The following are summaries of recent Times...

The following are summaries of recent Times restaurant reviews by Max jacobson. Prices are based on average cost for a party of two without wine. $--less than $15 $$--$15 to $39 $$$--$40 to $75 $$$$--More than $75

AMERICAN

* Pinky’s Hamburger Grill, 4115 Campus Drive, Irvine. (714) 854-4632. Open Sundays through Thursdays from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays to 11 p.m. $ Be-Bop Burgers and Pinky’s Hamburger Grill are part of a wave of “nostalgia” hamburger joints engulfing Orange County, and both are longer on atmosphere than food. The Be-Bop burger is a good value, a full quarter pound of lean beef on a seeded bun that just drips with condiments. Pinky’s beach burgers are charcoal-grilled and really taste good. Other sandwiches in both restaurants are less appealing. Luckily, both restaurants exude energy, plus the mindless fun of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

* La Palma Chicken Pie Shop and Restaurant, 928 N. Euclid Ave., Anaheim. (714) 533-2021. Open Mondays through Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Bakery opens at 9 a.m. $ This is where you want to go for meat loaf, pan-fried chicken and the other kinds of tried-and-true, roadside American fare that is creeping back onto the menus in more upscale establishments. The signature dish, chicken pie, is a buttery, 9-ounce disk crammed with shredded meat. At $1.95, it makes a great, affordable snack. Don’t bypass the attached bakery, where the goodies include peach pie, burnt-almond cake and a rich house cheesecake, and where an excellent, springy chocolate cake is only $3.

* Mimi’s Cafe, five Orange County locations: 1240 N. Euclid St., Anaheim, (714) 535-1552; 1835 E. Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa, (714) 722-6722; 7935 Garden Grove Blvd., Garden Grove, (714) 898-5022; 17231 E. 17th St., Tustin, (714) 544-5522; 18342 Imperial Highway, Yorba Linda, (714) 996-7650. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. $$ Mimi’s Cafe has 10 Southland locations boasting identical menus and decor. There is almost always a line to get in. The menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches and breakfasts along with such entrees as mesquite-broiled fish and a host of (commercially) baked desserts. The kittenish and busy decor hints at France, though from the outside, the places look like gingerbread houses. Food at Mimi’s tastes much like what the French think American food is: burgers, muffins and egg dishes, but overall, it’s little more than a glorified coffee shop. It’s cheap, at least.

* Papa’s Pantry, 21094 Beach Boulevard, Huntington Beach. (714) 960-5400. Open Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sundays 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. $

* Polly’s Pies, 3404 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos. (213) 430-4541. Open daily, 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. $

Polly’s Pies and Papa’s Pantry are two restaurants dishing up solid American comfort foods at solidly affordable prices. So dig in. Polly’s is the place for good burgers and a superb rotisserie chicken to go along with its visually stunning fresh fruit pies and bright, sunny interior. Papa’s Pantry is basically a steakhouse trading on huge portions and frontier-style decor. Try chicken fried steak, sauteed liver and prime rib--all complete dinners for $7.95 or less.

CHINESE

* Five Feet, 328 Glenneyre St., Laguna Beach. (714) 497-4955. Open Sundays through Thursdays, 5 to 10 p.m. ; Fridays and Saturdays, 5 to 11 p.m.; lunch served Fridays only, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. $$$

Owner Michael Kang has some of the most compelling art around decorating this restaurant’s somber, postmodern walls, and he serves plates of food very nearly as artful. Dishes of pot stickers or steamed dumpling are no better than you would get in any Chinese restaurant, but the eclectic lamb, scallop and catfish entrees demonstrate Kang’s flair. The catfish is particularly fine.

* Shan-Li Palace, 5634 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. (714) 779-1410. Open Mondays through Thursdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays to 10:30 p.m. $

This Mandarin-style Chinese restaurant is further proof that gentrification is spreading like a brush fire. It is nestled snugly in the Anaheim Hills not far from the Riverside County line. A few years back, you couldn’t have found a hamburger stand in these parts. Order the steamed dumplings, despite the fact that the waiter may try to discourage you. They are wonderful. Spinach bean-curd soup tastes as fresh as if the spinach came from out back. Twice-cooked pork is fiery and colorful. Moo-shu dishes (minced meats and veggies rolled up burrito-style) are terrific.

CONTINENTAL

* The Hobbit, 2932 E. Chapman Ave., Orange. (714) 997-1972. Open for dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. $$$$

The Hobbit is a special occasion restaurant, serving prix fixe dinners that are elaborate without being pretentious. Book well in advance. You begin the evening in the restaurant’s wine cellar, nibbling on Julia Child-like appetizers, sipping champagne and chatting with total strangers. Chef Mike Phillippi takes it all very seriously, preparing solid food that is well-balanced, though rarely brilliant. Entrees like beef Wellington and lobster Thermidor rotate weekly.

