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

* Faraday’s Grill and Spirits, 13102 Newport Ave., Tustin. (714) 730-3442. Open Sundays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays to 11 p.m. $ Faraday’s is a family restaurant with cheerful service, juicy burgers and some mighty devoted fans. Why else would anyone wait half an hour for institutional food on a Tuesday evening? Everybody goes ape over onion strings--mountains of flour-dredged onions deep-fried until crispy--and the sappy-sweet barbecue that kids favor so shamelessly. Breakfast is actually quite credible here, with fluffy pancakes, homemade muffins and squeezed-to-order OJ. Portions are predictably generous, and prices are modest.

CHINESE

* Lotus Court, 181 E. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton. (714) 738-3838. Open for lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner daily 5:30 to 9 p.m. $$

One of the area’s handsomest new Chinese restaurants, this also happens to be one of the best, with a host of specialties on an arm-length, Cantonese-influenced menu. Among the best dishes are satay clams in a fiery sauce; roast duck, a succulent, crispy skinned bird subtly perfumed with anise; pork chop with spicy salt and something called sweet walnut paste, a warm pudding served as dessert.

CONTINENTAL

* Sorrento Grill, 370 Glenneyre St., Laguna Beach. (714) 494-8686. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 9.30 p.m.; Sundays from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. $$$

Sorrento Grill is one of the best new restaurants around, a virtual lock for local stardom. The restaurant is a high-concept operation, and it pushes all the right buttons: a stunningly designed open kitchen, postmodern vastness and a decibel level even Philip Glass would object to. The food is wonderful. Young, innovative chef Roseanne Ruiz uses the finest ingredients, Chino ranch vegetables, carefully selected poultry and fish, and she prepares them with the finest olive oil and utmost care. Desserts like an amazing creme brulee are brutally rich. Expect lines and unbridled enthusiasm.

FRENCH

* Black Sheep Bistro, 303 El Camino Real, Tustin. (714) 544-6060. Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m. $$$

A Tustin storefront restaurant, Black Sheep Bistro is extraordinary not for its engaging Mediterranean-style cooking, but for a one-of-a-kind wine list, perhaps the best of its kind anywhere. Owner Rick Boufford is a well-traveled chef and has infused his menu with French peasant specialties. His wife Diana tends the front. Enjoy duck breast, cassoulet, flame-broiled meats and wonderful mussels. Boufford has a rare wine to match every dish.

ITALIAN

* Mezzaluna , 2441 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. (714) 675-2004. Open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., for dinner daily 5 to midnight. $$$ Milan inches ever closer to Corona del Mar with Mezzaluna, a New York-based, high-concept Italian restaurant specializing in pizza, pasta, carpaccio and big-ticket Italian grappas. A microtome-thin goose carpaccio is the surprise treat here, but there’s more. Cracker-crusted pizzas are cooked in a wood fired oven, and pastas are made fresh daily. Expect a Manhattan-style crowd into well-dressed, self-conscious chic.

* Scampi, 1576 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 645-8560. Open Mondays through Fridays from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.; Saturdays from 5:30 to 11 p.m.; Sundays from 5 to 10 p.m. $$

Scampi is the name of a dark, noisy and unassuming Neapolitan-style trattoria that has come to the nether reaches of Newport Boulevard, and it is already bringing new energy to the street. Chef Massimo Navaretta specializes in scampi, those outsize Italian crustaceans with a flavor between lobster and shrimp, but he does many other things to perfection as well. Zuppa di vongole (the house version of steamed clams) has mysterious fragrances from a combination of herbs. Timballo di verdure (a flat noodle layered with fresh ricotta, vegetables and herbs) is irresistible. Wear your T-shirt. The waiters do.

* Spaghettini, 3005 Old Ranch Parkway, Seal Beach. (213) 596-2199. Open Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 4:30 to 10 p.m.; Saturdays from noon to 3:30 p.m. and from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m.; Sundays from 4 to 9:30 p.m. $$

A swank Seal Beach grill and pasta house, Spaghettini gets by largely on beauty: The food is somewhat spotty. Appetizers have little character, but pizzas are full-grown and yeasty, fresh from an oak-burning brick oven. Pastas are made fresh daily but are not necessarily well-prepared. Linguini clams turns out to be a bowl of sticky glop. It’s best to stick with items from the restaurant’s mesquite grill, like the perfectly blackened veal chop or the excellent mixed grill.

KOREAN

* Hyang Chon, 12921 Fern St., Stanton. (714) 891-5166. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. $

Eel, grilled short ribs and barbecued herring are just a few items on this Korean restaurant’s exotic and varied menu. Pan cha, colorful side dishes, are especially good here, with such specialties as gae jang, raw marinated crab and jap chae, glass noodles with meat and vegetables. Lunchtime prices are a steal.

LEBANESE

* Hassan’s Cafe, 3325 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 675-4668. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 5:30 to 11 p.m.; Sundays from 5:30 to 10 p.m. $$

Hassan’s Cafe specializes in the cuisine of Lebanon--a hybrid of Turkish, French and local influences--and the restaurant is relaxing and exotic. Mazza, one of the world’s great noshes, is the absolute must here, a splendid array of Middle Eastern appetizers such as mutebel , a smoky eggplant dip, and warrab ennaq , vine leaves stuffed with aromatic rice. There are interesting main dishes such as kibbe nayya , raw ground lamb mixed with bulgur wheat, sort of an Arabic version of steak tartare. Kebabs are first-rate.

SEAFOOD

* Scott’s Seafood Grill, 3300 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. (714) 979-2400. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Closes at 10 p.m. on Sundays. $$$

Scott’s started life with a bang in 1976, but the city was San Francisco. That was then, this is now. Today, in a stunning new Costa Mesa location, the romance wears a bit thin. Good oysters, rich clam chowder and a good wine list make for pleasant beginnings, but the fresh mesquite-grilled fish is often devoid of flavor, as one would expect in such a high-volume operation. Save room for the homemade desserts and the good espresso.