RESTAURANTS : Angelena’s Lets You Play With the Food

There are a handful of restaurants whose look and feel is dictated by the same quirky, irrepressible, individuality that makes people put grottoes in their back yards, erect sculptures in their gardens, make museums in their garages.

Such restaurants are rare, generally fun, humbly visionary, and amount to a populist art form. Here in the San Fernando Valley, I’ve seen such high spirits at play at Zio’s, where huge papier-mache sculptures lord over the dining room; at Tokyo Delve’s Sushi Bar, a self-styled jazz club/sushi bar with homemade punk-inspired decor; and most recently, at Angelena’s Kitchen Table in Sherman Oaks.

Angelena’s is among an eclectic assortment of ethnic restaurants in a little business strip on a very busy stretch of Sepulveda Boulevard, just south of Ventura Boulevard. Finding both Angelena’s and a parking place at first proves tricky, if not downright life-threatening. (Later we learn that there’s parking out back, approachable from the north.)

The moment we walk in, however, we relax. Angelena’s couldn’t be more casual or immediately beguiling.

It’s a paean to Soul: soul food, soul music, soul singers. We order ice tea and lemonade, both served in mason jars and continuously replenished, and take stock of our unusual surroundings. In the bright, roomy storefront dining room, large portraits of Aretha, Stevie, Ray, Otis, Elvis and others line the walls. Chuck Berry is singing Johnny B. Good over the P.A.

In fact, this restaurant has its own radio station to match the decor, K-A-N-G, solid soul. Between sets, the disc jockey poses trivia questions and instructs us to give our answers to our waitress; a correct answer earns a 10% reduction on the dinner bill. When was Jackie Wilson born? We have no idea. Where was he born? My friends, both named Ellen, say, “Let’s guess.” We discuss it, try to decide, then call the waitress over.

“Baltimore,” says Ellen.

“Washington,” says the other Ellen.

“Detroit,” I say.

The waitress goes away, comes back and--hold onto your hats--points to me. “Detroit,” she says. “And he says you’re the first person to guess that one correctly in a long time.”

It’s not until she says this that I realize that this “radio station” is a tape, that there is not a full-time employee in the back room spinning discs and ad-libbing into the sound system.

Guessing the answers to trivia questions is a snap, however, compared with deciding on dinner. Ribs, meat loaf, chicken and dumplings or red beans and rice? Whatever the decision, there’s no need to worry about getting enough to eat. Entrees come with an entire solar system of dishes full of vegetables and side orders, which one selects from a long list of options. Portions are heartwarmingly generous.

One Ellen settles on the fried chicken, a huge hull of bird, covered in batter and deep-fried--quite acceptable--that comes with white rice and brown gravy. Under pressure at the moment of ordering, she chooses two legumes for her side dishes: basic black-eyed peas and butter beans with a cheese-rich sauce.

The other Ellen has the pork version of Grandaddy’s BBQ ribs, which are not at all spicy hot, but rich and sweet, almost confectionary. (There’s Tabasco sauce on each table for fire-lovers.) A totally familiar potato salad and some highly brown-sugared baked beans come with the ribs, but she still gets to choose one side dish or vegetable, so she opts for cabbage, which proves delicious.

I order the Louisiana gumbo, a watery, rather vague version of the traditional seafood stew. It tastes as if it had been frozen and reheated, as if all the flavor had leached out of the crab and rounds of hot links. I do have some fabulous “succotash” (which might be more accurately called a “maque choux:” corn smothered with tomatoes, okra, onions and peppers), and also some greens so substantial and delicious that, upon tasting them, my blood feels iron-rich.

Other visits reveal the Louisiana Cajun catfish as succulent, spicy, and redolent of that prized catfish muddiness--wonderful if you have a thing for catfish. The smothered pork chops come in Lucille’s tomato gravy, which is bland and thick and the kind of gravy that unfortunately underscores rather than transcends what gravy is made of: flour, grease and some liquid.

Desserts--sweet potato pie, bread pudding, a cunning box of 10 sweet potato and raisin cookies--are sweet, sweet, sweet.

The service is cheerful, the music the best, and dinner for two, food only, dessert included, runs around $20. In the words of--guess this artist--Baby, everything is all right.

Recommended dishes: Grandaddy’s BBQ ribs, $9.50; Louisiana Cajun catfish, $9.50; Vegetarian Pride, $5.95; greens, cabbage, succotash, black eyed peas, $2 each; sweet potato cookies, 10 for $1.75.

Angelena’s Kitchen Table, 4515 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 788-0465. Open for lunch and dinner, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until midnight Friday and Saturday. No liquor. MasterCard and Visa accepted.