RESTAURANT REVIEW : At Chez Raja Cafe, the Sophistication’s Deceptively Simple

To the eye, Chez Raja could be any cusp-of-the-’90s cafe restaurant--clean and crisp, with a tinted stucco exterior. But the unadorned decor is merely a stage on which Raja Platteborze and her exciting cooking give bravura performances.

Seldom do I walk into a restaurant and immediately feel the welcoming presence of a chef/owner who is obviously proud of what he or she has created. Even rarer is a restaurant that justifies such pride. Chez Raja Cafe: A Taste of Casablanca, on Maple Street at Riverside Drive near the Burbank Studios, is one.

Raja, who came to us from Casablanca by way of New York, greets customers as if they were guests coming to sit in her kitchen while she passes them plates that she is filling at her stove . . . and her cooking tastes as if she were doing just that. This is direct, brilliantly flavored cooking with a remarkable vitality and sensual immediacy.

Its deceptively simple sophistication is evident in everything from a combination salad appetizer to a chocolate mousse. But to get as far as the mousse, or even an entree, you’ve got to stop eating the salads, which you may not want to do. Although they looked like the same salads you find all across the southern Mediterranean, from Morocco to Israel, they outperformed all that I’ve encountered. The eggplant was richly enhanced with cumin, the grated carrots heady with garlic, even quartered new potatoes and a tomato, onion, parsley, feta composition were special.

Although Chez Raja’s menu is not extensive (even with a daily special), this wouldn’t be a problem if I lived or worked in the neighborhood--I’d just order the same dishes over and over. They would include lemon chicken (actually a chicken tajine), flavored with olive oil and the peel of home-preserved lemons and the most succulent marinated olives imaginable. Or lamb couscous, with tender lamb, which actually tastes like lamb. Or chicken brochette, moist chunks of cumin-flavored chicken with a little green pepper for adding color. Or “ merguez e”--small beef sausages whose fennel seeds sent waves of pleasure down my nostrils. Perhaps not a paella, for although its saffron-flavored rice was lovely, its fish and shrimp were overcooked.

Nowhere was the appeal of Raja’s Moroccan cooking more apparent than in the b’stilla, which must be ordered at least 30 minutes in advance. It was too asymmetrical and too generous to come from a machine-precise kitchen; in fact it was so wonderfully rich in egg, almonds, cinnamon, sugar, chicken and warka, its crisp multilayered pastry shell, and so large (for a mere $6.95) that I suggest ordering it as a shared extra course. Even after appetizers and entrees, a friend and I found it irresistible.

Even after three courses, Raja’s chocolate mousse couldn’t be resisted. It was so light and flavorsome that it seemed to be made of steam-hydrated pure chocolate. The mousse and all the other dishes were complemented by endless quantities of sweet mint tea, which is equally satisfying hot or iced.

For the moment Chez Raja only serves lunch--on a pleasant terrace. In a week or so, however, an interior dining room will open and dinner also will be served. In the meantime, employees of the nearby film and record companies have already staked out their tables: Even on consecutive days I’ve seen the same faces. Given the opportunity they do what I do: eschew the cold precision of machine-perfect restaurants and go for the gusto.

Chez Raja Cafe: A Taste of Casablanca, 171 North Maple St., Burbank. (818) 843-2896. Open 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. No alcohol. Street parking. American Express accepted. Three-course lunch for two, food only, $28-$32.