RESTAURANT REVIEW : Down-to-Earth Food Where the Planes Fly By

Desert flowers are in bloom up here in the Antelope Valley, and the warm breezes stir up the soul. Just past Santa Clarita is the town of Agua Dulce, home to a regional airport called Agua Dulce Air Park.

You may never be lucky enough to fly into this air park, over the tops of the jagged, russet-colored Vasquez Rocks nearby, looking down on the scrub and the sagebrush and the tumbleweeds. I, for one, do not even know anybody with a Piper Cub or Cessna or Beechcraft.

But you can always come up for a meal at Hangar Inn, the airport’s coffee shop. The restaurant’s panoramic window looks directly out onto the airport’s runway, and its kitchen cooks up what are perhaps the This setting is unique too. Tiny planes swoop in with regularity as you eat, or sometimes take off with non-assaulting putt-putt-putts. Dishes are prepared from scratch, simple things from biscuits and gravy to homemade soups. Hangar Inn’s food reminds you of the kind once served at truck stops along the old Route 66, the vanishing Americana that upscale restaurants such as DC-3 at the Santa Monica Airport have attempted to preserve. The difference is that this place is just acting natural.

Inside, it looks much like any other small-town cafe: Formica tabletops, modest booths and stools at a short counter. There is a tongue-and-groove ceiling made from knotty pine, and the walls are decorated with color photos of local aviators. Verlene, the manager/waitress, hands you a plastic menu when you seat yourself. On the back of the menu are a series of local business ads, which might be useful if you are in need of a well system, a drilling company, or a new drive shaft for your Piper.

What I need right now is a good breakfast. I’m considering these fluffy, buttermilk pancakes, three to a stack and topped with powdered sugar, or a plate of good, crispy corned beef hash, a fried egg running down the sides.

But this time I choose an omelet--my favorite ones here are named for things related to flying. The Baron is ham, chili, onions, tomato and cheese; the Grumman, my personal choice, is stuffed with Swiss cheese, bacon, an Ortega chile and sour cream. (For a C-310, delete the sour cream on the Grumman.)

They’re all terrific, and if you come before 11 a.m. you can eat them with an order of wonderfully flaky biscuits, baking powder jobs completely drowned in thick country gravy flavored with smoky bits of ham. A really rugged individual might go for a side of stogie-sized sausages, browned to a crisp on the outside. I guess I’m too much of a city boy for this kind of volume.

Lunches are pretty impressive here too. There are always good homemade soups, maybe beef vegetable or cream of broccoli. On this day, there’s Louisiana hobo soup, full of spicy Cajun sausage, cabbage, celery, carrot and onion in a broth with lots of bite. The tuna bowl comes in one of those silly wooden bowls shaped like a fish, but the tuna is mixed lightly with mayo and onion just like a mom’s, and the salad greens underneath are fresh and crisp.

The best sandwich here is probably the Wilda burger. It’s a hand-chopped hamburger patty with bacon, grilled onion and big slabs of cooked green chile on a toasted sesame seed bun smeared with Russian dressing.

If you’re really feeling nostalgic, how about a chicken-fried steak sandwich, more of that hand-chopped meat breaded with a spicy batter and smothered with the same thick gravy you get on the biscuits? Then there’s barbecued ham--thick slices of it in a sweetish sauce on a grilled sourdough bun--that really hits the spot. The hand-cut french fries are terrific too, browned unevenly like the pre-jet age fries that once dominated the landscape.

Just as you’d expect, Hangar Inn bakes its own pies, although Verlene admits that they are prepped by a local bakery. These are the heavy, double-crusted pies of yesteryear--spiced apple, runny cherry, gooey peach and messy blueberry--and they go down best topped with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just don’t expect to feel like flying after a slice.

Suggested dishes: The Grumman, $4.85; soup of the day, cup, $1.45, bowl, $2.30; Wilda burger, $4.85; chicken-fried steak sandwich, $4.35.

Hangar Inn at the Agua Dulce Air Park, 33638 Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Agua Dulce, (805) 268-0325. 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. No alcohol. Self-parking in lot. Cash only. Breakfast or lunch for two, $10-$15.