RESTAURANT REVIEW : A Passel of Personal Picks That Passed the Taco-Truck Test

Every night, right down the street from my home, a pretty good taco truck parks and opens for business. I eat there often. After all, it’s close, reasonable (75 cents a taco) and the food is fresh and wildly tasty. I can eat the tacos in the coziest of environments--my own home--and the service is direct, cheerful and non-problematic.

The taco truck has also proved useful to me as a gauge to measure how I feel about a restaurant I’m reviewing. Sometimes, when I return home from a meal, I’m so satisfied and content that I don’t even notice the truck. Other times, I feel reassured by its presence--at least I know that there’s something good to eat nearby. And other times, I gaze at it with yearning and frustration and think why why why did I drive all those miles and waste all that time and money to consume those awful calories when I would have been so much happier eating at the taco truck ?

Luckily, there have been some restaurants that have passed the taco-truck test. The following is a partial list of them. As it is drawn exclusively from my personal San Fernando Valley eating adventures, this list is in no way comprehensive.

Fresco: This sophisticated Italian restaurant in Glendale is, hands down, the best Valley restaurant I visited this year. There are so many small courtesies from the attentive, professional staff--so many nice touches and surprising flavors on the plate that after a while one can’t help but feel pampered, safe and happy here. The decor might not be memorable, but since my last visit to Fresco I have been besieged with yearning for the lamb risotto, the stuffed quail and the excellent, definitive tirami su , (espresso-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone cheese).

Mrs. R.A. Sperry’s Pantry: When people ask where they can get great, unusual food for practically no money, I taunt them for awhile and then send them to Mrs. R.A. Sperry’s in Glendale. When my crotchety, hard-to-please, prudent old Uncle Jack wants to take me out to dinner, I have him take me there as well. Robert Alan Sperry is a genius with fish--cooking, saucing, presenting it. Mrs. R.A. Sperry, Bernadette, is a genius with cakes and sweets. Try R.A.’s Chilean sea bass or Cajun catfish in a red pepper cream. Try Bernadette’s Sans Rival Torte or, if she has it, her Italian cappuccino cake. The only thing I can’t endorse are the dinner salads--luckily, the homemade soups are generally excellent.

Brio: Bernadette Sperry’s brother, Andre Guerrero, owns this bright new Tarzana restaurant, which might well be the Valley’s most ambitious and best California cuisineria. Since wild rice latkes and a sole tamale proved a little too . . . out there . . . for Brio’s first customers, the menu has been toned down since opening night. But Andre is irrepressible, and keeps going out there with nightly specials. Whatever you do, don’t leave Brio without eating a chocolate souffle: They puff up gorgeously and stay rich and custardy within.

Angkor: This Cambodian restaurant in Encino is so new you may not find it in your phone book unless your most recent one has been delivered. The number is (818) 990-8491. It serves food that is spicy, delicious, refreshing, fragrant, surprising and utterly fresh. Here, for the first time, I ate banana blossoms (like big chewy leathery mushrooms), jackfruit (a mild, compelling, dense melon-type fruit) and winter melon (looks and tastes like a large cucumber). Now I want them all on a regular basis. I especially recommend the prawn salad with fresh herbs, the heady red curry chicken soup with pineapple and tamarind broth, and the beef with fresh sweet basil.

El Silencio: This South American seafood restaurant will make you forget you’re in Van Nuys. It makes the best ceviche, or marinated raw fish, in the Valley: juicy and gloriously, fearlessly seasoned; spicy enough to set a fire in the mouth and refreshing enough to quench it. Shrimp-lovers can chose the spicy camarones picante or the garlic-ridden camarones al ajo. Music-lovers might find a Peruvian band there on weekends.

Luna Rossa/Il Tiramisu/Lombardo’s/Zios: Surely Sherman Oaks has more little neighborhood Italian joints per capita than any other town. And Sherman Oaksters are especially lucky to have these four. Although none is singularly spectacular, it’s worthwhile to have a working knowledge of their individual strengths. Luna Rossa is great for capellini ala checca (angel-hair pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil), arancini (cheese-filled rice balls), pesto and other pizzas, as well as cafe au lait , but skip the entrees. Il Tiramisu has good pastas and salads and an excellent cheesy spinach calzone. Lombardo’s has some great pastas: rotelle (cartwheels) in a dreamy, comforting tomato cream sauce and a simple but perfect ravioli in butter with fresh sage. Don’t let the big papier mache creatures at Zio’s scare you away from the antipasto selection, which just doesn’t quit. Go for the bitter broccoli salad, the garlic beets, the canellini kidney beans with tuna, the dense earth-toned caponata (cooked vegetables with relish) and everything else in the case. I also liked a tender lemon-roasted chicken and a truly light lasagna made with ziti pasta, ricotta and a fresh tomato sauce.

Sanamluang Cafe: This little Thai fast-food joint serves some of the freshest and most authentic Thai food around. The chicken soup has a pristine, clear broth, white noodles and succulent steamed chicken. The fried rice biscuit is a little greasy but has a glorious, chewy texture. The yum-pla-krob is smoked fish that has been fried, bones and all, and dressed in lime juice and chile so that it’s smoky and crunchy and juicy all at the same time. The Sanamluang Cafe is in the Bangluck Plaza in North Hollywood, so before or after eating there one can visit the shrine of the Brahma, the golden four-armed deity who is guarded by rows of brass and wooden elephants and draped with thick ropes of plastic flowers.

Salomi: Archeologists of the future may be surprised to find vestiges of Moorish architecture in North Hollywood, but we were delighted to find spirited, full-flavored Indian cuisine at this almost-elegant restaurant. The chef here is a genius with the common onion. Try the onion bhaji , the fresh onion chutney, the chicken dupiaja , and chicken from the tandoor. If you want your third eye to open, order the food hot.

El Rincon Taurino: If any place could compete with my taco truck and win, it’s this Panorama City taco stand. Recently expanded to accommodate more eat-in customers, this popular take-out joint serves tacos made with the crunchiest Milanesa (breaded and fried steak) and chicharones , (fried pork rind), the smokiest asada (grilled steak) and the most pungent al pastor (grilled marinated pork and onions). Actually, everything on this mostly meat menu is the best of its type. Entertainment includes walls full of bullfighting memorabilia (including a bull head that somehow escaped the cabeza oven) and a very busy intersection where close calls and fender-benders are the order of the day. Cabeza, by the way, is a delicious barbecued head of beef.