RESTAURANT REVIEW : New Improv’s Cactus Cafe Serves ‘Texican’ Fare

I never thought I’d live to see a Mexican restaurant (well, not wholly Mexican; they call it Texican) with brutal, ‘70s-style design, but here it is. Bare brick walls, ceilings chock-a-block with exposed ducts and beams, the whole splash of cold water in the face.

What is this, some kind of joke? Or maybe I should rephrase that: What, is this some kind of joke?

Because technically it might be. The Cactus Cafe is the front end of a comedy nightclub, the new Improvisation in Santa Monica. But these ungainly air ducts hanging down from the ceiling aren’t funny. They look like sleep tubes for klutzy space aliens.

Fortunately, though, the Cactus Cafe is a pretty comfortable room, with its surprisingly high ceiling and mirrors. It’s a pleasant place to sit and eat, and I suppose a pretty good spot to wait for the next show.

So what do you eat? What the original Cactus Cafe in Silver Lake served, I presume: Mexican dishes and a couple of gringoesque items. The American things are pretty good, in fact, particularly the hamburger: a thick, juicy one that fills a huge bun and falls apart in your hands before you’re halfway through. The french fries are the usual blond starch rods.

The chicken-fried steak is very likely the best in our area. First, it’s really a tenderized steak rather than a breaded hamburger, that shameful travesty palmed off by a number of Diner Revival places. Second, it’s very crunchily breaded, probably having been deep-fried. Even the best chicken-fried steak in the world is not an intense sort of dining experience, but this one is really enjoyable.

The barbecued beef ribs have a pleasant, rootless sort of sauce that tastes like A.1. sauce and light molasses, maybe. When they’re good, or rather where they’re good, they’re very good. Some parts, however, may be dry and overdone, even charcoalized.

And the chili, which Mexican purists insist is an American dish, is excellent. There are both stewed beef and ground meat in it, and somebody’s private recipe of ground peppers and spices, prominently cumin and clove. The smaller of the two sizes is more than adequate for an appetizer. I’m a little afraid to see how big the large size is.

The Mexican things themselves are actually not quite of the same standard. The appetizer sopes , a little cup of masa, (or tamale cornmeal) are pretty good: tasty little beds of masa topped with beans and a choice of meats with shredded lettuce and red cabbage on the side. (I’m glad we’re assured this kitchen uses no lard, because they’re really somewhat oily.) But the taquitos, for instance, are terribly dry despite all the salsa verde on them.

Among the entrees, which come with rice and plain boiled beans, you can order the usual combo plates. Note: The Sonora enchilada is actually a sort of aggrandized sope , a thick homemade tortilla stacked very high with onions, a choice of meats and some pickled red cabbage.

The other Mexican dishes I’ve tried--on the menu, incidentally, each is singled out as a house specialty with a little cactus plant symbol--were all in some way or other disappointing. The chicken mole is not chicken stewed in mole sauce but a chicken breast with sauce ladled over it. Though it’s not a very sweet mole sauce or one dark with chocolate, it is a pleasant one that smells of anise and cloves. The enchiladas suisas are sort of aggrandized versions of the taquitos, not crisp but with all the dryness.

I’ve never understood the rage for fajitas--maybe some people really crave tacos made with half-fried onions, tomatoes and bell peppers . . . if they’re allowed to put them together themselves. Cactus Cafe’s version is much like everybody else’s, except that if you dig around in the bottom you may find a nice bit of spice in the sauce.

A waitress told me that the flan is very good, but the only thing I’ve found available for dessert is a fried tortilla with vanilla ice cream; a sort of dessert tostada, I guess. I’d take the one with chocolate syrup over the one with stewed apples.

She couldn’t tell me why there weren’t any more desserts available that night. Personally, I’d have a look in those air conditioning ducts.

Recommended dishes: chili, $2.95/$3.95; hamburger, $5.95; chicken-fried steak, $7.75; dessert tostada, $3.75.

Cactus Cafe at the Improv, 321 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. (213) 394-8664. Open for dinner from 6 p.m. daily. Full bar. Valet parking. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $25 to $41.