VENTURA BOULEVARD, HO!

Marrakesh (13003 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 788-6354). Marrakesh, all fancy rugs and draped fabrics and nasal desert Muzak, is perfect for birthdays and second dates. You recline cross-legged on a low-low banquette strewn with pillows around an even lower table. A waiter in striped pajamas will come over to discuss your meal, which is more or less set, except for choice of entree. First is a platter mounded with salads: diced, spiced tomato and cucumber; marinated carrot slices; marinated eggplant. You scoop these up with a wedge of dense, anise-scented bread. Next comes b’stilla , the pie that is the supreme dish of Moroccan cuisine. Crack it open to find a delicious sweet filling of chicken and almonds bound with egg. There’s more: grilled lamb with a smoky, fiery paste; then an overpoweringly lemony roast chicken with olives; sweet, gamy lamb in a spicy honey syrup with dried fruits; hotly spiced rabbit roasted with ginger; good couscous; and sea bass in tomato sauce. Dessert is a bowl of fruit and nuts. A triangle of the pastry baklava , is brought out with the mint tea. Now try getting up. Dinner daily. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $33-$44. Mistral (13422 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 981-6650). Mistral has everything you could ask for in a bistro: high Deco mirrors and sconces, a French maitre d’ who will remember your name, perfect kir, and wonderful food. Start with onion soup, rich, dark and served under a layer of bread and melted Gruyere, or the mussel appetizer, a dozen fresh, sweet, small specimens that have been baked on the half shell under a powerful crust of parsley and chopped garlic. If you are offered a special of firm noodles tossed with a bright-green coulis of asparagus and cream, do not hesitate; it is among the tastiest bowlfuls of pasta conceivable. The small, juicy strip steak, butter-soft and grilled properly, is exemplary, crowned with melting garlic butter, shot through with fines herbes , and served with a heap of crisp, thin pomme frites and a salad of baby lettuces. The good marshmallow-textured floating islands on seas of caramel is a fun way to end your meal. Dinner daily. MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$45. Prezzo (13625 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 905-8400). The place is gorgeous. The waiters are gorgeous. The food is gorgeous. Big, fat white scallops in a puree of red pepper sauce are accompanied by adorable little white turnips, green-green pea pods and a picture-perfect sprig of broccoli. A thick slice of swordfish is prettily crisscrossed by the grill and served with the same array of fresh vegetables. The eggplant is delicious, light and tastes as fresh as it looks. The pasta with pesto and smoked chicken works; you can taste good olive oil, nice fresh basil, wonderfully smoky smoked chicken. One warning: skip dessert; all sound beautiful, look beautiful but taste as if some vacuum cleaner sucked out all the taste. Lunch Mon.-Fri.; dinner daily. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$70. Stanley’s (13817 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 986-4623). At night the scene is surely one of the more animated mass courtship rituals in California today. At lunch Stanley’s is far calmer. The menu is part glorified-hamburger-joint and part New-American-grillroom. Stanley’s version of Buffalo chicken wings are crisp, spicy, a bit vinegary and not too sweet. The solid, well-balanced chilis--both the vegetarian and the one with meat--are also very good. Other recommendations are the big, juicy hamburger, cooked exactly as ordered or the nightly vegetable selection of crookneck and pattypan squash and zucchini, sauteed al dente. For dessert, try a hunk of the delicious peanut butter fudge cake. Lunch and dinner, daily. MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$40. Turquoise Cafe (15025 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 995-6575). This Southwestern restaurant is filled with gleaming surfaces and track lighting, discreet rock ‘n’ roll and chefs cooking and laughing behind the chrome counter of the spotless open kitchen. The black bean soup is good, and is served with little mounds of sour cream, minced onion, guacamole and a wonderful, mild salsa of fresh diced tomato. The medallions of creamy marinated goat cheese atop a swell salad of grilled vegetables also makes a nice starter. For entrees, stick to the grilled dishes: a New York steak; garnished with a juicy melange of diced, moist, grilled loin of pork with delicious bits of spicy charred crust adhering to it; and grilled tiger shrimp in a cilantro-lime butter sauce. Lunch and dinner, Mon.-Sat. MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Beer and wine. Parking in rear. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$40.