The Gourmet Floor Show at Jeanette’s

When I slipped into the Gourmet Affair, the takeout wing of Jeanette’s restaurant in Hermosa Beach, I did not have American comedy on my mind. Forty-five minutes later, trundling out to the car with the goods, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” was playing prime time in my frontal lobe.

If you live or work in the South Bay and want some clean-cut, well-priced cuisine to go, then I think you might enjoy a meal from Jeanette’s. But caveat emptor , preface that visit with a call, place your order over the phone. Or be prepared to stay and watch the inadvertent show.

Though the takeout shop has been in operation for six months, it barely looked open when I arrived late one afternoon. The door was open but no one was inside. I spent the next three-quarters of an hour upstairs in Jeanette’s re-reading the takeout menu (about 10 hot entrees, four salads, several hot appetizers, one soup of the day) and watching the behind-the-scene restaurant life. Owner Chuck Lehman was the eye in the hurricane. “We’re getting our act together,” he said. “We’re gonna be a Domino’s for gourmet food. Your order will be ready real soon.”

When they finally got their act together, (after three incorrect bills) and I finally got my food on the road, Lehman’s favorite dish, rack of lamb, turned out to travel surprisingly well. Three little ribs were wonderfully juicy and edged with mustard and tarragon. (Most entrees are in the $6.25-$8.50 range. The lamb, the highest priced, runs $10.50.) The vegetables, served with all the orders, are very crisp and the Cajun rice is the flavorful stand-up-and-count-the-grains kind.

Jeanette’s will either partially cook an order or, if you’re planning to serve the food the next day, will sell the meal cold. (The specially designed plastic plates and containers, niftier than I have ever seen, work in a conventional oven or microwave and really do keep food from drying out.) A barely poached Pritikin-style halibut with a thin slip of cilantro lime sauce was absolutely fine heated the next day. A full breast of poached chicken, another of the “Pritikin-style” dishes was simple, enlivened with a veil of fat-free black bean sauce.

Jeanette’s jambalaya is a heaping plate of spicy sausage, sweet glazed chicken, too salty ham and succulent rice. Nix the barbecued ribs: The texture tasted tenderized , as if they had marinated too long and the sauce was too vinegary sweet. (And why ever put minced nuts on top?) Barbecued shrimp comes either as an entree ($8.50) or an appetizer ($1.25 each). They’re the big, meaty (and that day, tender) tiger variety: I scraped off the sauce. Lobster cakes are smooth and crusty, soothing and fiery.

The roasted white-meat chicken and walnut salad is one of the hunkiest you’ll come across--great chicken but no walnuts, just packaged almonds, and three times the mayonnaise necessary. They were out of the macaroni and cheese they suggested for a child, so the chef substituted a perfectly mellow homemade carrot linguine dressed in white Cheddar cheese sauce.

I stuck my head in the kitchen to ask if they’d like me to help them make sure that everything was being packed but, no, they said they had things in hand. “I know what a drag it is to get home and find you don’t have everything,” Lehman said.

Yes, sir. We really missed those tarts and pies. They looked so good on the tray. Dear reader: If you’re the first person to tell the absolutely affable Chuck Lehman that he forgot my desserts, perhaps he will pack them up for you.

Jeanette’s Gourmet Affair, 807 21st St., Hermosa Beach; (213) 376-5752. Open daily 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Beer and wine available for take out. Valet parking. All credit cards accepted.