COOKING & ENTERTAINING WITH STYLE : 30-Minute Dinner Parties

Sometimes, it’s better to take in take-out than to dream the impossible dream. Herewith, a guide to selected take-out places. Follow it and in a half hour or less you can buy all the ingredients for a dinner party--ready to serve!

Sometimes it’s better to take in take-out than to dream the impossible dream. Unless you have the oven for it (and you don’t), pizza is better purchased than produced. The same can be true for Double Chocolate Mousse Cake or Catfish with Ginger-Garlic Sauce. So if entertaining at home is your idea of a class act, but cooking’s not your forte and time is a problem, upscale takeout food can be your salvation. A couple of quick stops at nearby establishments can provide you with the elements of a complete dinner menu. You then personalize the culinary statement with a creative selection of your own china and accessories. Sound interesting? We thought so. Herewith, a sampling of area takeout firms that will show you how easy entertaining at home can be, especially when your abilities may not be as great as your ambitions.

SANTA MONICA

Trendy Montana Avenue and environs offer a multitude of dinner opportunities. Stop at 7th Heaven for black-bean chili, corn-bread casserole and Louisiana baked chicken. It also offers bread pudding with vanilla sauce to serve for dessert. If you don’t plan to serve the food immediately, they’ll provide directions for reheating the chili and casserole.

Down the street--at Fireside Market and Cellars--you can pick up beer or soft drinks, along with sour cream, green onions, shredded cheese and black olives to top the chili. Then there’s a rich vanilla ice cream that can be served with the bread pudding.

This down-home food calls for casual serving dishes and wicker baskets. Set the table with a blue-and-white-checked tablecloth and napkins, simple dinner plates, flatware and glasses.

7th Heaven, 710 Montana Ave., Santa Monica , (213) 451-0077. Open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fireside Market and Cellars, 1421 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (213) 393-2888. Open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

A spectacular Japanese meal can be collected in minutes during a single stop at Little Tokyo Square. Yaohan, the food emporium in this complex, offers a virtual gold mine of menu possibilities.

All types of beautifully prepared sushi come prepacked. Six prepared dinners--vegetable, shrimp, salmon teriyaki, beef teriyaki, chicken teriyaki and salmon--are sold in round cardboard containers that resemble the traditional bamboo steamers. Japanese-style fried chicken and vegetable tempura are offered in the hot deli case, and there’s roast chicken for the less adventurous. The market offers a good selection of Japanese tea, beer, wine and sake to go.

Yaohan has a bakery, but you might also want to check out Ginza Ya Fresh Bakery, located just inside the 3rd Street entrance of Little Tokyo Square. An assortment of its pastries, artfully arranged on a lacquered tray, would make an ideal finale to dinner.

This is the type of meal to serve casually around a coffee table. Spread a large tatami mat under the table and supply plenty of pillows for the comfort of guests. Since the food is so artistic in itself, use simple, solid-colored or slightly patterned dishes for serving. Chopsticks and tea and sake service sets will carry through an Oriental theme.

Yaohan, Little Tokyo Square, 333 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, (213) 687-6699. Open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ginza Ya Fresh Bakery, Little Tokyo Square, 333 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles, (213) 626-1904. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

SOUTH PASADENA

One stop at Bristol Farms is all it takes to collect the makings of a casual Italian meal. Let guests graze on antipasto, roasted peppers and eggplant, marinated artichokes and pasta salads from the deli case. You’ll also find Italian wines and sparkling Italian mineral water.

After such hearty appetizers, the store’s prepared minestrone soup and a loaf of crusty bread can suffice for the entree. Reheat the soup in a kettle on top of the range or in a Crock Pot, the bread in the oven.

In the frozen-food case you’ll find Italian ices and ice creams, and just above, packaged Italian cream cake and an assortment of cookies. The store sells coffee beans, but you can also walk across the parking lot to Euro Coffee Roasters and pick up some espresso coffee beans to brew .

