RESTAURANT REVIEW / ‘SCANDIA’ : Pleasing Opulence : This descendant of the famed Sunset Boulevard dinner house lives up to its ancestor’s pomp and standards.

Following a report that hinted Scandia was “good,” we drove one midweek night out to the Channel Islands Harbor, not knowing whether we would find a small sandwich shop or a lavish, all-you-can-eat smorgasbord. Instead, we found ourselves following a formally dressed young maitre d’ into a splendidly plush dining room, filled with brocade banquettes and leather and wood chairs. Hundreds of twinkling lights from candles and wall sconces were reflected in the windows and the water of the harbor beyond.

The restaurant was completely empty.

“I don’t know where everyone is,” enthused our host, “the first seating was filled.”

I can’t imagine where everyone was that night either--unless they were all at disco night in the club upstairs--for the food at Scandia was better than “good.”

This is not nouvelle cuisine. The chef, Roger Andersson, is from Sweden and his menu is a mixture of classic French and Scandinavian dishes.

Tradition means a lot at Scandia, along with gracious service and expensive food. Furthermore, as the new incarnation of the famed Scandia that flourished for decades on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, the restaurant has impeccable credentials. When we returned on a weekend, there were plenty of diners.

Scandia’s herring appetizer plate demonstrated a classic way of serving a fish that traditionally has been stored in barrels to be eaten during long, dark Northern winters. They offered it pickled plain, as well as in mustard sauce and tomato sauce. The fish was surrounded by delicate piles of chopped onion, egg, fresh dill and chives, along with velvety creme fraiche , slices of hard Vasterbotten cheese and crunchy flat bread.

Another delicious appetizer, toast skagen, ($8.95) consisted of chopped shrimp in a mayonnaise sauce, piled on thick white toast points with fine golden caviar sprinkled on top.

Danish cabbage soup with fikadeller was as fun to eat as it was to chant. It was tangy, salty and pungently flavored with bay leaves and peppercorns; the pork meatballs were dense and chewy. Channel Islands soup was as stately as its name, a rich, creamy seafood potage.

Ignore the Caesar salad in favor of the Swanson salad. All the ingredients--bacon, carrots, eggs, tomato, onion, and even the lettuce--were chopped as fine as baby food and quite novel to eat. Another salad had gravlax (cured salmon), sliced astonishingly thick, on a bed of greens with a tasty honey mustard dressing. It came with peeled shrimp with the heads still on, which looked both ferocious and untrustworthy.

Scandia may have the most expensive menu item in Ventura County, a lobster dish for around $44. But don’t forget, the original Scandia was where all the big deals used to be made in Hollywood. I noticed this made the other entrees seem reasonable.

Steak au poivre ($18.50) was a delightful piece of filet mignon, quite thick, flamed in brandy and served with a peppercorn sauce in three distinct shades of brown, ranging from a dark glaze to a pale cream.

A pompous veal Oscar came with a tender piece of beef surrounded by chunks of lobster in bearnaise sauce. Nordkalotten was a Scandinavian version of beef tournedo, imperceptibly stuffed with smoked salmon. It had a brazenly distinctive morel sauce. Pressed potatoes (pressed through a ricer) were marvelous; they literally caused faces to light up with pleasure.

Other Scandinavian dishes included a salmon pudding, which was mostly scalloped-style potatoes covered with a creamy dill sauce; a perfect dish if you’re in the mood for something heavy and Swedish. Also unsophisticated and satisfying was a dish called biff Greta ($11.95) with cubes of meat infused with onions and served with diced home-fried potatoes.

The desserts lived up to the pomp and standards of Scandia. Apple cake with vanilla sauce was as sublime as any concoction of butter, sugar and apples could be. We also enjoyed a dessert made with a very crisp crepe, ice cream, whipped cream, lingonberries and mint. It was both opulent and pleasing--just like the restaurant itself.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Scandia, 3900 Bluefin Circle, Channel Islands Harbor, 984-1919. Open for lunch daily 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner 4 to 10 p.m. Full bar, all major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $36-$120.