Going Out to Eat Just for the Fun of It

Serious food is fine for the palate, but is it fun? These recently reviewed restaurants may not be considered sacred temples of gourmet dining, but you’ll have a great time. Bite Size (3917 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, (818) 848-GOOD). How about a little lunch? Literally, a little lunch. Bite into a bantam burger (the buns are baked special), a Lilliputian falafel or even a diminutive dog. How about a peewee pizza? Or a teensy taco? There is something irresistible about these bite-sized bits. You know it’s just ordinary fast food, but it’s so darn cute you order anyway. These miniature meals are, of course, just a gimmick to get people in the door--you don’t have to bother with small-fry food. Chow down on double cheeseburgers, homemade potato chips or fries and full-size falafel. Breakfast and lunch Mon.-Fri. MasterCard and visa. No liquor. Street parking. Lunch for two, food only, $4-$10.

Garden Pavilion Restaurant (2025 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, (213) 551-3302). They’re serving rocks with the rolls at the Century Plaza. In fact, the Garden Pavilion Restaurant has become a veritable rock garden where diners sit before sizzling stones and cook their food for themselves. You don’t have to be a rock- et scientist to do it; here’s how it works: You get a list of dishes, which includes the Midwest Duo (a steak-and-lamb-chop combo), the Oriental (skewers of chicken and shrimp with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, zucchini, etc.) and one with giant shrimp, another with veal. The waiter takes your order and then reappears with a big plate of raw food and a hot (500 degrees) rock for each person. You put your order on the rock, wait until it’s cooked and you eat. Some think this is a lot of fun. Some think that if you have to cook it yourself, you may as well stay home. Hot rock meals served at dinner only, Mon.-Fri. All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $50-$75.

Hornblower Yacht Cruises (P.O. Box 1779, Newport Beach, (714) 549-8866). On this vessel, anything goes: suits, evening wear, sports shirts. But formal service begins as soon as you set sail on this 3-hour cruise. Good sourdough bread is brought to the table, followed by an appetizer. Next is the salad course and then the main entree, which is limited to three choices that change every two months. It could be salmon with baby clams, perfectly poached and moistened by a smooth beurre blanc, or a wonderful char-grilled breast of chicken, blanketed by a cream sauce with morels. After the meal, there are three more options: a dance to music from the yacht’s band, a stroll on the deck or a trip to the pilot house, where you can watch the captain navigate. Hornblower’s Sunday brunch cruise lasts just two hours. You don’t get the live music or the romantic stroll, but you do get a nice Sunday morning. Dinner cruises Fri. and Sat., Sun. brunch. MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner Fri., $49, Sat. $54, Sun. brunch $29; all are per-person and do not include tax and tip. Call (714) 549-8866 for reservations. Payment must be made in advance and cancellation requires 24-hour notice.

Kokomo Cafe, (Farmer’s Market, 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, (213) 933-0773). Stray food odors: seafood, fresh-made peanut butter. People wander around wearing humorous T-shirts. Japanese tourists seem to have laughing contests. What fun to be at the Farmer’s Market. And the latest bit of fun is Kokomo, a spacious lunch counter specializing in ethnic food, health food and weirdness. The weirdness consists of wisecracking waiters and cooks in baseball caps. The health-food angle is in the use of organic lettuce and a couple of vegetarian dishes. Warning: Stay away from the vegetarian black bean chili. And ethnic food? Salad Nicoise and eggs Hussard (poached eggs on a crusty biscuit with tomatoes, ham, mushroom wine sauce and hollandaise). Breakfast dishes come with either dull bananas in sherried cream or a wonderful simple buttermilk coffee cake. Which would you choose? Breakfast, lunch and early dinner, daily. Cash only. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Lunch for two, food only, $14-$23. Magic Island (3505 Via Oporto, Newport Beach, (714) 675-0900). There’s no shortage of illusion at Magic Island. Magic is everywhere: Balls change into birds, birds change into dogs, waiters disappear. Even the watercress salad, with a toasted chunk of goat cheese and hearts of palm, is magical--one taste and it’ll disappear fast. For a main course you can’t go wrong with the trois medaillons , three medallions of grilled meats (beef, lamb and veal) which are blanketed in separate sauces and ornately served with vegetables. The meats are tender and the sauces pleasant. The bouillabaisse--a gigantic bowl filled with lobster, clams, scallops--also manages to be pretty good. Now, if only Magic Island could make the calories disappear. Dinner Wed.-Sat. (must be over 21), Sun. brunch (children welcome). All major credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking. Dinner for two, food only, $50-$100. A deposit of $100 per person, cash or credit card, required before meal.