RESTAURANTS : BOWLING FOR TREATS--THREE IS KEY AT BENNY’S

Not long ago, the stretch of Beverly Drive between Wilshire and Olympic was a culinary no-man’s-land. Now, all of a sudden, you can’t go one week without someone suggesting a meal there--there’s California Pizza Kitchen, Chez Helene, Celestino, Yanks, the Acme Grill and more.

One new addition is Benny’s, as rudimentary an idea of a restaurant as one could imagine: a bright, sunny, skylit room at the far end of which is a table groaning under the weight of several large bowls of food. This is the Irvine Ranch Market deli-case as restaurant, but instead of unlovely Formica, there are white tablecloths and fresh flowers.

Benny’s is not a place for people who have trouble making decisions. Standing in front of about a dozen bowls of equally tempting concoctions--three kinds of chicken salad, pasta salads, pilafs and so on--is akin to standing before the ice cream vats at Double Rainbow. You’re having three scoops, and you want everything you see.

With the patience of saints, however, the people behind the counter describe each dish--some of which are familiar favorites, and some of which display a more exotic, mysterious Middle Eastern bent--then wait while you decide, waver and change your mind.

Should you, for instance, have the chicken salad that’s dark red with chili, cumin and ginger and provides a pleasant, spicy heat? Or do you want the sesame chicken, or the tangy, light chicken salad dressed with lemon and accented with crunchy pea pods? There’s also a chicken salad stocked with roasted potatoes and dusted with a subtle Middle Eastern spice called summokie (“Smoky chicken?” one customer kept asking. “Summokie,” the dark-eyed waitress behind the counter kept replying).

Should you have brown rice and lentils (you can almost taste the sweet, burnt flavor of the crisp, dark-brown onions strewn on top) or the saffron rice or that day’s special rice with toasted almonds and raisins? Or should you go with pasta, say, spinach and cheese tortellini with a basil dressing, this accented with a surprising and pleasing crunch of green pepper, or should you stick with a plainer pasta that will better complement the rich, intense ratatouille?

And what about vegetables? Is it steamed Swiss chard sauteed in lemon and herbs, or toothier green beans, these served whole in vinaigrette with feta cheese and walnuts? Or are you in the mood for something called Calitarator--cauliflower and carrots bound together with tahini into a delicious, somehow comforting, mush?

The good part about the place is that at $4.95 for a selection of three (these heaped in shamelessly large portions onto your plate), you can afford to try them all. The bad part (aside from tables that wobble annoyingly) is that some dishes are much better than others. If, for instance, you were to have them zap some of their three-cheese lasagna in the microwave, this with a serving of sauteed cauliflower, carrots and broccoli and another of rice and lentils, you might never give Benny’s another try. The rice and lasagna are dull as could be, the vegetables nothing but big, crunchy, slightly oily objects.

But were you to make a lunch of lemon chicken (nearly all white meat in big, tender chunks), tabouli salad (light on the bulgur wheat, heavy on fresh-tasting parsley, with just the right amount of chopped onion and tomato and lemon juice) and saffron rice, you’d feel very smart indeed for having discovered such a place.

The $4.95 tab goes for lunch and dinner; appetizers, such as an assorted platter of homus, tabouli with pita bread, or babaghanough, $3. There’s some barely drinkable house wine, beer and soft drinks (but no mineral waters), cappuccino and espresso, and desserts such as a chocolate meringue cake with a nice gooey layer of marzipan or an apple caramel cake, which one friend, a well-known dessert chef, says are not bad at all and at $3 a serving, the best bargain in town.

Benny’s Beverly Hills, 240 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. (213) 278-0209. Open Monday-Saturday for lunch and dinner. Beer and wine only. No credit cards accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$20.