ENGLISH

* McCharles House, 335 S. C St., Tustin. (714) 731-4063. Open Mondays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for lunch; 2 to 5 p.m. for tea; Thursdays through Saturdays from 5:30 to 9 p.m. for dinner. $$

If you have never experienced a proper English tea, then now’s your chance at this converted Victorian house, built circa 1885 in Tustin’s Old Town. You’ll even get heart-shaped scones. Audrey Heredia and her daughter, Vivian, fuss over this dining room and tearoom, a spinster’s fantasy of wooden tables, tasseled lamps and enough doilies to make Gladys Cooper an overcoat.

FRENCH

* Voila Bistro and Grill, 16871 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach. (714) 841-1166. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5 to 10 p.m., Sundays from 4:30 to 9 p.m. $$$

A new local dining spot, Voila Bistro and Grill is a surprising find indeed, a combination of Paris casual and Huntington Beach chic. Chef Rochelle Robinson turns a brilliant onion soup--a bistro classic--and does fine braised duck and lamb dishes. Dessert souffles such as chocolate and lemon are on the varied menu, and, given proper notice, the chef will even make a cheese souffle. Salads, pizzas and a respectable little wine list fill things out nicely.

* The Wine Cellar, Hyatt Newporter, 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach. (714) 644-1700. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 6 to 10 p.m. $$$

The Wine Cellar is Orange County’s newest temple of haute cuisine. Menus are rotated every week and consist of five courses designed by Jean Banchet of Le Francais in Wheeling, Ill., one of the most famous chefs in the world today. Menu VI--which begins with a cold pheasant pate with green chartreuse, continues with a stuffed filet of sole in a champagne sauce and features grilled squab with green cabbage and natural juices--is one of six prie fixe menus presented by executive chef Ted Gray, and it is a knockout. You won’t find better French cuisine anywhere in the state.

MEXICAN

* Kachina, 222 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach. (714) 497-5546. Open nightly from 5:30 to 10 p.m. $$$

Kachina is new, but it already may be the county’s best restaurant. Named for Hopi Indian dolls that represent spirits, the restaurant serves food that is rare and exotic--edible art. David Wilhelm, late of Pave and the El Torito Grill, has composed a menu featuring some of the most imaginative, intelligent cooking this side of the Twilight Zone, full of sumptuous tastes and color-splashed textures. Run, don’t walk, to taste the green-corn tamale, honey-glazed pork and celestial chocolate bread pudding. And go early.

SEAFOOD

* Los Alamitos Fish Company, 11061 Los Alamitos Blvd., Los Alamitos. (213) 594-4553. Open Sundays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays to 11 p.m. $$$

Order mesquite-broiled fish from the restaurant’s giant circular grill, or enjoy a brace of other dishes such as steamed Dungeness crab, smoked albacore tuna or simply flavored steamers, all of which go beautifully with the restaurant’s standout sourdough bread. Desserts are all homemade. The best of them are a superior blackout cake and a soft, tart lemon mousse pie.

* McCormick and Schmick, 2000 Main St., Irvine. (714) 756-0505. Open Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturdays from 5 to 11 p.m.; Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m. $$

McCormick and Schmick is the latest member of an exclusive chain that started in the Pacific Northwest, a slick, muscular operation specializing in fresh seafoods, and the food is terrific. Oysters like Quilicene, Olympia, Golden Mantle and Skookum taste as if they have just been dragged from the sea. Fish like Copper River salmon in cream with bay scallops, or sea bass with Jamaican spices, are good enough to make a grown man weep. Non-fish-eaters can feast on marinated chicken or Cajun cheeseburgers. Head of the class.

THAI

* California Wok, 4466 Cerritos Ave., Los Alamitos. (714) 527-0226. Open Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays to 10 p.m. $$

Eat health-conscious, pan-Asian food in this spotless little gem, owned and operated by a Thai microbiologist who is a gem herself (her name, Baiyok, means “jade leaf”). Chinese dishes here are excellent, prepared with pure soy oil. Especially good are vegetarian egg rolls and stir-fried chicken in an edible basket of straw potato. Thai dishes are equally fine. Nam sod is fiery ground pork with chili. Pad Thai is fried flat noodles. And tod mun plar are rubbery fish cakes with mint and cilantro. Wonderful and light alternative Asian fare.

* Thai Nakorn, 8674 Stanton Ave., Buena Park. (714) 952-4954. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. $$

Thai Nakorn is an innocent-looking storefront restaurant, but inside awaits the blistering fare of northeast Thailand, arguably the world’s hottest cuisine. A long list of specialties will make a believer out of you. Typical standouts are larb (ground pork with brown rice, onion, lime juice and chili) and nuad dad deal (dried, salted beef with a faint aftertaste of the sea). Appetizers show the restaurant’s class. Try the savage barbecued shrimp salad with mint sprig or the homemade sausage wrapped in cabbage leaves. Frog, eel and other exotica can be ordered from a blackboard.

VIETNAMESE

* Thien Thanh, 5423 W. First St., Santa Ana. (714) 554-7260. Open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; weekends from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. $$

Thien Thanh is more than just one of the area’s best restaurants; it is a crossroad of Vietnamese and American culture. The crowd is as diverse as the menu. Cua rang muoi (cooked salted crab) and bo dam (garlic-centered beef) are two dishes not to miss. Lighter appetites can indulge in more than 50 noodle dishes.