RESTAURANTS : There’s Still a Place in Tustin to Eat Good Old-Fashioned American Cooking

The holiday season is a time for traditional American cooking. And that’s exactly what you’ll find at Revere House, a 34-year-old restaurant that is as fancy as a potluck dinner at the local Elks Club.

The first thing you’ll notice is the upside-down Christmas tree, a glittery spray-painted stalactite suspended from the lobby’s low-slung ceiling. The restaurant itself is a giant roadhouse, with a spacious bar, several banquet rooms, and three dining rooms that are usually full to capacity.

The main dining room is dark and woody, a grotto-like enclosure with faint red lamps glowing in every alcove. The decor is prim and unpretentious with vinyl banquettes, Colonial chairs and austere portraits of Revolutionary War leaders hanging above the booths. Potted poinsettias sit on the sills in their foil-wrapped vases.

Don’t come here looking for goat cheese or Muscovy duck; the cooking is as unpretentious as the setting. You’ll find solid versions of the sorts of dishes that never go out of style: prime rib, pan-fried chicken and roast turkey with all the trimmings. They are served by waitresses who spring to attention when they are summoned, unfailingly addressing their charges as “sir” and “madam.” One of these women served me with elegance and efficiency, confiding that she had been an employee since the restaurant opened.

The restaurant prides itself on its prime rib and steaks. And justifiably so: Prime rib comes in enormous portions swimming in the requisite creamy horseradish. The meat I ate was tender, rare and moist. The filet mignon was equally impressive; I haven’t tasted a better cut of beef this year.

To begin the meal, there is an appetizer basket filled with fried calamari, breaded mozzarella marinara and French-fried zucchini sticks, all of which are quite heavy. The basket easily serves four.

Both lunch and dinner come with salad. You can opt for either Caesar or spinach salad at no extra charge (a nice touch), and I encourage you to do so. The ordinary house salad is no match for either. The creamy Caesar dressing, with lots of Dijon mustard and almost no anchovy is the best of the dressings. There is also a thick, piquant hot bacon dressing for the spinach salad and a fine runny Ranch dressing. The Italian dressing is a bit too sweet.

If meat is not on your mind, don’t despair. The gigantic menu has something for everyone, and much of it is good. Chicken in the pot is an iron kettle filled with fine soft dumplings, steamy vegetables and large chunks of chicken breast. The liver is just like what you’d get in any good diner--thin, crisply fried and smothered with onions. The restaurant cheats a bit on the pot pies, placing little hats of flaky pastry on top of the casserole dishes instead of baking them whole. But who cares? Their renditions of the dish are homey and pleasant.

Not everything that comes out of this kitchen, however, is commendable. Forget the overcooked pastas and avoid the starchy soups. Fish is also chancy. Blackened halibut, a perfectly good chunk of fresh fish, had been blanketed with sage and oregano before preparation. That’s not exactly what Prudhomme had in mind. I gambled on scampi--sauteed with garlic, shallots and herbs--and lost. The dish was so salty I couldn’t eat a single scampi. “The only complaints we ever get are about our seafood dishes,” our waitress told us later, “but you didn’t ask me for an opinion.” I wish I had.

When it comes to dessert, beware of anything that seems too newfangled. Our waitress wheeled a cart with some fancy looking pastries up to the table. She referred to the French apple torte and the German chocolate cake as “gourmet.” What they were was completely inedible. But on another visit ordinary tapioca pudding and a relic called “rainbow sherbet” turned out to be completely satisfying.

So if the season makes you nostalgic, this is the place for you. There is nothing contemporary about Revere House, and certainly nothing brilliant. All you’ll find here is good, simple food, and an extra large helping of an intangible called endurance. I’m having seconds.

Revere House is inexpensive to moderate, and an excellent value in its price category. Several complete dinners, including wine or cocktail, salad, main course, dessert, and coffee, can be had for under $12.95, and the restaurant runs nightly specials, priced from $7.50, between 4:30 and 7 p.m. There is a special menu approved by the American Heart Assn. on the menu’s back page. Appetizers are priced from $3 to $7.25. Complete dinners are $9.25 to $16.25.

REVERE HOUSE: 900 W. 1st St., Tustin, (714) 543-9319

Open every day, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards accepted.