RESTAURANT REVIEW : At Stone Soup, the Food Is as Good as Grandma’s

The story of Stone Soup goes, approximately, as follows:

An old woman on a journey stops in on a cranky, miserly old curmudgeon, who is determined not to feed her. “That’s OK,” she says. “I have a stone that makes very good soup.”

All she needs, she says, is a pan and some water. The old man grudgingly supplies the pan and some water, and she inserts the stone, boils it up for a while, tastes the broth and says it’s delicious, but could use an onion. The stingy old guy produces an onion, which, indeed, the woman says, improves the soup . . . although a carrot would make it even better.

Thus by appealing to the old man’s greed by promising an ever-more delicious brew, our woman eventually gets half his larder into her pot and produces a very nice soup indeed. In return, she leaves the stone with him and moves on--but not to worry, she finds another stone before her next stop.

How does the Stone Soup story relate to the Studio City restaurant of the same name? The woman who runs this little restaurant is as instructively clever as the heroine of the folk tale.

Her establishment has all the homeyness of a Midwestern farmhouse kitchen. The food is familiar, all-American and comforting. The walls and shelves are full of old prints and pottery and gewgaws that are not quite antiques, but grandmother goods--all of which are for sale. And therein lies the twist, the flash of cleverness that sets this modest little lunch spot apart from its competition. Stone Soup is not only a restaurant but an almost-antique shop. You can shop and eat, eat and shop, mix it up any old way.

In general, the food is simple and nourishing, exactly the kind of food a good ‘50s Midwestern mom (or a lot of present grandmothers) might make when the schoolchildren come home for lunch. You might call it nursery food for adults.

Stone Soup is open for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. Ladies meet here in groups or for private tete a tetes with their best friends. A few lone men slip in for some of that old-time comfort to be found in soup and a sandwich and a big wedge of cake. “Oh Dear,” reads a sign behind the register. “We’re out of (check the appropriate box) soup, scones, meat loaf . . . again!”

Stone Soup may well serve the best oatmeal in the San Fernando Valley; it’s creamy without being gummy, has a pleasant oaty texture, and is especially good with brown sugar, raisins, and the bananas I scavenged from an order of fruit. I also like the Greek omelet: feta cheese, onions and tomatoes folded inside eggs that are cooked lightly and perfectly. But the tea scones, which look so golden brown and full of raisins, are tough and tasteless--a real disappointment.

At lunch, Stone Soup is a good source for plain, unadulterated American fare. The recipes could furnish a Junior League cookbook. A pasta and fagioli soup--the Italian standby white bean and pasta soup--sounds exotic, yet it couldn’t be more familiar with its comfortingly bland broth, macaroni noodles and white beans.

A meat loaf sandwich is a small slab of tasty, cold meat loaf on French bread, served with a delicious tomato relish and a lot of cut-up raw vegetables on the side. (If we were at school and several years younger, we’d probably trade the veggies for some Cheetos.)

A tuna sandwich on whole wheat is just that--a good white tuna salad on bread. No lettuce, no tomato, no frills--just good, sound basics.

Carrot cake is served in generous wedges; it’s spicy and has a good cream cheese frosting, but the cake is just not very moist. The lemon loaf, which comes to us still warm from the oven, is like pound cake only more lemony; we’re advised to spread it with homemade lemon curd, which is like good, tart lemon meringue pie filling, only softer.

In between courses, or after a meal, one can wander about with a coffee cup and browse through the gewgaws and knickknacks.

The pleasures are nostalgic here, too. The inventory is much like what I might have seen had my Californian grandmother and her pals thrown a yard sale 30 years ago. There are teapots and cups; hat boxes and crocheted purses; old pottery from the Bauer, Franciscan, Pacific, Homer Laughlin era; hand-painted porcelain; old still-life prints; edged and embroidered dish towels. The prices are reasonable. I couldn’t leave without a particular thistle-green Bauer ware cream pitcher.

Recommended dishes: oatmeal, $1.75; side of fruit, $1.25; Greek omelet, $4.50; meat loaf sandwich, $5.75; lemon loaf, $1.75; assorted old plates and tea cups, $2 and up.

Stone Soup, 11044 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. (818) 985-9544. Open from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. for breakfast and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch Mondays through Saturdays. Afternoon tea served between 2 and 3 p.m. Will stay open later for larger parties. No alcoholic beverages. MasterCard and Visa accepted.