Cheery Cafe 26 Really Delivers on Westside

Once a week for the last four months, my hiking partner has turned to me at 7 a.m. and said, “I had the nicest meal last night.” “Where’d you go?” “Cafe 26.” “What’d you eat?” “The swordfish and the carrot cake.” An aerobically powered review always follows.

Recently, a menu from Cafe 26 serendipitously appeared in my mail box--a neighborhood blitz campaign, no doubt. I had the swordfish and the carrot cake chez moi. Cafe 26, a small, cheerful, Italian restaurant, delivers to a wide swath of the Westside: north to Malibu, south to Ocean Park Boulevard, west to the beach, east to Interstate 405.

Now that swordfish is pretty nifty (it’s juicy, smoky, served with a terrific hot tomato salsa and $13.95), but just a word first on the packaging it came in. Cafe 26, proving it’s both smart and ecologically concerned, serves its takeout in reusable aluminum containers that keep food really hot. Who wants to have to reheat scampi or risk overcooking a skinless chicken breast?

The scampi appetizer ($5.95) comes swathed in a luscious pool of sauce made with garlic, white wine and butter. It’s so good that you wonder why they don’t send rolls or bread along for sop-up duty.

A large portion of fried calamari ($4.50) has the distinct taste of tempura and is served with a fully Italian, steaming hot spicy marinara on the side. A nearly identical sauce overwhelms the tiny, eminently forgettable steamed clams ($5.95). I would rather head for the marinated roasted bell peppers ($4.50) than the made-from-scratch minestrone with a tomato base that seems to be the kissing cousin of the tinned variety.

There are two menus available: one, full of homey old-style Italian standards, the other a smaller list of “tri-free cuisine” that offers oil-, sugar- and salt-free foods. Order the grilled chicken breast ($8.50) on the latter menu and you’ll find a moist, large skinless breast blanketed with a big shake of lemon, dried oregano and plenty of perfectly prepared sweet steamed vegetables. Order the “tri-free cuisine” chicken salad, on the other hand, and you’ll find the sort of colorless salad (raw mushrooms, nuggets of no-taste chicken, a dressing so thin it might be straight lemon) that sends dieters straight for dessert. The marinated roasted sweet bell peppers (they’re on both menus) are delightful in their lighter guise.

Salads, I’m happy to report, come in different sizes. Ordered as a first course, a small salad neatly serves two. I enjoyed the Caesar salad and the “chef’s classic.” Full of sun-dried tomatoes, orange wedges and creamy Gorgonzola in just the right equation, it’s a nimble treat. Cafe 26 has a delicate hand with seafood. A Norwegian salmon is as distinct as that swordfish my hiking partner is stuck on. There are more than 20 pastas to choose from. Everything about the homemade vegetable lasagna ($5.95) bursting with broccoli, carrots, spinach and a wonderfully creamy ricotta says, “Eat me.”

I liked the other pastas I tried less. Linguine alla checca had an unappealing sauce and the capellini alla siracusana , with bland olives, arrived with unannounced mushrooms and onions and blared a very loud red-pepper note.

Roasted rosemary chicken ($7.50), juicy and crisp skinned, is a simple delight. Chicken Casanova with vegetables in a fresh sage and Chablis sauce is also a sexy wintry dish. (It would be even better if the olives were top-of-the-line.)

There are numerous cakes and pies to choose from, many from L.A. Mousse. My hiking partner wants me to make sure I tell you that there are two different carrot cakes. I haven’t had the “regular” one and happen to think that the “special” one is just too sweet.

Cafe 26, 262 26th St., Santa Monica. (213) 458-8178, (213) 393-5818. Open Monday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. MasterCard and Visa. Minimum order: $10. Delivery charge: $2-$3.