Since this is a trattoria-type meal, keep dishes and accessories simple. Some traditional tumbler wine glasses (rather than stemmed) and Italian colors--red, white and green--might be used effectively.

Bristol Farms, 606 Fair Oaks Ave., South Pasadena, (818) 441-5450. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Euro Coffee Roasters, 700 Fair Oaks Ave., South Pasadena, (818) 799-8669. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

German Cold Cuts International is almost hidden behind a tile store, but it is well worth finding. The tiny shop is packed with imported foods, ideal for creating an Oktoberfest-style meal, regardless of the time of year. It carries a large selection of meats and sausages (ask if they are fully-cooked), cheeses, potato salad and coleslaw.

There are breads and crackers, several types of herring, red cabbage with apples, and an assortment of mustards and pickles to round out the menu. Beverages include imported German beers, wines and mineral waters.

The store offers desserts, but you might opt for a second stop at The Bake House. It, too, is tucked almost out of sight, this time in the Woodland Hills Center, at the corner of Ventura and Topanga Canyon Boulevards. It regularly offers German chocolate cake and sometimes has Black Forest cake. There are also novelty cakes--all sorts of which are on display to spawn ideas.

Some interesting beer steins and earthenware dishes suit this casual menu. Everything is prepared ahead, making this a good choice while watching all those holiday football bowl games or next year’s Olympics.

German Cold Cuts International, 6019 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 883-8051. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Bake House, 21935 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 883-8935. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ORANGE COUNTY

It’s easy to locate the makings of a formal, continental meal in the Newport Beach / Corona del Mar area. Make your first stop C’est Si Bon, for duck pate, Brie, a bottle of cornichons and a couple of French baguettes. You’ll also find a selection of wines and mineral water, as well as an assortment of desserts, to complement the meal. The shop’s espresso coffee beans can be ground and brewed to accompany the sweets.

Make a second quick stop at Showley-Wrightson for the dinner entrees, which may be ordered earlier in the day. There are three choices available each evening, and orders include rice, potatoes or pasta, and a vegetable or salad. Typical Wednesday evening offerings are Roasted Sichuan Game Hen, marinated in Chinese sauces; Spinach Pie with a pastry crust, ricotta and Parmesan; and Veal Scaloppini, sauteed with capers, lemon and garlic. The menu changes about every three months.

This is the time to serve a candlelight dinner using your finest linen, china, silver and crystal. Arrange the pate, cheese and fan-cut cornichons on a silver platter, accompanied by a linen napkin-lined basket of bread slices. While guests enjoy the hors d’oeuvres, follow the furnished instructions for ease of serving the entrees .

C’est Si Bon, 3444 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Corona del Mar, (714) 675-0994. Open Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Showley-Wrightson, 2531 Eastbluff Drive, Newport Beach, (714) 760-9701. Take-out orders may be placed Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY

A Mexican dinner is one menu possibility to be found in northern San Diego County. Private-brand tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole from Harvest Ranch Market make a good beginning for the meal. This is also the place to pick up beer and / or Margarita makings.

Although the market’s bakery offers bunuelos , you may want to break from tradition and instead choose from a variety of cheesecakes, available by the piece, or by the half or whole cake. Telephone ahead and order from peach brandy, turtle, almond joy, Black Forest, Maui waui , fudge brownie or white chocolate, to name a few. Try buying one or two wedges of different kinds and reassemble to form a single cake or arrange the wedges on a dessert tray with long-stemmed strawberries.

Another stop will provide entrees that can be ordered ahead. Fidel’s is known for its tostada supreme and mixed burrito, but here again you may want to order a variety and set up a buffet so guests can sample from the lot.

For this dinner, casual serving dishes are ideal--earthenware or pottery dishes plus a bright tablecloth and big paper flowers to brighten the table.

Harvest Ranch Market, 162 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road., Encinitas, (619) 944-6898. Open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fidel’s Little Mexico, 607 Valley Ave., Solana Beach, (619) 755-5292. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

FOOD STYLIST: LORRAINE TRIOLO