OFF THE BEATEN PATH

The principal challenge in visiting these restaurants might be in finding them. Gourmet Kitchen (3940 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, (714) 241-7115). On the northwest corner of Bristol Street and Sunflower Avenue, the restaurant is not visible from the street or the parking lot. Park near the pinkish building at the outermost edge of the corner and head toward it. As you go down the steps to the lower level you’ll see the green neon sign, “Sushi Healthy Place,” and finally the restaurant itself. The food here is Japanese with a light French touch. At lunch the charbroiled chicken breast with warmed Oriental dressing is hearty and satisfying. For dinner, vegetable souffle, a green and gold contrast of spinach and squash is the way to go. The vegetable croquettes are equally impressive. There are also combinations of seven or eight traditional Japanese sushi as well as an a la carte sushi bar. There is also, would you believe, sushi pizza? Lunch and dinner daily. MasterCard and Visa. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $14-$30. Grand House (809 S. Grand Ave., San Pedro, (213) 548-1240). The Grand House, a converted old home serving a sort of supercharged home cooking, is an exciting operation to find on a side street nowhere near the restaurant fast lane. It’s pleasant to sit under the huge old tree in the shady little quasi-Spanish patio, enjoy the cool sea air and a nice meal. The menu tends to change at every meal and with at least 20 dinner entrees, is a real challenge to the chef. Pasta dishes might include a good basil fettuccine with deer sausage and smoked pheasant in a sea of garlic cream sauce. You might also find a good rack of lamb coated with bread crumbs flavored with garlic, rosemary and saffron. Lunch Tue.-Fri., dinner Tue.-Sun., Sunday brunch. All major credit cards accepted. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $45-$70. Miller’s Acorn (23360 Lake Manor Drive, Chatsworth, (818) 888-2099). This Midwestern-style roadhouse is just far enough out of town to make the journey something of an adventure. After dark, the place--you drive along a twisting road, above an inky lake, past cabins, through woods--seems halfway to Sheboygan, though it’s only 15 minutes from Warner Center. A delicious tang of chimney smoke flavors the air outside. Groups of neatly dressed couples, who look as if they had gone to high school together, sip Michelob and talk about basketball. Nobody eats seared tuna or chanterelle pizza here. Cioppino --a melange of large shrimp, whitefish filets and a lobster tail in a tomato broth that contains what seems like half a pound of garlic--is served over linguine in a salad bowl as large as a sink. Shrimp “scampi”--nice, large crunchy ones--are also served over linguine. The sweet baby back ribs, which are crisp, greaseless and suffused with smoke, are great. Come hungry because the portions are large. Dinner Tue.-Sun. MasterCard and Visa. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $35-$40.

Saddle Peak Lodge (419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas, (818) 340-6029). The Saddle Peak is that ancient, weathered hunting lodge hunkered down in the mountains halfway between the freeway and the beach. The cuisine tends toward haute fishing-camp food. The dinner menu features perfect venison, fresh Coho salmon, delicious pan-fried brook trout, and a good carpetbagger steak stuffed with oysters. Dinners are exquisite, but brunch, a prix fixe affair at $19.75, is the quintessential Saddle Peak meal. First comes a basket of terrific warm muffins, biscuits and breads with little jars of jam and sweet butter. A first course might be a martini glass filled with champagne doused strawberries or chilled stewed rhubarb. Strawberry soup is refreshing and creamy enough to clog the arteries. Main courses are storybook perfect--poached eggs with crab cakes and caviar; fried eggs with broiled buffalo; thick juicy pork chops seared black on the outside, nestling a savory mound of sliced sweet potatoes sauteed with apples and spices; and on and on. Dinner Wed.-Sun. and brunch Sat. and Sun. MasterCard and Visa. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$90.