian and French dishes at the same time. Everything (which can include chicken liver pate, dinner salad with pine nuts, Tuscan-style white bread, bouillabaisse with tomato and saffron broth) seems to be fun to eat. Open for lunch Mon.-Sat., dinner Tue.-Fri. (it will start serving dinner on Sat. in January.) MC, V, AE. Dinner for two: $19-$30.