The Black Forest With a Patio : With Germany at the top of the news, Knoll’s Santa Monica establishment--the area’s premier German restaurant--rates a visit

When people talk about Germany these days they tend to natter on about such things as the impending unification of East and West, the place of a reunited Germany in the “new” Europe, and the future of the deutsche mark. That’s all very well and good--but, hey, let’s not forget the important stuff: How’s the food over there these days?

The answer, which will surprise most Americans, is that it’s often pretty good. German cooking has a reputation for being heavy, fatty, overstated. There’s something to that, of course: This food is basically cold-weather stuff, full of the smoked, the salted and the pickled.

But when German food is well-made, its inherent richness is modulated with acidity and with the haunting aromatic overtone of spices. Fresh fish, fruits, vegetables and other natural ingredients are greatly appreciated and imaginatively used in their proper seasons. Asparagus is practically a cult object in some corners of the country. German plums, apples and cherries are famous. There are superb oysters and sole from the North Sea coastline, and at least some salmon, of high quality, still swimming in the Rhine. Wild game and wild mushrooms flourish, and are treated with respect in German kitchens.

And the top contemporary-minded chefs of Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and even Berlin (never particularly famous for the refinement of its cooking) can make magic out of foie gras , truffles, lobster, lamb and pigeon. It is perhaps worth remembering that several of the best chefs in Los Angeles--among them Joachim Splichal of Patina, Raimond Hofmeister of the Century Plaza Hotel and Hans Rockenwagner of Rockenwagner and Fama--are German-born. (And then, of course, there’s that Austrian kid named Puck.)

On the other hand, German food will probably never become a great fad in Southern California; we have neither the climate nor the historic temperament for it. But Los Angeles should certainly be able to support at least one or two good German restaurants.

Here is my imaginary picture of such a place: It is decorated warmly and rustically. Live plants and fresh flowers abound, and there is a little patio framed in greenery. The menu is small but appealing, offering a combination of traditional German dishes (smoked pork loin or kasseler Rippchen , Sauerbraten , roast goose, and the like), made with the finest products; a few lesser-known regional specialties; and perhaps a few contemporary German dishes. There is certainly a good choice of German beers, and a first-rate selection of Germany’s excellent but sadly neglected and misunderstood wines.

This hypothetical German restaurant, alas, is not Knoll’s Black Forest Inn in Santa Monica. Knoll’s is undeniably Los Angeles’ premier German restaurant anyway. But, painted chests, stags’ heads and an undeniably attractive patio aside, the chairs are covered in vinyl, there are tacky plastic-looking fixtures in the terrace room and the flowers and plants are mostly artificial. The menu does indeed offer traditional, regional and contemporary German dishes, but it’s big, as if trying to be all things to all Germans, and occasionally includes such distinctly non-Teutonic specials as grilled ahi tuna with sun-dried tomato sauce. Worse, the cooking is regrettably inconsistent, and sometimes positively reactionary in its dullness.

Only the wine and beer selection really fulfill the dream; Knoll’s might well be the single most important restaurant in Los Angeles for real wine-lovers (as opposed to mere label-drinkers), offering a treasure trove of wonderful vintages all but unknown in these parts.

Knoll’s chef and co-owner Norbert Knoll is obviously skilled and experienced in the kitchen, and he obviously uses products of good quality (and, incidentally, makes his own sausages, sauerkraut, noodles and such). And sometimes his cooking is quite good, in a hearty, appealingly straightforward sort of way.

For instance, a special one evening was Lachsrahmsuppe, a creamy smoked salmon soup with green peppercorns and dill: convincingly modern-German in style and quite delicious. So was Feldsalat mit warmen Pilzen and geraucherter Forelle, a big salad of bruised mache with subtly smoked trout and sauteed mushrooms in a sweetish garlic dressing. Bratheringe, cold fried herring with marinated raw onions and lightly briny cucumber pickles, is a great warm-weather appetizer. Maultaschen , homemade Swabian-style ravioli filled with spinach and ground meat, are excellent in several different guises. Kalbsleber mit gerosteten Zweibeln und Apfelring (sauteed calf’s liver with fried onions and apple rings) is tender and good. And though the various homemade sausages here tend to be underseasoned, the four different kinds offered, each at $13.50 per generously garnished plate (with soup or salad included), are a very good dinner deal.

But then there’s the verschiedene Lendchen or mixed grill, composed one night of dried-out little pieces of pork loin, veal and beef, plus some underdone bacon and some unusually bland Weisswurst . And the Sauerbraten , chewy and hardly sauer in the least, was accompanied by unpleasantly gummy potato pancakes. A Schwarzwaldplatte or Black Forest plate one day was merely middling, with decent Knackwurst , underseasoned Bratwurst , flavorless (though obviously homemade) Spatzle , and a piece of smoked pork loin that must have been sitting in the no-smoking section by mistake.

Some of the dishes are perfectly all right but sort of boring--for instance, the Rinderroulade , stuffed beef rolls with fried potatoes, red cabbage, and homemade applesauce. Others seem careless, as with a special one day of roast veal with morel mushrooms in which the veal tasted as if it had spent too long in the refrigerator and the morels had been either soaked or cooked in wine and still retained a dose of unevaporated alcohol.

Desserts at Knoll’s are honest but don’t have much finesse: a big, frilly, buttery Black Forest cake, for instance, or an apple strudel in damp, gluey pastry.

I hope Los Angeles one day gets a chance to experience German food at something approximating the quality it can have in Germany today. Norbert Knoll could probably provide this opportunity, but he doesn’t--at least not all the time. Simply by founding and building up his successful restaurant (with his wife Hildegard, who conscientiously oversees the dining room, as partner), he has probably fulfilled his own dream. He just hasn’t yet fulfilled ours.

Knoll’s Black Forest Inn

2454 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, (213) 395-2212.

Open for lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; dinner 5:30-10:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Full bar. Valet parking. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $40-$60.

Recommended dishes: Lachsrahmsuppe, $7.50; Feldsalat mit warmen Pilzen und geraucherter Forelle, $13; Bratheringe, $7.50; Maultaschen, various preparations, $12.50; Kalbsleber mit gerosteten Zweibeln und Apfelring, $17.